Named WNY’s Best Place to Watch a Game

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

It’s fitting that, in the week the Brickyard Pub & BBQ celebrates its 20^th anniversary, co-owner Eric Matthews is doing exactly what he was doing when the Lewiston restaurant first opened.

Celebrating with friends?

Toasting with colleagues?

No, he’s fixing the downstairs bathroom.

“It's kind of crazy,” he said Tuesday.

Even more so when Eric notes he and business partner Ken Bryan’s first foray into owning an eatery came in 1994 when they ran Tin Pan Alley.

“I was saying to Ken, we were talking in the office yesterday, and I said I remember the opening weekend that we opened here,” Eric said. “We did so much to get everything done. We hadn't finished our office space downstairs, and we wanted to put a bathroom in the office. And I know I was working on that on a Saturday afternoon, or Saturday night, during opening weekend, to try to get a bathroom in the office. And I happened to be in there the other day, and it felt like yesterday that I was working on that. … It hit me, like a déjà vu moment, like 20 years ago went by like that!”

Brickyard owners Eric Matthews and Ken Bryan in the beginning ... on the occasion of their restaurant’s 10^th anniversary in 2015 … and with Chief Operations Officer Steve Matthews last summer. They’re shown holding "The Ultimate" platter, which includes a heaping mound of pulled pork, succulent half-rack of St. Louis-style ribs, tender brisket and a savory barbecued half-chicken.

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While on one hand time seems to have flown by, Eric admitted the period between the 15^th and 20^th anniversaries was Brickyard’s most challenging.

Just a few weeks after the Brickyard team celebrated a milestone birthday in 2020, the coronavirus took hold and led to a statewide shutdown. In May of that same year, a fire started in the adjoining Brickyard Brewing Company, causing enough damage to warrant a rebuild – and marring the Brickyard, too. While the latter reopened in September, the BBC was closed until 2021.

From there, the Brickyard – like most restaurants – struggled to find employees, had to adjust prices for inflation, and was tasked with raising the minimum wage for employees.

“It has been probably the hardest five years, especially employees,” Eric said. “Since the pandemic, the employee part of it – people have left this business. People don't want to cook. It's easier to make money DoorDashing, working from home. … There's so many different things you can do from home. People would rather do that.

“And not only is it challenging, but even the craft beer industry. We happen to be doing well. We're up this year, quite a bit, because of our sales force. Our salesman has been doing great. … But the craft beer industry has gone down. And you wonder, like, what's it going to do in the future? There's more and more places that want to open, but then other ones close.

“I don't know. It's a scary time, because everything is so expensive. I would have never thought that I'm paying $9 a dozen for eggs. And I'm using 15-dozen eggs a week to make my meatloaf and burgers and this and that. And you can't believe how much your food bill's gone up.

“I feel bad for the consumer. I really do. It's tough.”

He emphasized, “You don't want to charge $20 for a hamburger. I just don't. I feel bad. But in order to make everything work, you have to hit your number, or you're not going to do it. You're not going to survive.”

“Ingredients are a big thing, too,” Brickyard Chief Operations Officer Steve Matthews said. “You can cut your cost by using worse ingredients or whatnot. There’s ways to shave it. But, after 20 years, you become known for certain things. Do you want to sacrifice that?”

“We don't,” Eric said. “So, kind of hold the line, do what you can. So far, we've been doing all right. Can't complain.”

Some of the (many) popular items available at the Brickyard Pub & BBQ in Lewiston. (Product photos courtesy of Steve Matthews)

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Despite the challenges, Brickyard has endured. In fact, it remains a go-to culinary destination.

Niagara Arts and Cultural Center Executive Director Jennifer Pauly often worked with the Brickyard team while president of the Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce. She said, “When telling someone about the Village of Lewiston, there are always key destinations that are mentioned … Artpark, Frontier House, jetboats ... and the Brickyard! For 20 years, the Brickyard has been a mainstay for good food, beer, music, great patios, banquets … and some nights a night club! There is truly something for everyone at the Brickyard. Ken, Eric, Steve and staff have created a business that cares for their employees and the community.”

Eric said one of the reasons for the Brickyard’s success is that either he, Steve or Ken can almost always be found on site.

“They'll tell you that, no matter where you go to school or if you go to hotel, restaurant management, you want to be in your building,” Eric said. “You want to have a pulse. Want to feel the pulse of the people working for you. You want to show them the right way to do things, the wrong way to do things. Be here to ‘attaboy’ or reprimand. And to be honest with you, it's being in the building and putting your 50, 60, 70 hours a week in the summertime in, and that's it.

“It's a hard life. But it's an addictive life. You enjoy seeing people. You enjoy seeing people happy. There's nothing better than when I come out and somebody tells me, ‘Oh, my God, it was so good. I love your roast beef. Your roast beef is the best in town. It's awesome.’ There's nothing better than that. When you have that feeling, it's great.”

As the Brickyard team looks to the future, more focus is on craft beer. Its expertly made, colorfully named beverages are making their way into supermarkets and eateries across Western New York – and the Brickyard Brewing Company is back to full-service and preparing a new spring menu. BBC already is one of the most popular River Region sites for banquets, catering and private events.

“We have a new brewer, Rudy (Watkins),” Eric said. “He opened Community Beer Works, and he was the head brewer at Thin Man for a while, and he finally came on board with us, and he's been doing a great job. He started last (winter), and he's kind of turned our beer into something special. He really does a nice job. So, we're really happy to go forward.”

Eric said past and future success is largely due to “the whole staff.”

“We have four people that work for us who have been with us over 18 years in this building,” he said. “We couldn't do it without their help. And then I would say there's probably at least 10 to 12 people that have been here for 10 to 12 years. …

“It's a very family-friendly place, and everybody that works for us is pretty much all in. That's what makes it. We couldn't do it without them.”

He recognized manager Brittani Jackel and her banquet staff, and barbecue pit boss Joe Jakubowski.

Brickyard will celebrate its birthday this weekend with a special lineup.

“Thursday night, we have Zak Ward,” Steve said. “I played in a band with him for years, going back to the mid-2000s we've been playing together. He's an acoustic guy. We've always hired him to play at our places. He's opening Thursday night from 7-9. He's doing a sort of a dinner/happy hour type of acoustic act. And then after him, I have the guys from the Strictly Hip coming down. They're going to do an acoustic set. We've had Strictly Hip here, I think, four or five times at this point over the last year, year and a half – they always sell out. They always do a great job. But I thought it'd be kind of cool to have them do something a little different, do an acoustic set.

“Friday night, we have a DJ – and I guess you would call it, ‘Ghosts of Bartenders Past.’ So, we have celebrity bartending with a lot of our old bartenders coming back. … All those guys are all coming back to pull a shift serving some beer and drinks over the night. That'll be a nice, 6 o'clock till 9 o'clock happy hour. And then we have a DJ at night. And Saturday night we have a DJ, as well.”

Headlining Saturday evening is BB’s Bingo, a popular entertainment endeavor created by former manager Bianca Falsetti.

“She throws a hell of a party,” Steve said. “She does a great job.”

“She found her calling, that's for sure,” Eric added.

“She always did a great job for us, but she found her way,” Steve said. “(Ken and Eric) have been great about really supporting ex-staff. You know, unfortunately they leave us, but they're always part of the family. We try to help them out any way possible; give them a venue to expand their business.

“She's done great, and she's going to throw a rager for us on Saturday night.”

The Brickyard Pub & BBQ is located at 432 Center St., Lewiston; and online at https://www.brickyardpub.com/. BBC is next door at 436 Center St.

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Brickyard takes WNY's Best Place to Watch a Game title

Niagara Frontier Publications’ audience recently voted the Brickyard Pub & BBQ as WNY’s Best Place to Watch a Game. Raintree Bar & Grill (Tonawanda) and Tully’s Good Times (Amherst) finished second and third, respectively.

“We do have a lot of TVs,” Brickyard co-owner Eric Matthews said, “but we also covered our patio, and we heated our patio. Our bartender, Paul (Beatty), he pushed for that.”

“It's kind of cool,” Eric said. “It's something different. We have big TVs out there. It's warm. It might not be 80, but it's 65 out there.”

“It extends your patio season quite a bit,” Brickyard Chief Operations Officer Steve Matthews said.

“People really got into it during the Bills games and, if they weren't at the bowling alley, they were here,” Eric said. “It's a good place.

“It's funny, because people don't just come here to watch football. They come here to watch golf on Sundays. Our bar is pretty full for golf on Sundays. And in fact, this Sunday, people were so intrigued by USA’s win over Canada (in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament), and the fights and all the stuff, that there was a replay of it – and golf came on at the same time – and people were fighting over the TV, wanting the replay on it! You're like, ‘They won, remember!’ But they're like, ‘No, we want to watch it again. It was awesome.’

“College basketball now, everybody's getting hyped up for March Madness. So, kids are coming in that are 25 years old and they want to watch basketball.

“It's a good spot, and it's not a spot where you're overwhelmed with 100 people watching the game either. If you get 20-30 people and they're having a good time, that's OK.”

“I have to give some credit, too, to our bar staff,” Steve said. “I think they kind of really go out of their way to make sure the customers are served in a timely manner. They know their drinks. All those little nuances sort of factor into a great experience. And I know, like Eric mentioned, Paul, our bar manager, he takes a lot of pride in putting an experience together for people over there. I have to give him a pat on the back for it.”