Opening nears for restaurant in former jail

Business

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Shane Andruskiewicz, general manager, left, and Cleber Santos, owner of the Great Escape restaurant, stand behind some of the original jail bars at the restaurant. The restaurant will open soon. Ken Yuszkus

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August 23, 2010

By Stacie N. Galang Staff Writer The Salem News Mon Aug 23, 2010, 12:27 AM EDT

SALEM — The floor is the original 200-year-old granite. The exposed brick, it came with the place, too. So did plenty of the original fixtures: jail cell bars.

Great Escape Restaurant and Bar has plans to open next month in the former Salem Jail, said owner Cleber Santos and his general manager, Shane Andruskiewicz, both of Peabody.

"We kept the prison look," Andruskiewicz said. "The actual doors from the jail cells. They're all over the place."

After nearly six months of preparation, the eatery is nearing its opening in a space no one ever wanted to be in, let alone eat in.

"When we came in the building, it was kind of cold and empty obviously because nothing was here," the general manager said.

But Santos figures the novelty of his location and the effort to preserve a piece of Salem and New England history will attract customers to their unlikely digs.

"I think when this is done, it's going to look better than Scampo in Boston," Santos said referring to Boston's posh Liberty Hotel restaurant, also in a former jail. "They don't look like a jail over there."

For nearly 18 months and at dozens of locations, Santos and Andruskiewicz searched to find just the right spot to open a restaurant. When they saw the jail, they knew they found what they were looking for.

When they began work in Salem in February, half of the floor was dirt and none of the space had utilities. They had to contend with issues like ceiling height inside and historically correct features outside.

"It's certainly not easy, especially in this type of building," Andruskiewicz said. "There's a lot of challenges like that, but it makes it interesting."

Now, as the furniture has arrived and the paint applied, the dining room has a warmer feel. Last week, the pair was overseeing a round of inspections for the plumbing and electrical work.

The jail motif has been used throughout the space with the presence of prison bars, including within the surface of the back-room bar. The restaurant will seat 78 in the main dining room, 13 in the bar and 60 outdoors.

Andruskiewicz said the restaurant will have what he described as a "casual price point." Main entrees will cost between $15 and $20, the general manager said.

"We kept the prices manageable so people will feel comfortable eating here multiple times a week without breaking the budget," he said.

The menu is considered American fare with an Italian influence, Andruskiewicz said. A typical starter will be fried calamari and an entree of black Angus steak tips.

Despite the grueling work to open the restaurant in an unforgiving space, Santos is looking forward to the opening.

"I'm happy," he said. "I hope we're going to be busy."