Taffer talks to the McGowans
July 12, 2015 By Christian Murray
Hard charging Jon Taffer and his crew from Bar Rescue will be at Jack’s Fire Department on Skillman Avenue today shooting scenes for its ‘Back to the Bar’ special.
Bar Rescue, a show that helps troubled bars come back from the brink, was in Sunnyside last August shooting scenes to evaluate and profile the owners of what-was-then Jack’s Ale House at 39-46 Skillman Ave.
Brian, Jimmy and John McGowan—the owners and firefighters—were all put under the spot light by Taffer who was far from forgiving.
In the promo for the show that ran November, it said: “Three loud-mouth firefighting brothers struggle to keep their Queens bar afloat. Can Taffer calm the sparks before this family implodes.”
Taffer converted the bar into an establishment where the exterior represented a firehouse and the interior included firefighting equipment and the front of a fire truck.
Taffer is back at the bar to check out how the bar is doing after its rescue last August.
In celebration of the “Back to the Bar” event tonight, Jack’s Fire Department will have a band and be offering specials beginning at 4 p.m.
Featured Events
45 Comments
I went in there shortly after the first episode aired. I’m always looking for a new place in the hood to eat/drink. The service was really bad– not the bartender, but the woman who was waiting tables. She was one of the wives of the brothers, seemed totally miserable. She gave us menus and didn’t come back to take our order, so we didn’t eat. It was a Sunday afternoon/evening and not busy, so I think she just forgot about us. We drank our beer and left. I don’t think location has anything to do with it. If the service was good, and the food good, I would have gone back.
Been there maybe 4 times and it’s okay! they need Hotter bartenders though besides the one who works Wednesday and Friday Nights I believe her name is Courtney?
Actually I think the one who works Saturday afternoon is hot! she is friendly and has great eyes.
Avoid this filth hole. They have no clue how to run a clean kitchen. Do not put their food in your body.
The inspection the day after the taping
59 violation points
Sanitary Violations
1) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
2) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
3) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
4) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
5) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
6) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
7) Proper sanitization not provided for utensil ware washing operation.
Follow up to try to get up to snuff still had red level disturbing violations (still not enough to re open either)
Sanitary Violations
1) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
2) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
3) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
4) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
From the Board of Health ^
I was with you until — “the problem with this place is it’s unfriendly, unwelcoming and just generally a not very nice place to be”
I completely disagree. This place is owned by good people. Say hello to the owners and you’ll get a smile and a handshake and they’ll recognize you a month later. Bartenders are cool. Friendly place. I love Jack’s.
That’s my opinion, built from multiple crappy experiences in there. I’ve been ignored by bar staff, spoken to like an idiot, and ridiculed several times by regulars sat at the bar. I wish this wasn’t the case, like I said, I wanted to like this place, I didn’t wake up one morning and decide I was anti-jacks, its an experience based dislike of the place and the people I’ve encountered in there.
Because you sound like a real gem yourself. Maybe it’s you…
So the day after they filmed this the Health Department shut them down. Tons of violations with their food. Still not reopen yet.
Closed by order of the health dept.
Who the heck needs all these bars anyway?
I mean you can go to any park/playground in Sunnyside & drink till you pass out with all the homeless, illegal Mexicans that made them their bathroom and home.
Maggie Mae’s needs to sell food I can’t drink without food! News Flash the Bar was closed by the BOH on Monday Just walked by on my way to work and saw the Yellow sign in the window. Very sad I liked going in there and chatting with the Bartenders they were all very nice. Hope they fix whatever was wrong and open up again soon. my guess would be it was the Kitchen heads are going to roll if that’s the case.
I saw the yellow sign, too – “CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE” is what it said. So maybe some health code violations?
just went to youtube to see clips, sounds like the father built a nice blue collar bar many years ago, to bad these fools turned that into a circus. the yelling and attitudes, who the hell would want to walk in there and have a drink.
ill be at maggie maes,
Boring. Just a bunch of Irish drunks. Being from Ireland myself it pains me to see these people drinking their lives away.
Jack’s is just cheesy, they should have taken some notes from Maggie Mae’s, that place used to be a bog hole, now it looks amazing and I cant spend my money there quick enough! Who is this taffer anyway? Seems like a knock off Gordon Ramsey. Clearly knows ‘jack’ shit (see what I did there), about bar reno.
Jack’s has been a bar long before any of you assholes moved into this neighborhood. For all you wannabee hipsters who need a history lesson it was called the Outpost and was built in the late 1800’s. Shut up with your “off the beaten bath” and “take a cue” from here there etc. Sunnyside has always been a bar neighborhood and all of them have always been different from each other for good reason. You assholes and your mason jars need an identity.
Us ‘hipsters’, you ignorant idiot, are the ones who bring the real money into the neighborhood. You think those of you that have been here for decades, paying your well below market value rents, and still going to the same couple bars, and same little bakery are keeping the business’ going? You need a lesson in finance. You think the area would be receiving money from the government budget if it wasn’t for us ‘hipsters’ and our influx? The truth of it is, us ‘hipsters’ are the ones prepared to pay 4 bucks for a coffee, or 15 bucks for a desert. So when you want to go to one of the nice new restaurants once a year for your birthday treat, just think about us ‘hipsters’ keeping it going for the other 364 days of the year. And for the record, I’m well aware of the boarded up eyesore that was Jack’s before those brothers took it over, I’m not sure why you even bought it up though, it’s irrelevant. The bar looks cheesy since it’s TV make over. It looked fine before, the problem with this place is it’s unfriendly, unwelcoming and just generally a not very nice place to be, it’s a shame, because I really wanted to like the place. I was really happy when it first opened and was looking forward to many an afternoon in the beer garden, I gave it chance after chance, but each time, it was a let down. Honestly, I think its the regulars that make it suck so bad, the same dinosaurs still paying well below market value rent, and moaning about 4 buck coffee.
This neighborhood didn’t need you hipsters. Real estate prices were always above average here. Didn’t do us any favors besides probably pricing yourself out within the next year.
It’s dessert not desert hipster
I grew up in the neighborhood with these two brothers. The description of them being “loudmouths”….perfect!!!!! LOL
Please enough with these 2 Meatheads they are BORINGGGGG.
head over to a real pub without all this reality show drama, seriously, why do you wanna have a pint where a bunch of whiners are wondering why their bar is failing? lifes too short.
Big fans of bar rescue, went for lunch today with the whole family…. wtf it was closed down. wtf happpened. wtf Jon Taffer?
why was the bar closed? Word had it that it was doing great — what happened?
Yes, it looks like EPA shut it. What happened? I hope it reopens.
well shut my mouth! it’s those Big McGowan Boys again. I’ll take em on anywhere and anytime.
Had a Great time at the Follow up episode.
They should close down this joint & open a 99 cents store. Then they should close Maggie Mae’s and open a nail salon.
It’s the Sunnyside way…
Maybe if all the local dinosaurs didn’t protest and complain about new people and business’ then it would be more than just nail salons and 99c stores opening. Sunnyside needs a good injection of new blood and business’ to support them.
Am I correct that they will include a segment on Mary Caulfield and the happenings at the Sunnyside Community Gardensto provide a sense of the spirit of Sunnyside? “This is a neighborhood where people engage in fist fights over daffodils, where people sue one another over who ate who’s radishes, where private citizens throw a resident out of a publicly funded park where most people are not allowed anyway.” Or am I confusing this with the Denis Leary show?
Taffer didn’t come back. They just had some PAs staging a fake fight between the brothers then a fake resolution. “In TV land they need to see that you learned from the work Taffer did with you,” the brothers were told. Fun to hang in there while they filmed, but the show is total BS!!!
We are very proud to see a crappy bar make it to two bit TV show that nobody watches anyway and get our town talking about how we got a failing bar and celebrity nobody comes by to rescue it. Yayyy!…
Sunnysider, move back to whatever crappy town you came from and try to pretend you are from here.
hows the bar doing? everyones probably over at Maggie Maes – the new renovation blows this place away, Why would you walk all the way over to some dark industrial area and risk your life when you can drink at the gaslight or maggie maes? seriously…. unless you wanna follow the lame trend of bars and restaurants and pastry shops becoming a reality show to boost profits. Irish dont play this ****
Risk your life??!! What in G-d’s name are you talking about? The bar is located at the end of a residential street that includes a school and is in visual distance to the biggest park in the neighborhood and a Korean Church. Yes, there is one commercial property but in no way, shape or form is it a dangerous area. Fool.
its a crappy area at night, no wonder they need a reality show to boost foot traffic.
These guys are the biggest bunch of clowns. Taffer should shut them down for wasting his money and time. The place is a joke.
The brother’s try very hard to keep it nice. maybe you should just stay out of it!
Prob won’t be any parking thanks to this Taffy guy. Ugh
looks like he ate all the taffy!
i’d like to see the family implode
Sad, you wouldn’t feel the need to post a comment like this if you had a strong family, yourself.
What a hateful, evil and necessary thing to say! Best of luck to them!
Unnecessary
God forgive you.