Smiths Public House, a renowned restaurant name that has been in existence for almost a century on Remsen Street, will reopen its doors on Monday. The owner, Rob Tario, who also co-owns the successful three-location restaurant Tipsy Moose Tap & Tavern, has partnered with Simon Ottendorf, who has been an essential part of managing the Tipsy Moose restaurant since its inception six years ago. The new establishment is described as an elevated pub restaurant that will serve full dinner entrees.
The bar will have nine beer taps and a full liquor license, while the lounge bar will feature a retro-inspired cocktail list. The kitchen will be open from 11.30 am to 10 pm from Sunday to Wednesday, and till 11 pm Thursday to Saturday. The restaurant has a seating capacity of about 100 guests and currently has approximately 30 employees. Tario is also in talks with the city to explore the possibility of outdoor dining options.
After touring the establishment late last year, Tario was enamoured by the beauty and history of the building. His goal is to restore rather than renovate the interior, leaving about 80% of the existing decor intact. Tario felt that it was crucial to preserve the original design that people had been accustomed to for decades and made a slight change by removing the apostrophe from the name Smiths.
The building, located on 171 Remsen St., has been an entertainment and dining spot for nearly 150 years. The Smith’s Restaurant brand was particularly famous for being the go-to spot for the Albany County Democratic machine. It was purchased in early 2022 by developer Daniel Oh, whose real estate firm, Capital Companies NY, has invested millions of dollars in about two dozen Cohoes properties over the past six years.
Tario had initially planned to open the restaurant as the sole proprietor but later brought on Ottendorf as a managing partner to run daily operations. The restoration process took about four months, and though Tario declined to specify its cost, he did mention it was “a pretty penny.”
The revival of Smiths marks another critical milestone in Cohoes’s redevelopment, which recently was awarded $10 million in state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds. Speaking on Tario’s arrival to Cohoes, John McDonald, a member of the state Assembly, owner of Marra’s Pharmacy on Remsen Street, and former Cohoes mayor, said the restaurant’s arrival was exciting on many fronts.
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