Eighteen months ago, Sandy Kostick watched Gin’s Tavern — the restaurant started by her grandparents that became a hub of its Wyoming County community — burn to the ground.
On Wednesday, she began welcoming the community back into a new, more modern Gin’s across the road from where the former restaurant once stood.
“I was a nervous wreck leading up to it. As soon as the doors opened and my first customers came in and sat down, it was like, ‘We're back at it again, you know?' It was just picking up right where we left off,” said Kostick, the co-owner.
The restaurant, at 255 Route 107 in Clinton Twp., officially opens Saturday at noon. Gin’s held a “soft opening” for several dinner shifts this week, serving Buffalo bites, pizza and other menu staples to a community which had provided great support after the fire.
Thousands of people attended a benefit held in June 2023, which helped pay for rebuilding costs not covered by insurance. The May 2023 fire started in an air conditioning unit and quickly engulfed the wood structure.
“So as devastating as it was, the outpouring of community support and the benefit everybody organized for us goes far beyond what we ever expected, and being such a close knit community, we're happy to welcome everybody back,” Kostick said.
Kostick’s grandparents, Virginia and Tony Vanko, opened Gin’s in 1955. Her grandparents would offer a hot meal to anyone who would knock on the door, any time of the day. The restaurant changed hands several times before Kostick’s father, Mark Vanko, bought it back in 1989.
Vanko welcomed friends last week.
The lobby features the restaurant’s motto in large letters on the wall: “You're a stranger but once.” With a combination of booths and tables, the restaurant has seating for about 100 people, and more in warmer weather with outdoor seating.
A large u-shaped bar is surrounded by televisions, and a game area includes a pool table and shuffleboard. Live music will also soon return.
Herb Beck, 94, of Factoryville, eagerly returned to Gin’s this week.
“This is great, and great people run it,” he said. “That's why we're all coming back. Great people.”
