Dueling piano bar opening in downtown Boise

Texas Boogie, a Texas-themed restaurant and dueling piano bar, is slated to open April 1 in downtown Boise in the space formerly occupied by the 8th Street Wine Co, at 8th and Broad streets.

The restaurant will be owned and managed by Scott Koritansky, who has been in the night club and bar business for 20 years. He currently owns and operates Bull’s Head Station in Meridian.

Developer Ephraim Greenwall of San Francisco-based Talcott Holdings, who purchased the 8th Street Marketplace in 2007, said he is optimistic that Texas Boogie will be “very successful.”

“In the past, dueling piano bars have not done well, even though they’ve received popular support and been very crowded – demand has been very high,” he said. “The reason, as best we can discern, for that is that their cost structures were too high and their rent was too high, and/or the management was not experienced with that kind of entertainment.”

He said rent is lower in the 8th Street Marketplace than in the surrounding properties, and the space didn’t require expensive improvements. And he said because the owners are also the managers, the cost structure of the restaurant will be reduced.

Greenwall said Texas Boogie and the adjacent Gandolfos eatery, also expected to open April 1, will become part of a developing entertainment corridor in the area, which also contains Liquid Lounge, Ha’ Penny Bridge Pub and the Knitting Factory.

“I think we’ve got A-plus operators with A ideas, and that combination makes me enthusiastic. … These are tough times so I can’t promise anything, but I’m optimistic when we have a combination of strong management and strong business ideas and experience in that business idea,” Greenwall said.

Two dueling piano pars opened in the early ’00s in downtown Boise and are now closed – Boogie Woogies in the Mode Building and another inside the former Manhattan Grill restaurant in the Adelmann Building.