BY GINNY PRIVITAR
HEWITT — If a chemist owns a bar, does he make the best drinks?
The Messenger posed this question to Mark Lang, chemist and owner of the Lake Shore Inn Bar and Banquet Hall.
Lang laughed heartily. It’s actually his daughter, Amy, who runs the bar. Mark bought the place last spring. He works as a contract chemist consultant and was previously the owner of the Pompton Pub in Pompton Lakes for several years.
Lang said he and his wife, Doris, were looking for something they could manage as they get older, “Something we’d be able to live on. We wanted a business to leave our daughter.”
The building that houses The Lake Shore Inn came up for sale and fit the bill, because of Lang’s previous bar experience.
The new owner has been busy fixing the place up, doing mostly cosmetic work — new paint and flooring and electrical and construction upgrades.
“We do a lot of Sunday specials for NASCAR and football. We have a free food buffet which varies,” she said.
Sometimes it may be Chicken Marsala or Parmigiano. Beer is available at $8 for three bottles or $7 for three cans. They also have NFL “Sunday Ticket” so patrons can watch the games on five large televisions. There’s dancing and karaoke in the bar every Friday night at 8 p.m.
Amy enjoys running the bar.
“It’s nice to talk to everyone and get to know our customers and develop a relationship,” she said.
They serve typical bar food, including bar pizzas, chicken fingers, hamburgers and hot dogs. If the bar fills up, they move into the banquet hall.
Bands perform on Saturday night, usually at 9 p.m., and “Reflections,” a Grateful Dead tribute band, will be performing this Saturday, Jan. 9.
In April, “Unchained,” a Van Halen tribute band, will perform. Local band “Fabio and the Footlongs” will open for them.
Lang said the Inn has been around for so long, it’s kind of blended into the background of people’s minds. He hopes to change that by bringing in not only local talent, but national talent.
The clientele is mostly local people. Lang said.
“It’s a neighborhood bar; however we’re trying to get some national acts in here which I’ve been able to do," he said. "Bands that wouldn’t ordinarily play (West Milford) will come to the Lake Shore Inn because of the size (of the banquet hall)."
This past holiday season the Lake Shore Inn hosted a food drive for needy families of West Milford. They’ve also raised money for the West Milford Animal Shelter, Lang said.
“We have a lot going on and I want to make people aware of it. I have some connections in the music business that opens us up to a little more in the way of acts,” Lang said.
The large banquet hall, with a 300 person capacity, can host many events for families and organizations. Catering is available. The Lake Shore’s cook/bartender, Louie Saraceni, formerly with The Pioneer, also does all of their catering. If a group rents the hall, they can bring in their own caterer or use Saraceni.
And, by the way, Lang’s job as a contract chemist actually involves private consultant work on projects, developing things like shampoos, coatings and adhesives, not drinks. But Amy will certainly put some together at the bar.