Shanadel Fenstermacher, who turned thirty-five in June, is a busy woman. Over the last four years she’s turned her bar and grille in Painted Post—called Del’s, after her—into a hopping place, open till the wee hours of the morning and known for its wings. She’s even busier now, because she and her husband, Brett, bought the historic building at 1 W. Pulteny Street, on the corner of Bridge Street in Corning, that once was T.O.P. (That Other Place) and more recently the Brick House Brewery. “People ask me ‘How’re you going to do both?’” she laughs.

Well, forget how. She is. The Brick, a bar and eatery, opened August 19.

The building is beautiful, and she fell for it right away. In fact, this is the type of place she was looking for when she first opened Del’s. Outside, a huge, colorful mural painted by Hammondsport artist Brett Steeves in 2017 takes a viewer back in time. The arches painted on the brick frame views of the Chemung River and the Little Joe tower. On the other side of the wall, where the river seems to serenely flow, there are actually happy patrons raising a glass or dart.

Inside, one wall is brick (the one with the mural), one wall has windows onto the street, and the others are rustic wood. There is a dance floor, a pool table, and a dartboard (they are still looking for dart league teams). The long wooden bar has metal drink coolers across the top to keep your pints chilled, and a barrel on the wall with three taps that she plans to use for whiskey. “I really wanted Buffalo Trace, but there’s a shortage,” she explains. Until then, she has many bottled options—including Bullet, Basil Hayden, and Knob Creek—for two of their specialty cocktails, a smoked old-fashioned and smoked Manhattan. There are also eight taps for brews.

The new manager, Jen Johnson, enjoys working closer to home than her previous job. She moves easily from bartending to food preparation as Fleetwood Mac plays. The Brick is very much a place for folks getting off work to come have a drink and appetizers before heading home.

Shanadel is holding on to Del’s and says the two places have different feels. “This is fancier,” she says looking around the Brick, “with mixology, versus Del’s where we’re way too busy pouring Bud Light and Coors to make smoked cocktails.” The small kitchen has only a convection oven for now, and the bar menu consists of flatbread pizzas, spinach dip, and a half-pound of brisket.

Shanadel plans events and live music to bring people in. They are currently open seven days a week: Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday noon to 11 p.m. To find out more, look them up on Facebook at Brick Corning NY or email [email protected].