Siro’s to open more often

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Siro’s Restaurant, long a sophisticated dinner choice during the racing season, may open almost year-round after this year’s racing meet, part owner Davis Mead said Thursday.

Mead still plans to close the restaurant in January and February, but will open the upscale establishment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and for Sunday brunch in the fall and spring, he said.

The expanded season is a sign of the times, as the restaurant needs to be open more hours to make it economically worth it, Mead said.

“There used to be enough business there to cover the year,” Mead said.

Now, there’s not.

The restaurant at 168 Lincoln Ave. has a completely remodeled bar this year, he added.

It opens for a Kentucky Derby party in May and for other parties and weddings during the year, as well as seven days a week during the racing season.

Mornings during the Saratoga meet, Siro’s is the site of a handicapping seminar that is broadcast live on TV. Participants eat breakfast while they hear about the day’s picks.

Siro’s has been open since the 1930s, and Mead has owned it for 26 years.

Mead’s other restaurant, Bruno’s Restaurant on Union Avenue, is for sale.

The wood-fired pizza place has been on the market since November and is listed through Roohan Realty at $175,000 for the business only. The land is leased from the Sutton family.

Mead hopes to sell it, but if he doesn’t, he plans to reopen the pizzeria sometime in May. Bruno’s closed this winter for the first time in 20 years.

“The cost of maintaining it outweighs the benefits of being open,” he said. While customers are plentiful during the racing season, that’s not the case in the winter, especially since the gas station on the corner at the entrance to the track closed.

Mead, who said he is nearing retirement, bought Bruno’s from owner Peter Kurto in late 2005 on an impulse.

“He sold at the right time,” Mead said. “The cost of doing business has escalated beyond the business level, the sustainable income level,” he said.

Between the lease for the land and building, taxes, utilities and insurance, he can’t keep the restaurant open year-round.

Mead said Bruno’s would work best if the owner was also the head chef.

“For the right person, it’s a great spot,” Mead said.

When it reopened in 2005 under Mead’s ownership, the restaurant was revamped with racing-themed decorations, a new sound system, plasma screen high-definition televisions and free wireless Internet.