Long Story Short opens in Lawrenceville with drinks and food

TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.

The former Cinderlands restaurant and taproom in Lawrenceville has received another makeover.

Long story short: It’s called Long Story Short — a bar and sandwich shop with indoor and outdoor seating.

There is also a back room with a pool table, dart board and comfortable seating. A restored 1971 band shell jukebox is loaded with 160 tunes on vinyl.

On the second floor is an arcade with pinball machines and video games. Its walls are decorated with movie posters of movies filmed in Pittsburgh, such as “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Sudden Death.”

Long Story Short, still owned by Cinderlands Beer Co., opened a week ago.

“We dug into the space and created three different spaces,” said Long Story Short’s Paul Schneider, co-business partner with Jamie Warden and their wives Emily Schneider and Joanna Warden. “We wanted to create a cozy, warm atmosphere. We want to give people an experience.”

The owners refer to the place as “a love letter from Cinderlands Beer Co. to the Lawrenceville neighborhood it first called home.”

They drew inspiration from memories of growing up in recreation rooms, arcades, classic neighborhood bars and sandwich shops.

“Long story short: we love beer, sandwiches, Lawrenceville, and hanging with our buds,” Schneider said. “Here we are now, doing it all.”

The space was challenging to design because of its long, skinny shape. The new tagline is “Sammies in the Front, Party in the Back.” The arcade has throwback cabinet classics: NBA Jam, Street Fighter II, X-Men, and a table that two can sit at and play more than 70 video games, including Ms Pacman. There are two rare pinball machines, including a “Stranger Things” limited edition machine.

The back room has vintage furniture, fixtures, and showpieces and is decorated with contemporary art and new oak wall paneling, paint and vinyl upholstery. A vintage Tiffany stained-glass dragonfly lamp illuminates the pool table. Wall décor includes woodcut prints by Paul Roden, psychedelic resin and acrylic from Smoking Joe Perry and an array of vintage beer signs and lights transformed into Cinderlands pieces by Lawrenceville-based sign painter Run Rabbit Gilding. Sign painter Anthony Purcell created the new logo.

There are vintage Penguins, Pirates and Steelers details.

“When people say that phrase ‘long story short,’ they are probably talking to someone they love,” said Paul Schneider. “There is a whole back story. They are giving the distilled version of the story. They can get to the back story later.”

The food menu consists of 11 sandwiches using Mancini’s bread. There are two vegetarian options — a broccoli rabe jawn in the style of a meatless Philadelphia roast pork, and a curry vegetable. The meatball mac melt is smashed meatballs, marinara, yellow mustard, Velveeta macaroni and cheese, cheese curd and Doritos.

There is a burger and Nashville hot chicken sandwich, salads and sides as well as cider, wine, shots, spirits and soft drinks, including Natrona Bottling Co.’s Red Ribbon soda. There are draft and classic cocktails and 11 choices on tap.

The house light lager, Lil’ Cinder, is available in 16-ounce cans for $3 all day, every day.

At a friends and family event, Denise Murray of Hampton was sitting in the open area out front. She ordered a kitchen-sink salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato, salami, provolone cheese, pepper relish, olives and Italian dressing.

“Long Story Short is very nice,” Murray said. “This is the place to be.”

It certainly is, agreed her friend and fellow Hampton resident Kelly Kuzemchak. She had the loaded tots, which have cheese curds, iceberg lettuce, tomato and sour cream.

“It was fantastic,” she said. “It’s a great atmosphere here, and the staff is so friendly.”

Long Story Short is located in the original Cinderlands location, which opened in December 2017 as a brewpub serving elevated pub fare and a range of classic and modern beer styles.

In 2020, it became Cinderlands Foederhouse, a brewpub focused on Belgian-inspired, foeder-fermented saison, wild ale, and lager, with Belgian pub cuisine. They switched from Foederhouse because they wanted a more relaxed, comfortable neighborhood vibe, Joanna Warden said.

Some brewing takes place in the basement.

Cinderlands Warehouse remains open in the Strip District and the taproom in Pine is still open. There is also Cinderlands Corner Bar inside PNC Park.

Long Story Short is located at 3705 Butler St., Lawrenceville.

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.