ASTORIA — Katch, a super-sized bar and grill set to open in Astoria this month, is looking to offer customers a more refined sports bar experience, its management says.
"It's a more upscale version of a sports bar, to the effect of a 'sports lounge,'" said manager Tino Tsutras. "We don't even want to use the words 'sports bar' when we talk to people. The idea is mainly to do a traditional American sports bar, brought up a notch, to go after an older crowd."
The intentionally misspelled moniker, he said, was their way of using a sport-related verb, but adding a twist.
"It was more of finding a sporty word where we could play on the name to get a different type of point across, bring attention," Tsutras said. "It makes people wonder why, lets you do something different with it."
Tsutras, a food and beverage manager for the Z-Hotel in Long Island City, is co-managing Katch alongside Manny Mykonos, an event planner.
The bar and grill will officially open its doors on May 16.
"Instead of a sports bar where it's 50 guys yelling at a TV, and one bartender behind the bar while they’re all fighting for a drink, it's going to be full service — a waitress in every section, bartender in every location," Tsutras described. "You don’t have to get up from your table."
Katch, at 31-19 Newtown Ave., will consist of a 4,500-square-foot indoor dining and bar space, plus another 5,000-square-foot outdoor dining space in back.
The bar will offer 50 draft beers on tap — with plans to expand to 100 draft lines — and 60 flat screen televisions throughout.
The kitchen will serve a traditional sports bar menu, with items like smoked ribs, steaks, sliders, wings and oven-baked pizzas. But the managers say it will all be made in-house, with nothing coming out of a freezer.
"Everything is freshly made. Nothing frozen," Mykonos said.
