Fine dining and ambiance are the key ingredients that have made Rebels a Huntington tradition for 25 years.
By Benita Heath
HQ 5 | AUTUMN 1990
The rain wasn’t keeping the noontime crowd away from the Rebels and Redcoats Tavern. Since 11:30 that morning, luncheon guests were arriving at the Huntington restaurant with a steadiness that rivaled the sporadic showers outside. The burnished glow off the mahogany paneling around the dining rooms, set off by the candlelit sconce, was surely welcome to those dashing in from the damp. And the stained glass windows sealed out the elements, making the dining rooms seem like an oasis in the midst of the street traffic just a few paces away.
Yet no matter how many tables filled the two dining rooms, the atmosphere stayed the same. There was a sense of being away from it all.
From the sandwich board of the lunch menu, a diner orders an open-faced sandwich of turkey and ham with a blue-cheese sauce. The platter was hot, sufficient for a midday meal. The waitress is polite, attentive, yet not aggressive. Her approach differs from the assembly line manner often found in restaurants during the noon hour. Here a guest felt he would never eat under the glare of a waitress spending more time calculating her tips than seeing if the diner needed another cup of hot coffee.
This is how proprietor Robert Neighborgall wants it when he’s at Rebels and Redcoats dining and for those around him who are either discovering the restaurant for the first time or make up the roster of regulars there.
Recently, Neighborgall talked about the restaurant and its beginnings in his Federal-style office right above the tavern.
“I feel the surroundings here are very comfortable with what we feel is fine service, outstanding service,” Neighborgall said. ‘The best quality of food and consistency – those are the two ingredients you have to have in the restaurant business. “We try to light your cigarette for you … we don’t rush you at dinner or lunch, if you don’t want to be,” he said.
Neighborgall started minding the restaurant in 1986 upon the death of Lloyd Frankel. Frankel and Neighborgall’s father, the late Charles Neighborgall Jr., had formed a partnership in the late ’50s that eventually resulted in the creation of Rebels and Redcoats Tavern. Frankel was the managing partner of the restaurant.
But the first enterprise of that partnership was the Colonial Lanes, the bowling center that today is right next door to Rebels and Redcoats. In 1959 the two men built a 24-lane bowling center on what had been the storage site of Neighborgall Construction, the firm Robert Neighborgall’s grandfather had started.
A year later, 10 more lanes were added creating space on the concourse. First a mural was put up to decorate the area. Then the business partners decided to enclose the space to give bowlers a place to unwind after a game.
“In a couple of years in late 1964, we decided to enclose the area and build a beer tap room for the bowlers,” Neighborgall said. “When liquor-by-the-drink came in in 1967, we started to change it into a private club. That is really the reason we’re still a private club.”
Right now, Rebels and Redcoats membership is nearly 4,500, he said. And members come from farther than just the Huntington or Tri-State area. The roster takes in those who call the Carolinas or even the Big Apple home. And new members are always welcome, Neighborgall said. The dues for the first year are $10 and $5 for renewal memberships. Plus, upon approval, members can have a 30-day charge account. “A lot of people think it costs $500 to belong to Rebels, but it’s minimal.”
Besides meeting the state law requirement, keeping track of Rebels’ members allows the restauranteur to keep them apprised of what’s going on at the tavern through a newsletter. Like giving them details of the annual New Year’s Eve party at the tavern or talking about any new wines, entrees or entertainment added at the restaurant.
Plus, the newsletter tells not just what’s cooking in the kitchen, but who’s doing it. John Martin, food service manager at Rebels and Redcoats, said goodbye Aug. 31, when he retired after 14 years with the restaurant.
Donning the toque now is Fritz Bauer, a native of Heidelberg, Germany, with credentials that add up to the title of executive chef. Bauer reached that pinnacle after six years of training at such establishments as the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg and the Hotel Baden Baden. There he gained expertise by going through the paces of being butcher, baker and confectioner maker.
In 1953, he came to Manhattan to work as the executive chef at the Hilton Hotel. Later he joined the Philadelphia-based food service operation, ARA, working at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va., and at Marshall University. He also did a stint at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Hurricane.
Bauer says he is enjoying his new job in Huntington. “Rebels is very distinguished,” he said. “The way the food is presented to the customer is unique. You can’t explain it. You have to experience it.”
A longtime customer of the restaurant is Earle Dillard, president of Bloss & Dillard, Inc.
“I don’t ever recall having a bad meal there,” Dillard said. “I have a standing reservation for Booth No. 1 every Friday. That’s a good way to end the week.”
Dillard, who includes among his menu favorites Rebels’ Eggs Benedict and the Maryland Backfin Crab Cakes, says he often takes out-of-state clients to the restaurant for a meal.
“We know when they go back to New York City or Texas or wherever, they’ re going to have a good feeling about Huntington,” he said. Besides a menu that ranges from Chicken Divan to Veal Oscar to Broiled Lamb Chops with Mint Jelly, Rebels’ guests can refresh the palate with something from the wine cellar that is the creation of Frankel. Thumbing through the wine list, a diner may be tempted by a Chateau Margaux 1984, a California Chardonnay 1986, a Cabernet Sauvignon ’85 or a bright, bubbly Tattinger or Moet & Chandon champagne.
“Lloyd Frankel was very instrumental in getting some of the finest wines into the state as well as at Rebels,” Neighborgall said. “My father and he went to France as guests of the French government to visit the vineyards.”
When Neighborgall was a student at Marshall University studying business, he never expected to be running a restaurant. Going into his family’s construction business, started 70 years ago, was probably closer to his career plans.
“My wife and I met here (at Colonial Lanes) and bowled in a junior program and we were both city champions,” he recalled. ”We never dreamed we would have been in here running the place.”
When that happened, Neighborgall put in 18- to 20-hour days just to make sure the transition from Frankel to himself was as smooth as the Hollandaise that comes out of Rebels’ kitchen.
“I was trying to make sure customers and employees knew there weren’t going to be changes,” he remembered. ”We had good people working here.”
There are 65 employees maintaining the smooth-running of both Colonial Lanes and Rebels and Redcoats. At the restaurant alone, that means a staff of 25. Neighborgall carries the title of president of the corporation that runs Colonial Lanes and Rebels and Redcoats. He looks at that task as being an overseer and believes strongly in delegating authority to what he terms a dedicated staff.
Neighborgall appears happy at the turn his career has taken and with the reputation and numerous awards his restaurant has won.
”When I was in construction, I never had the first vision of being here,” he said. “Now that I’ve been here going on four years, I’m really satisfied.”
