New eatery mixes old era with dinner and jazz.

Byline: RETAIL By Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

There's no 18th Amendment hanging over the heads of customers, but Eugene bar owner Mike Naria has otherwise brought back the feel of Prohibition for his latest restaurant venture.

The Oak Street Speakeasy opened last week in a basement storefront on the southeast corner of Broadway and Oak Street. Several restaurants and nightclubs have come and gone from the downstairs spot at 100 E. Broadway, but Naria thinks his combination of a unique theme, Italian cuisine and nightly live jazz will set the Speakeasy apart.

"I was just trying to find something that was a good, comfortable place to mingle in this town," Naria said. "There are some wonderful places to eat, and some wonderful bars. But there wasn't a comfortable bar with wonderful food."

Naria has tried to remedy that situation with a $125,000 makeover of the downstairs site, which he has locked up with a five-year lease - and addition options - from Eugene's Giustina family, which owns the building.

He installed a tile floor, lots of mahogany woodwork - including the bar - and even rotates potted, 6-foot arborvitae plants each week from a sunny location to give the basement restaurant more of an open feel.

"In the past, nobody has really done anything with this spot," Naria said. "Everybody is just amazed at how beautiful it is now."

Naria purchased Eugene's Black Forest tavern in 2003, and the El Dorado Club in 2005. He also owns Graffiti Graphics, a business initially established to serve the printing needs of his bars.

The new restaurant offers a full slate of Italian antipasti and entrees, which range from pasta dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna to aged beef tenderloin wrapped in pancetta. Vegetarian dishes such as pesto polenta lasagna, as well as daily vegan-friendly dishes, also will be served.

"It just kind of has that (Italian) feel," Naria said. "If we had done any other kind of food, it would take away from that feel, of it being a speakeasy."

Dinner prices range from $9 to $25, while all lunches are $10 or less.

Employees all dress in Prohibition era attire - including zoot suits and fedoras - and a VIP room adds to the speakeasy theme by offering a private club-within-a-club. The room - which comes with a personal chef and server - can be reserved for $200 a night, which is split between the first $100 of a party's tab and a $100 set-up fee.

Joe Jameson is in charge of entertainment at the new club, and has booked live dinner music seven days a week.

"The stage is really cool," Jameson said. "It's been laid out to look like the band is playing on a street corner."

Full shows will be performed on Wednesdays through Sundays, with "singer showcases" on Wednesdays, a "freeform jazz jam" on Thursdays and local or regional acts on Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays will feature more formal music, with performances by harpists, pianists and other classical musicians.

"We really want to cater to grown-ups," Jameson said, emphasizing that new restaurant and bar is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the youth-oriented club it replaced.

"It's a grown-up crowd," he said. "We're not doing power drinkers, or anything like that."

Retail Notebook runs on Fridays. Joe Mosley can be reached at [e-mail].