By Kara O’Neil, Staff Writer, The Derrick
Starting out with one of the biggest items first, a 3,000-liter Kothe gin still was assembled in the corner of the first floor of 100 Seneca in Oil City, an undertaking which took place over Monday and Tuesday. The Exchange by Side Hustle, a restaurant with a distillery and brewery, will be opening at the location later this year.
The still was moved from Grove City on Monday, Jeff Karns, the founder of Side Hustle Brews and Spirits, said, with assembly beginning later Monday and continuing Tuesday with the installation of massive pipes.
“It is going to look very cool in this space,” Karns said of the still, which is used to make gin and vodka.
The plan is to have a soft opening for The Exchange by Side Hustle in June, with a grand opening in July the weekend before Oil Heritage Festival, said Karns, who grew up in Oil City. He is the son of the late Ted Karns, a local contractor, and his wife, Cindy.
Karns had previously explained that the name is a reference to the Oil City Oil Exchange that stood on the site of 100 Seneca in the late 1800s where the worldwide price of crude oil was set for several decades.
The restaurant’s menu will include a mixture of Cajun cuisine and barbecue, similar to what is served in their restaurant in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Karns said. Side Hustle opened the first brewery in Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, Craft by Side Hustle, in late 2023.
Side Hustle was the first craft beer brand in the Gulf region, Karns said previously. Side Hustle products, with their camel logo, have names tied to travel and the expat community in the Emirates, he added.
During the soft opening of The Exchange in Oil City, Karns said, he is thinking of charging a flat fee and then serving a variety of foods for people to try, noting that many items on the menu may be new to people in this area.
“I don’t want people to be intimidated by the menu. I want them to try things,” Karns said, adding that he wants to hear what people like and don’t like.
Karns also said he intends to bring the head chef and bartender from his restaurant in Abu Dhabi to Oil City at some point to “tie the two businesses together.”
Another way Karns plans to link the two businesses, both of which have a rich history of oil, is with a mural.
The mural, which is being created by Rafi Perez and Klee Galligan Perez, will be one of the first things patrons see when they come in the door, Karns said.
See the full article from The Derrick here.