Young Entrepreneur Gives The Sports Bar Business His Best Shots

By Kaaren Valenta

When Bill Piccirillo, Jr, graduated from Newtown High School in 1990, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he joined the Navy.  It was a life-changing experience.

 “Joining the Navy and going to Japan, where I was stationed for four years, was the best thing I could have done,” Mr Piccirillo said. “I was in submarines, handling satellite communications.”

During those years he married another Newtown High School graduate, Jennifer Mesaric. The couple now has a two-year-old daughter, Chelsea Rose.

After his discharge in 1994, Bill Piccirillo came back to Newtown. In little more than six years, while working as a project manager for building contractor Michael Burton, the 28-year-old Sandy Hook resident became the owner of two sports pubs and cafes – Hot Shots and Hot Shots II. And, with partner John Whaley, he started his own business, Halo Associates, to build and renovate investment properties.

“Early in 1998 I was in [what was then] the Question Mark Café and learned that the owner was thinking about selling. I decided to buy the business. I’m always up for a challenge,” he said. He turned the bar in Ricky’s Shopping Center into Hot Shots, a small sports bar.

Then late last year he decided the empty restaurant at 130 Mt Pleasant Road – originally the Taunton Tavern, then Sweetbriar, then Sogno – was the perfect location for a true sports bar and café.

“This is a good location. We get a lot of Newtown and Bethel people here,” he said. “I run it as a nice family place for lunch and dinner, and on weekends, Friday and Saturday nights, we always have entertainment.”

The Zoo, a popular band that includes another Newtown High School graduate, Randy Buttner, performed at the grand opening of the restaurant. Other groups, mostly classic rock, jazz, and blues, have included the Turnstiles from Monroe, the Saints, J&B 2000, the Providers, and Uncle Will’s Dogs. On February 16, for St Patrick’s Day, the Connecticut Firefighters Pipe Band is scheduled to play.

Sports memorabilia hangs throughout the bar and the restaurant along with antique saws, old wagon wheels, and other items purchased when the Newtown General Store changed ownership recently. “My good friend, Mario, gave me a lot of unique memorabilia, from rock and roll to sports to movie memorabilia,” Bill Piccirillo said. “There’s a lot of Rolling Stones. Mario and I are big Rolling Stones fans.”

Upstairs is a party room, which can accommodate 40 comfortably for sit-down dinners and buffets, with its own bar, pool table, and restrooms.

“We’ve had close to 20 functions up there already,” Mr Piccirillo said. “The Newtown Chamber of Commerce came the first night I was open, and the food purveyors group had its Christmas party there.”

Hot Shots II is open seven days a week with a menu that features more than a dozen appetizers, deli sandwiches, hot sandwiches, salads, burgers, dinners, basket meals, and side dishes. Appetizers, $4.95-$8.95, range from chicken wings, barbecued ribs, and coconut shrimp to combination platters with such combos as chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, and jalapeno peppers.

Dinners ($9.95-$16.95) include home style entrees like meatloaf and roast pork loin, as well as other choices including Teriyaki Combo (marinated chicken and sirloin steak), surf & turf, and a Triple Play that features grilled chicken, ribs, and steak. Home style soups are made daily. The restaurant is non-smoking up to 9:30 pm, and smoke-eaters have been installed throughout the building. The layout of the building also provides completely separate areas for the various functions.

“When I have bands play in the dining area and the juke box is playing in the bar room, the sound is entirely separate,” Mr Piccirillo said. “It’s amazing.”

   The restaurant operation is smooth now, he said, but there was a rocky start when Hot Shots II first opened.

“We had a great opening week. Friday was great. Saturday lunch was great. But during dinner Saturday my chef walked out and disappeared. He was just too stressed,” Mr Piccirillo explained. “Fortunately I was immediately able to hire another experienced area chef, Mark Patella, who really bailed me out.”

 The staff at Hot Shots includes Mr Piccirillo’s father, Bill Piccirillo, Sr. “He left his job to work with me. There’s nothing he can’t do and that’s good because in a place like this something is always breaking down,” Bill, Jr said.

Marlene Cioffoletti is the bar manager of both Hot Shots. “I call Marlene the backbone of Hot Shots. Without her I couldn’t do it at all,” Bill, Jr said. “Bartender Larry Mills takes care of all the entertainment and the supporting events. He’s another great asset.”

Bill Piccirillo, Jr, believes he was destined to open Hot Shots II.

“Mike and Doris Bornyak, who originally owned the Question Mark Café, later opened the Taunton Tavern here,” he explained. “I bought the Question Mark, and now I have the second location, too. Now that I’ve renovated Hot Shots II, I plan to redo Hot Shots I with dark woods as a saloon.”

Hot Shots II features karaoke on Tuesday evenings. This Sunday a Super Bowl Bash is planned with halftime food and drink specials. For more information call 270-3373.