He’s all in. On all of it, too.
Go! Team! Go!
He even has patience during this downtown streetscape mayhem, so, yeah, some might think there’s a little something wrong with him, but that’s not what it is. Not at all.
See, Phillip Carl believes, and he believes because he sees people – including his own family – fighting for something. And people don’t fight for something they don’t really want. They just don’t. Not like this. Especially not with their cash-money.
And no one would battle for a town left to rot as a Rust Belt memory if there wasn’t something.
Carl now is the new director of marketing and communications for WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital following a stint with West Liberty University, and he and his bride, Laura, are raising their two daughters – Emma and Elizabeth – right here at home. He’s a current Leadership West Virginia participant, he uses his Facebook account as a promotional page for the Friendly City, and Phil also believes the cool guitar sign for the Bridge Tavern & Grill just might usher in a brand-new era of neon signs in the Friendly City’s downtown district.
Just. Might.
But it won’t matter. Carl will keep his all-in attitude. And he’ll battle, that’s for sure. And that’s because he fights for what he believes.
When you were a kid, what was your favorite spot in Kennywood Park? And what is it today?
My favorites as a child remain my favorite to this day, and it’s a tie between two places: the Jack Rabbit – I know its not a cool, steel coaster, and I don’t care. It’s a legend – and the Potato Patch. Cheese fries and bacon bits. Ya don’t need anything else.
In your opinion, what is the coolest car that’s ever been made, and why?
I’m not a car guy. I do guitars, golf, and bourbon, but I do have a favorite vehicle.
Brand – Jeep. Model – Wrangler. The best vehicle I ever owned was my first vehicle, ‘94 Forest Green Jeep Wrangler, soft top, stick shift. I’m still partial to the two-door, but I like the four-door Rubicons, too.
They’re not tremendously practical for a family of four, but maybe one day.
Did you think your uncle and father were crazy for buying the Bridge Tavern and the building it’s located in? Why or why not?
Not for a second. It always made total sense to me. When the conversations first came about, we were deep in the throws of Warwood Tool, so adding another project to the “portfolio” made sense (easy for me to say as the Bridge isn’t my money … haha).
I always saw the vision, though, and still do. I’ve always been optimistic about Wheeling, downtown or otherwise. Maybe naively optimistic, but optimistic, nonetheless. Those two believe in family, community, relationships, and giving something back to a town that gave them so much – and I’ve always felt the same way.
That’s why I never thought it was crazy. Just another opportunity, another adventure.
Explain the importance of music in your life.
My first meaningful memories of music are from my parent’s kitchen as a kid, maybe 10/11 years old, after a day spent on Big Wheeling Creek at a family reunion.
My parent’s house packed with people, food everywhere, beer bottles on a card table, and loud music (usually The Mavericks) permeating the house. Music was always a part of our lives. My mother would blare Elton John and Gloria Estefan, my dad would run through his record collection spanning from Black Sabbath to Michael Jackson.
Music is so deeply connected in our life as a family. It can immediately take you somewhere, feel something. It’s a big part of why the Bridge made sense, too. Bring people together around a cold beer, good music, and community fellowship.
What meal do you make the best? Care to share the recipe?
I think my family would say my best dish is a ribeye … no particular recipe. Just a thick cut ribeye, fresh crack S&P, on a searing hot grill – can’t go below 450, cooked medium rare – it’s a beautiful thing.
The real cooks in family, though, are on my mother’s side. My mother’s family is 100 percent Lebanese, and there’s a long history of food there. My Sittoo (grandmother in Lebanese) was a legend in the kitchen. So much so, that one year my family made a cookbook of all her recipes and gave it out at my mother’s (I think) 40th birthday – organized by appetizers, soups, mains, deserts.
It’s a legit publication – haha. It’s still kept top secret to this day, but I am attempting to learn her Grape Leaves. That’s probably my favorite thing to make.
