Atlas Bowl combines food, fun in downtown Trumansburg

By Rob Montana
Tompkins Weekly

TRUMANSBURG – Last month the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce handed out its annual awards – earning Entrepreneur of the Year accolades was Atlas Bowl.
Opening in March 2015 under the ownership of Todd Parlato, the creation of Atlas was nearly two years in the making from the start of the design phase to the end of construction. The result: A entertainment and dining hub in downtown Trumansburg that enhances the growing variety of culinary offerings along the village’s Main Street. The added bonus – there are seven vintage bowling lanes to enjoy before, during or after grabbing a bite or a drink.

“I live in the village (of Trumansburg) and seeing this building sitting here empty was always disappointing,” said Parlato. “This community has a deep love of Richard’s Tri County Lanes, which burned down about 18 years ago.
“I’m a food/beverage/hospitality guy, but I like the idea of fun, and bowling fit that,” he added. “I’m also a big fan of making places all ages. I think it (Atlas) is warm and inviting, and you don’t get looks for having your kids in here with you – it’s encouraged.”
The food at Atlas is not fare one would find at a typical bowling center, and offers small and large plate options that provide a variety of options for culinary enthusiasts. Executive Chef Brittany Loughlin, who has been with Atlas since it opened, comes from a fine dining background and has clearly used the skill set and creativity honed in that realm to craft the menu.
Asked what some of his favorite items on the menu were, Parlato noted that he eats dinner at the venue just about every night before mentioning the salmon and flank steak entrees. Several taco options are typically on the menu, burgers, lots of vegetable-based dishes. Tater tots are available as a side, and they are the main component to the totchos small plate – tots, bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions, jalapenos and sour cream.
“I knew we needed to fill a community need, and I also knew it needed to be worthy of being a destination restaurant,” Parlato said, adding that the restaurant has been open to trying out different menu choices. “We’ve tried to position ourselves to fill a niche others weren’t filling.”
“We always knew elevated comfort food was going to be a component,” he added.
Atlas focuses on working with local food producers – farms, cheese makers, wineries, breweries, distilleries and others. A warm weather feature that showcases that mindset comes during the time when the Trumansburg Farmers Market is open for business.
“We have a locavore special on Wednesdays (the day the market is open), where Brittany takes a basket and a budget over to the market at 4 p.m.,” Parlato said. “Whatever is there, she turns into the special that day by 6. It enhances the relationships we have with local farmers and producers.”
The bar – with a rounded, triangular design – offers a nice selection of beer, wine and cocktails, and the bowling lanes fit nicely with the dining areas. In fact, the space seems to work well whatever you’re there for; it feels accommodating and the sounds of bowling aren’t too noisy for people who want to have a quiet conversation over dinner.
“We knew it was going to be a kinetic environment; energy in motion and people moving around in the environment,” said Parlato. “People who come in are not going to be shepherded into one place. We leave room for people to experience Atlas the way they want to.”
There are booths and bigger tables for dining in an elevated area near the bowling, cozier booths separated from the first lane by just a wall that allows for an up close and personal viewing of the balls rolling by, and a quieter section of seating further away from the crashing sounds of pins.
“The area next to lane one is a favorite of kids, who get to watch from a birds-eye view,” said Parlato of the intentional design. “Accessibility for everybody’s needs is important – so we needed to make sure there was space that was not as loud and intrusive.”
The guest population that frequents Atlas is diverse, he said, noting that in one day they could play host to a birthday party, a group of Special Olympians hitting the lanes to practice, and a group of senior citizens coming in for a meal and conversation.
“We wanted people to be able to pull diverse experiences out of coming in,” Parlato said.
The venue has been drawing people in from a wide radius.
“A lot of people besides the immediate community of Trumansburg come to Atlas, but I think people needed to hear a reassuring review before they came the first time,” Parlato said. “The first response to someone telling you to go to the bowling alley to get something to eat is ‘Are you serious?’ But a little bit of positive reinforcement and people will give it a try.
“Now, we have people traveling here from all over Tompkins County,” he added. “We have a group that comes here from Corning, just looking for something different to do.”
Running a restaurant is about relationships, he said, with staff and customers. Good relationships with those who work at the establishment help retain staff; good relationships with customers means repeat business, which is good … for business.
“It is really about connecting with people,” Parlato said. “You can have a relationship that lasts a lifetime or one that just lasts for the period of someone’s visit to the area.”
Atlas employs about 20 people from the local area, a third of which reside inside village limits and the remainder on the outskirts of Trumansburg.
“A little bit better than half of current staff has been here since the first month we were open,” Parlato said.
The establishment’s – and Parlato’s – efforts have caught the attention of local residents, including those at the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. Having Atlas named Entrepreneur of the Year, Parlato said, was “incredibly humbling, especially considering all the truly inspiring things happening around the area.”
“It was a definite boon to our legitimacy in many people’s eyes,” he added. “At the end of the day, when you walk in and have an experience here, if you’re not excited about your next visit, we haven’t done our job.”
Asked if there was anything else he thought people should know about Atlas, Parlato was quick with his answer.
“It’s closer than you think,” he said. “A lot closer than people think.”
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For more information about Atlas Bowl, visit its website at AtlasBowl.com or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AtlasBowlTrumansburgNY.