Blues take center stage at Mansion Hill Tavern

Blues lovers know it well. Lunch diners make it a regular stop. Newcomers quickly learn it’s a place where everybody really does know your name. With its casual atmosphere and neighborhood location, Mansion Hill Tavern tops the list for down home cooking by day and down South blues by night.

Located on the western edge of Newport’s historic Mansion Hill district, the laid back bar and restaurant is a self-proclaimed “no aggravation location.” The eclectic interior is just what you might expect – brick walls, neon pub signs, assorted posters - and something you might not expect, a larger-than-life wooden Indian. On the afternoon I stopped in, the lunch rush had just subsided. Cara Peluso, who owns the business with husband Lou, was taking a much needed break at the end of the bar (she serves drinks and food while Lou, pictured above, cooks). It was the perfect time to get a little background on the tavern’s colorful past.

Mansion Hill Tavern’s history dates back to 1875 when the original portion of the L-shaped building served as an inn for railway workers of the nearby Louisville and Cincinnati Short Line Railroad. In 1892, it was converted into a neighborhood grocery store, changing names and owners through the years, until 1944 when it became Ivy and Gill’s Café…and booking joint. Later Gill left and Bill took over and well, it gets complicated, but the re-invented Ivy and Bill’s closed after Ivy met an untimely death. Lou Peluso bought the tavern in 1988 and has since turned it into one of the area’s premiere destinations for blues.

Friday and Saturday nights the tavern features such home town favorites as Johnny Fink and the Intrusion and the Blue Ravens. Sunday nights Them Bones, third place winners in the 2010 International Blues Challenge, warms up the crowd, then it’s an open blues jam where wannabes and pros show their stuff. There’s a modest $4 cover charge on Friday nights and $3 cover charge on Saturday nights. Sunday nights are free.

The roster heats up this week on Thursday, May 27th, when the tavern hosts the Cincy Blues Society’s Solo/ Duo Challenge. Jammin’ starts at 7:00 p.m. and goes until 10:30 p.m. Winners in each category will represent the Cincy Blues Society at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Admission is $7. Better bring cash though. The tavern doesn’t take credit cards but does have an ATM on the premises.

Mansion Hill Tavern is open 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 3:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Saturday through Monday. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday; dinner is served Friday night only from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For more information, call 859-581-0100.

Now get out there are start singing the blues.