The hookah cafe, the Middle Eastern-inspired, ultra-hip vogue that has crept into the social landscape of cities across the nation, is coming to Springfield.
Yazan Al-Asad is the owner of the hookah cafe, Petra, under construction at 270 Worthingon St. in downtown Springfield and due to open Sept. 1.SPRINGFIELD – Springfield’s entertainment district has drawn many a social trend: jazz clubs, cigar bars, brick oven pizzas, martini bars, ale houses, nouveau American fare.
Enter the hookah cafe.
The Middle Eastern-inspired, ultra-hip vogue that has crept into the social landscape of cities across the nation is coming to this city in the form of “Petra,” a hookah bar set to open at 270 Worthington St. in September.
Owner Yazan Al-asad, 33, a native of Jordan, said he believes Springfield is ripe for the trend since the Arabic population is growing in this area and he has recently met many hookah fans from all ethnic backgrounds – particularly college students.
Hookahs are a centuries-old tradition in Al-asad’s native Jordan and other parts of the Arab world, but have crept more recently into the North American consciousness. Patrons can smoke flavored tobacco from individual or communal hookahs, heated by water and charcoal.
“I saw it in Boston and Worcester and Connecticut, so I thought of doing it here in Springfield ... I’ve met lots of people from here who go all the way to Hartford to smoke a hookah,” Al-asad said during an interview at the site, in the middle of renovations to resemble Petra, a historical city in Jordan carved out of rock.
Petra has been described by a poet as a “rose-red city half as old as time” and was cited by the BBC among “40 places you should see before you die.”
To that end, the proposed Springfield cafe (formerly Distil) now has an exterior marked by rose-red columns after its namesake and the interior is shaping up with a similar theme. Al-asad said the cafe will be filled with tables and offer a menu of flavored tobacco, cigars, soft drinks, coffee and tea. He also plans to add flat-screen televisions and have Arabic and American music piped in through overhead speakers.
Al-asad successfully sought state permits to get around the smoking ban, which required him to prove at least 51 percent of his sales will come from tobacco products. He must get an additional permit from the city’s office of Health and Human Services.
Hookah bars have proliferated in New York, Greater Boston and Connecticut, despite smoking bans.
Director Helen Caulton-Harris said Al-asad filed an application with the city in June and the site will be inspected once renovations are complete.
Victor C. Bruno, owner of the 50,000-square-foot city block from 250 Worthington St. to Dwight Street, said the hookah bar will be a welcome tenant in a club quarter he is trying to diversify. Bruno said it will enhance the dining and cocktails roster he is working to rebuild in the club quarter.
“It’ll be great for the after dinner crowd and there won’t be any liquor served so it satisfies the mayor’s request on that front,” Bruno said, referring to Mayor Domenic J. Sarno’s push to bring more full-service restaurants to the downtown as opposed to nightclubs.
Bruno said he is trying to revive that stretch of Worthington Street with features such as an outdoor patio and live music at his restaurant, Adolfo’s, plus valet parking for all the night spots in that block.
Al-asad said hookah or “shisha” bars are an entrenched social tradition in the Middle East, primarily for older people until tobacco in flavors such as apple, strawberry, grape became popular in the late 1990s.
“It is not like a cigarette. The taste is much better,” he said.