Locals' favorite, The Mug marks 50 years

CENTER HARBOR — It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. A half-century ago, The Mug was invented because of a couple of guys that needed a place to drink beer after work.

This past weekend, Amy Elfline and Paul Ursillo, owners of The Mug, threw a party to mark 50 years of providing locals a place to go out with their families, meet with friends and, yes, drink a beer.

Ursillo and Elfline are the fifth owners of The Mug, though they’ve owned it for nearly half its history.

The Mug was built by Stewart Paquette and David Piper in 1968, with a menu that consisted of little more than pizza and beer. The establishment soon transferred to A.J. Paquette, Stewart’s father, who had been helping to run the restaurant while his wife ran the kitchen. Bob Hormel, a graduate of Belknap College, and his brother-in-law Paul Kiah bought The Mug in 1972. They eventually sold to Joe Droukas.

Ursillo is a native of Rhode Island who met Elfline, a Coloradoan in New York City, where he was working in the finance industry and she was in fashion. They had a home and a dog in the city, but no kid yet and they didn’t want to raise one in the city. That was when Ursillo heard that his boss’s brother, Droukas, owned a restaurant in New Hampshire that he wanted to sell.

The restaurant business is notorious for being one of the worst industries to invest in, but they figured, quite correctly, that The Mug would be an exception.

The Mug has survived and succeeded for 50 years – through multiple recessions and 50 mud seasons – because it’s a place that makes people want to return. They feel welcome, comfortable and relaxed. That’s true even for parents with young children, who might feel unwelcome at other restaurants.

“We let the kids hang out back here without their parents,” Elfline said. She was speaking in a side room, off of the tavern, which has pool tables and arcade games. “The kids can run around out here and play pool, and it’s always been that way.” The children can act like children while the parents enjoy a few moments with one another, then when the food arrives the family can enjoy their meal together.

“It has always been a family place. This was always a restaurant geared toward the locals, always a spot where you can come and have a beer and a pizza,” Elfline said.

Most successful restaurants owe their survival to local support, but that’s particularly true for The Mug. In 1996, the same year that Ursillo and Elfline bought The Mug, a big-screen television sparked a fire that burned the restaurant to the ground. A new state law had just gone into effect, requiring structures rebuilt after a fire to conform to setback requirements. That would be impossible for The Mug – it sits too close to Route 3. The town’s selectmen were able to intervene, and the state granted the business a waiver. If The Mug’s significance to locals wasn’t already apparent, it became clear during the rebuild process when, every Friday afternoon, local contractors would show up on the site, even when it was a bare concrete slab, to drink a couple of beers together.

Ursillo said the peak of the business came in 2003, that they were able to weather the recession fairly well, and that business this year is approaching the best year they’ve ever experienced.

“This has been a very good year,” he said. The Mug seats just shy of 100, and on a busy Friday night, they might see as many as 160 patrons.

For Elfline and Ursillo, The Mug quickly became less of a business and more of a way to connect with the local community. The doors open nearly every day of the year, even during November and April, when their revenue barely covers their costs.

They see a lot of their customers every day, some contractors come to the tavern to negotiate deals.

“Believe it or not, a lot of business gets done here,” said Ursillo.

Some things have changed over the years. It used to be that the tavern’s access to cable television drew sports fans in the door; now those same fans can watch whatever game they want on their phone. So Elfline and Ursillo added keno, which they say has been a great addition.

But most things haven’t changed much. The Mug still serves a lot of pizza and beer, and the most popular menu item is one of its simplest. The “Mug Burger” hasn’t changed at all in 50 years: freshly ground beef, cooked to order and served on a bun with a slice of cheese, lettuce and tomato.

Elfline and Ursillo plan to host some Wednesday night special events later this year, aimed at boosting their keno participation. Other than that, they don’t plan any changes to a formula that has given them a living, a place to raise their child, and a connection to the Center Harbor community.

“We just want to thank all of our wonderful loyal patrons for all our years of success, we will continue The Mug tradition of good food and good times,” said Elfline.