Feb. 5, 2024

A longtime neighborhood sports bar on the west side of Sioux Falls aims to re-create that success on the east side of the city and in Tea.

Last week, Jack Rentschler Jr., the owner of Gateway Bar & Grill, purchased the former Cherry Creek Grill building at 3104 E. 26th St. The new business will be Gib’s Sports Bar & Grill, said his son Jackson Rentschler, who manages Gateway and also will lead Gib’s.

“The main thing it will be is a sports bar,” Rentschler said. “That’s what we know is the sports bar industry, and it’ll be TVs, a ‘Cheers’-like atmosphere with good food.”

The bar will have a full liquor license, and the menu will be similar to Gateway’s with signature Monster specialties, weekday lunch specials and bar food, Rentschler said.

The added attraction, however, will be the chef: David Ohayon, owner of the former Papa’s Pub & Eatery in Dell Rapids.

“He’s incredible,” said Rentschler, who has been friends with Ohayon since high school when they played soccer together. “I’m really excited about that.”

The menu will include Ohayon’s popular creamy Cajun chicken pasta and other favorites, along with a few steaks, Rentschler said.

After Ohayon closed Papa’s Pub in 2021, Gateway at 3408 S. Gateway Blvd. hosted a few pop-ups for the chef, letting him take over the kitchen to serve food his former customers had been missing.

The purchase agreement for the former Cherry Creek Grill property closed Thursday, and the team “started moving chairs yesterday,” Rentschler said Friday. “We hit the ground running.”

The biggest part of the “revamp” for the space will be moving the bar, he said. The goal is to give bartenders, “the point guards” of the team, a view of the entire room, which can seat 200 people.

“Tons” of TVs will be added, along with dart boards and a pool table.

Hours will be 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

The lower-level banquet room will be available to rent for parties or meetings and also can hold 200 people.

“The goal is to have bands there, maybe a comedian, some kind of entertainment going on there,” Rentschler said.

Gib’s could be ready to open as early as mid-March, but “on the safe side, I’m saying April 1,” he said.

The name “Gib’s” is a nod to Rentschler’s great-grandfather Gilbert, who was a barber in a small town in Indiana.

In Tea, the new restaurant will be Pal’s Pub, named in honor of Jack “Pal” Rentschler Sr., who led the family into the restaurant business with Rentschler’s Truck Plaza, which operated in north Sioux Falls from 1974 to 1994, Rentschler said. His grandfather bought Gateway in 2003, and his father later took it over.

Jack Jr., Jack Sr. and Jackson Rentschler

In July, the family plans to start dirt work on the Tea site, which ironically is on Gateway Lane, he noted. That’s near one of the town’s main intersections of 271st Street and Heritage Parkway. A timeline for opening is hard to pinpoint, but it could be this fall or the spring of 2025.

“That will be more of a restaurant/bar, a place to go before games and after for families,” Rentschler said.

In Sioux Falls, hiring has started for Gib’s for positions “from the back of the house to the front of the house.” He expects to have about 30 employees on staff. Applicants can stop by Gateway Bar & Grill.

“We’re very excited,” Rentschler said of coming to the east side of the city. “The support we’ve received already is outstanding, the number of people who have reached out. I hope people know we are as excited as they are.”