PHOTOS BY KRISTY LOCKLIN

Mullett’s is a new lounge in Mt. Lebanon, that, unlike the mullet hairstyle, is party up front, business in the back (that’s where the kitchen is located).

Neither Marissa nor Colin Mullett, a brother-and-sister team from Peters, nor their friend Chef Gabe Bevilacqua, have ever sported a Camero Cut, but they think their surname is perfect for a Pittsburgh bar.

“I did play hockey though,” Colin says with a laugh.

This isn’t your grandpa’s shot-and-a-beer joint. The decor is sleek, sexy and dimly lit, with comfortable seating for 56 and a small stage area for live performances. In mullet-terms, it’s more like David’s from ‘80s vampire flick “The Lost Boys” than Jaromír Jágr’s ‘90s-era Ape Drape.

The full bar is bourbon-focused and there are 20 cocktails on the menu, from classics such as old fashioned made with Jim Beam Black, bitters, sugar and orange to a specialty offering like the El Camino, a potent mix of Montelobos Mezcal, Bulleit Rye, Benedictin and bitters. For the record, a Chevy El Camino is the mullet of automobiles.

After years of pandemic-related delays and uncertainty, the Mulletts opened their namesake operation on March 10, almost three years to the day after they took over the former Taco Diablo space at 297 Beverly Road. 

These folks deserve a stiff drink.

“We signed the papers a day before the Covid shutdown started,” says Marissa, who worked at Taco Diablo when it was owned by Jeff and Carol Iovino. The couple still runs Cafe Io and Io Deli, which are both located across the street from Mullett’s.

Once Covid restrictions eased, the siblings operated the space as Taco Diablo, while slowly introducing new cocktails and tapas-style menu items. They covered the colorful sugar skull murals with black paint flecked with gold leaf and faux brickwork that looks legit. The taqueria officially shut down on New Year’s Eve 2022. 

Mullett’s is open from 4 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Saturday and 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday. The kitchen, where everything on the menu can be made gluten-free, closes at 10 each evening. Since many Taco Diablo customers had the dietary restriction, the Mulletts decided to continue catering to that crowd. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF MULLETT’S

Bevilacqua was hired in 2021.

He has known the Mullett family since middle school and was stoked to work his culinary magic on gluten-free fare, something he regularly prepared for his partner with food allergies. 

“It’s fun to make things that taste good and look good,” he says. “There’s a stigma that all gluten-free food sucks. It’s come a long way, even in the last five years or so.”

Bevilacqua’s dad was a chef at the Red Bull Inn, a popular regional steakhouse chain and one of this journalist’s earliest foodie memories. 

Guests can share small plates of elevated bar favorites such as poutine, crispy pork belly, a fried provolone wheel or pub wings rubbed with Cajun seasonings or slathered in housemade hot honey or sweet barbecue sauce. 

Whether your hair is long or short, permed or straight, big or nonexistent, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at Mullett’s. 

And no, your Tennessee Top Hat won’t get you a discount, but don’t let that stop you from rockin’ a Worshington Waterfall, n’at.