By Steve BarnesAlbany Times Union, 11/14/22 10 years on, Vic Christopher still hasn't toned it downThe Troy restaurateur, whose Clark House Hospitality led the past decade's Collar City dining and bar renaissance, remains as fiery as everTROY — Vic Christopher was loaded for bear."The old guard in Troy was out to destroy me," he said. "Everyone was hoping we'd fail. They still are. My relationship with the city is still really contentious."We were chatting this past Wednesday, a few hours before he'd open the doors for the anniversary party of the Lucas Confectionery, a wine bar he and his former wife and business partner, Heather LaVine, opened 10 years ago this week. Lucas Confectionery was the first Christopher-LaVine venture in a company that grew to lead the Collar City's dining and nightlife renaissance of the past decade. Today, in addition to the wine bar, the company, called Clark House Hospitality, owns a restaurant (Donna's Italian), cafe with groceries (Little Pecks) and upstairs bar (The Tavern), all sharing a common rear courtyard at the corner of Broadway and Second Street downtown; a wine shop a few steps down Second Street; and a dive bar called The Bradley, located a few blocks away on Fourth Street.The company owns all of the buildings that house its businesses, and earlier this year it bought the frame shop that sits between Little Pecks and the Confectionery, with the expectation of moving the wine store there next year. Clement Frame Shop & Art Gallery announced last week that its final exhibit after 25 years in the corner space opens Nov. 25, and that it will be "winding down its custom-framing services after the New Year." Christopher and LaVine met while working in administration at the Tri-City ValleyCats, the Troy-based minor-league baseball team that brought Christopher upstate from his native Brooklyn. Christopher later was in economic development for the city until one of the many times he ran afoul of City Hall, quit and resolved to open the wine bar."We put paper on the windows, put our heads down and built that place ourselves, by any means necessary. I grew a beard for a year while we did it; I didn't shave until an hour before we opened," he said.Memories of naysayers at the time remain vivid for him. During our conversation, he quoted a comment that a reader named Fred posted on the Table Hopping blog when Lucas opened, predicting closure within months. Click here to read entire article:https://www.timesunion.com/tablehopping/article/10-years-on-Vic-Christopher-still-hasn-t-toned-17577846.php