Ryly's Gourmet Market Opens Doors in Skyline Mall

She's been serving lunch and dinner to faithful customers for more than a year in a little renovated house at the 385 Daniel Webster Highway, but starting today, Pat Comerford officially re-opens Ryly's Gourmet Food as Ryly's Gourmet Market in a larger venue – diagonally across the street.

Ryly's opens its doors at 11 a.m. today in the space formerly occupied by Food To-Go Depot, a similarly-modeled business in that the owner made home-cooked meals and sold them as single portions. When Food To-Go closed about a year ago, owner Nancy Carpenito left everything behind, making Ryly's transition into its new home pretty smooth.

Comerford was supposed to open the business last Monday, but, by perhaps some divine intervention, postponed the opening by a week. That very day, the walk-in cooler stopped working.

“I would have lost everything in there,” Comerford said, counting her blessings that she hadn't opened. Later in the week, the hot water heater started leaking.

“It was just meant to be that I didn't open (that day).”

Ryly's named for Comerford's grown sons, Ryan and Billy, has been in operation in Merrimack since last March as the place to go for gourmet meals, bought in single-sized portions, that you can take home and heat up.

Some of her best and most loyal customers are elderly, busy young professionals and single men.

“I'd would say most of my customers are retired, who absolutely don't want anything to do with the kitchen,” Comerford said.

But she serves food that appeals to all ages.

As she's been running the business for the last 15 months, Comerford would generally have a new menu each week made up of her own recipes that she's spent a lot of time perfecting.

“I stayed home for a year and that's all I did, developed my own recipes to my own taste,” Comerford said.

She uses fresh produce and gourmet ingredients and she doesn't skimp. Most main courses run $9-$12 a serving and come with a small amount of starch. Roasted or steamed vegetables, pasta, potatoes, salads and more can be picked up on the side.

But if you've been to Ryly's as it was before, get ready for a little something new.

Instead of a menu changing weekly, Comerford plans to have the staples that her customers love – eggplant parmesan stack, beef bourguignon, macaroni and cheese (with and without the croutons), pineapple chicken, chicken parmesan and more. She'll serve salads, wraps and kabobs in the summer and add hearty soups to her winter menu.

“I'm really hoping, being more visible, in a mall where people are coming already for other reasons, that I'll be able to increase foot traffic,” Comerford said of the location in the center of the Skyline Mall, adjacent to the old Shaw's Plaza.

Each week she will also have revolving specials so it never gets boring. On the market side of things, she is also going to be selling items that she uses in her meals – some fresh produce, spices and other specialty items.

Comerford said the move came after feeling for a while like she wanted to grow beyond her tiny studio space at 385 Daniel Webster. She had a very small kitchen that was cramped and when she and her catering assistant Sharon were both in there, they constantly felt like they were tripping over each other.

Then she found out that the owners were looking to possibly sell the property. She and her husband Bill looked into buying and expanding there, but it fell through and was probably meant to be.

When she decided to look into her new location, she immediately knew she was home.

It was practically a turnkey operation. Everything was brand new when Food To-Go Depot opened in 2010. She took on a huge walk-in cooler, a kitchen with more space than her old kitchen and storefront had combined, a band new stove with eight burners instead of six, gleaming pots and pans, food preparation and storage. Oh so much storage.

“It's just amazing the equipment I acquired,” Comerford said.

Comerford is not just making her living off of selling food to hungry customers, however. She's also a caterer and uses her kitchen to prep and cook all of her food. She hasn't advertised the catering heavily, though, because it was often a challenge in her smaller kitchen. But now that she has the space that she needs, she's hoping to get that aspect of her business off the ground.

And she's really excited for a new add-on to the business: a cooking class.

Tucked in a space behind one of the coolers is a dining room table set to compliment the warm yellow walls. The table will be a place for her new cooking class customers to eat if they so wish following their lesson (they can also take the food home if they prefer). The table will also be a spot for Comerford to serve her clients who come in to work out a catering menu for their event.

“When I do the cooking classes, we'll start with a basic recipe and people can tweak it to their own tastes,” Comerford said.

She's hoping to start the classes in the fall and plans to offer them a couple times a week.

Despite being closed a week longer than she'd hoped after shutting her old location, Comerford said it was obviously for a reason, but she's ecstatic for the doors to her new shop to open today.

She will be open Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., closed Friday-Sunday for catering.

“I really love what I do,” Comerford said. “I have a great passion for food. I don't take criticism lightly and if people don't like something, I'm always willing and looking to improve.”