Red Barn Provides Warmth, Waffles

Toni Smith stared working at the Red Barn Restaurant as a waitress when she was 18 years old. Now, she, along with Jennifer Psota, who also used to work there, are its co-owners. The pair bought the restaurant from its previous owner, Keith Belotti, in 2007.

Belotti wanted to turn his restaurant over to owners who would continue its relaxed, family friendly, country-style atmosphere.  According to waitress Amanda Maloney, employee of three years, he succeeded.

"My bosses are the best bosses you could ask for," she said. "Our bosses keep us happy, so it is easy for us to keep the customers happy."

The restaurant opens at 6 a.m. and serves breakfast and lunch until 4 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on weekends during July and August. Currently, Smith and Psota are considering opening two nights a week for dinner beginning in the fall.

The establishment also does catering for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
   
Business has been booming for The Red Barn Restaurant for about fifty years. The stores that now surround the little restaurant were initially nonexistent. The Red Barn was originally a farm. One of its seating areas, which takes up practically half the restaurant, was a produce market. The inner ambiance of the restaurant has not totally lost its farm charm. The dining room consists of wooden picnic tables and a picture of a rooster, the restaurant's so-called "mascot," that hangs in the corner.

The Red Barn Restaurant has plenty of signature dishes and specials. One of its most popular is The Nibbler sandwich, sometimes known as the "meaty" sandwich, which consists of a choice of meat (taylor ham, bacon, or sausage), hash browns, eggs and cheese. The specials include whole wheat waffles, donned with walnuts, cranberries, and cinnamon apples and the Red White and Blue, which is a specialty waffle topped with strawberries, bananas, and blueberries.

Cheryl Gasrer, waitress at The Red Barn Restaurant for eleven years, also points out the restaurant also offers healthy choices, such as egg white omelets and Weight Watchers toast. Everything is homemade, including the pumpkin pie and cranberry crumb cake dessert, to name a few.

The restaurant also takes part in plenty of fundraisers for special causes, such as Relay for Life. It has already participated in fifteen fundraiseing dinners so far this year.
   
Both Smith and Psota emphasize on the warmth that The Red Barn Restaurant brings.

"It heals people who are hurting," Psota said. "When people are lonely, they can come here and be with people."

"Sometimes the same people come in three times a day," Smith said. "Employees and customers are all family. Everybody seems to know each other."