Chestnut Cafe Reopens at Vito Gallo Building

It's been a long time coming.

Lisa Evers says she has customers telling her they've been waiting for years for the cafe at the Vito A. Gallo Buidling, otherwise known as the Senior Center, to open its doors.

The cafe was up and running several years ago but closed with the managers retired.

But on Oct. 5, Evers reopened the cafe to the seniors at the center and to the public.

"My whole life I've had a dream," she said. "I wanted to have a little cafe. But to me it was a pipe dream."

As the story goes, the Summit Housing Authority was looking to find someone to open the cafe so it could be reopened. A city employee doing work for a neighbor of Evers' after hours mentioned the city was looking for the right person.

Evers' neighbor said "I have the perfect person."

That person was Evers.

"It's really her baby," said Joann Sonmez, with Summit Housing Authority.

The cafe, which is open for breakfast between 7 and 11:30 a.m. accepts cash only and serves everything from buttered roll for $.75 to a grilled cheese with bacon on your choice of your bread for $3. Evers also serves bakes goods and special dishes such as quiche on Thursdays.

But what Evers said makes the Chestnut Cafe special is the friendly atmosphere.

"You can sit and anybody in here with have a conversation with you," she said.

"And the food is made with love," Sonmez said.