Rye's On the Way Cafe Reopens

Rye's On the Way Café is on its way back.

The ultra-popular diner has always had a strong local following, drawn by its folksy, out-of-the-way yet homey location, and its imaginative yet reasonably priced breakfasts and lunches, from bagels, bacon, steak and eggs to pastrami and roast beef sandwiches, burgers, soups and salads.

The eatery has been closed for around a year now, shuttered by, among other reasons, the economic downturn and an inability to get a zoning variance that would enable it to stay open to cater to the dinner crowd looking for a change of pace from Rye's downtown restaurant scene.

But the times are changing for On the Way, along with its menu and ownership, even though its offbeat location off Playland Parkway isn't.

The On the Way Café, located at 34 Ridgeland Terrace, about a block from Playland, off Forest Avenue, is scheduled to re-open today, April 27.

It has a new look, a new chef, and new ownership that includes long-time local roots.

Chef Joseph Mortelliti, a former stock broker and media consultant, who decided he preferred cooking to betting on the market and media spin, has honed his craft working at New York City and several area restaurants including, most recently, Aurora in Rye.

His partner is his uncle, George Degenhardt, a business professional from Greenwich as well as an amateur chef who knows one of On the Way's previous owners, Neil Vitalli, a Greenwich restaurateur.

Joseph's mom, Sara, who has been a hairdresser at Rye's Casual Hair for 30 years, helped put the decorative touches on the new On the Way. Joe's dad, Joseph, helped with the tile work and counter re-design as well as a kitchen facelift with a know how that comes from having worked construction in the family's native Calabria in Italy.

In another familial link, young Joe dates a relative of the previous owner, Ashley O'Brien, who bought On the Way from Vitalli to gain business experience several years ago when she first graduated college. She then decided she wanted to go the reverse route. She closed On the Way to go into the financial industry in Florida rather than cook, buy food, juggle menus and do all the little things that go into running a café.

But before she left, Ashley started introducing Italian dishes to go along with the standard On the Way American fare, many of them following the recipes of her grandmother, Della Basso, of Rye Manor.

And now Joseph Mortelliti said he also wants to take the On the Way menu in different directions, including more fish and Southern Italian dishes, while remaining faithful to the old traditional comfort food staples that whet the appetites of the old customer base.

He said he plans to revitalize the menu with a flair that comes from having paid his dues working in various restaurants for the past seven years, so he could be at home on almost any kind of cooking range until he could have a place of his own, which was his goal since he graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City in 2004.

His first job was working under one of his distinguished chef/teachers from school, Alex ouarnaschelli, at her renowned restaurant, NYC's Butter. He spent more than 270 hours learning what it takes to be a chef there, and stayed on for an extended period thereafter before moving on to work under three-star Michelin chef Fortunato Nicotra at the Zagat-preferred Felidia. Both stints helped hone his inbred yen for Italian cooking, a style he cultivated during frequent family visits back to the Italian bread basket of Reggio Calabria's Scilla in Southern red sauce Italy.

Next came stints with such top-notch Westchester restaurants as Abigail Kirsch in Tarrytown, Port Chester's Nessa and  Rye's Aurora. But Joe and his uncle said they had always wanted to own a little place of their own, and when they saw that On the Way Café was up for sale, it seemed the right time to make the move.

"We want to bring a touch of downtown restaurant dining to the Playland area right off Forest Avenue and near Rye Town Park, so we've taken away the luncheonette look to give the restaurant more of a downtown café feel," Degenhardt told Patch. "We know long time customers want the staples they remember, and they will all still be on the menu."

Degenhardt said there will still be the familial counter with stools so the casual diner can come in for his cup of coffee, bagels, bacon and egg staples. But Mortelliti said he would add more imaginative dishes like banana walnut pancakes, scrambled eggs with a truffle hollandaise sauce, various steak dishes and poached eggs with steamed asparagus tips.

Lunch, Mortelliti said, will include such old favorites as roast beef sandwiches, cheeseburgers, Philadelphia cheese steak sandwiches, soups and chicken scarpariello. Mortelliti also said he would also add such new touches as eggplant parmigiana and lemon-splashed filet of sole along with a $13 prix fixe menu. The new owners will also add picnic box lunches to cater to the Playland, Rye Town Park and Oakland Beach summer crowd.

Degenhardt said that down the line they may want to make another zoning change pitch to Rye so they can serve dinner at their unorthodox location, behind the Sunoco gas station, in front of the new Fine Flowers shop, and near Playland Market, with lots of free parking right outside of its door.

The problem is that forking away from the café space to the right as you walk in the door is a cluster of private homes in the Ridgeland Terrace area. In the past, neighbors have protested against the possibility of dinner traffic coming into the area at night.

Degenhardt and Mortelliti said they aren't looking to create any waves so the re-zoning pitch isn't in their current plans. Right now, though, they said their goal is to bring On the Way café all the way back to its former glory. Towards that end, they, and various family members, have been working hard to retain that old On the Way warm and inviting feeling while sprucing up the decor with a new softer color palette, better counter seating, a tile countertop and wooden flooring.  Their new culinary wrinkle, they said, will be an extended and improved menu. 

So everything old will become new again. Only the new On the Way now will be almost as much restaurant as cafe.

Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone: 921-CAFE (2233).