ryork
Senior Member
Very excited to hear your plans…but, but can you PLEASE not open on the dove opener??…oh well, nevermind, I’ll still be there(I forgot I have the first seating)
I doubt it will be that early!
Welcome Guest!
Gonna Give It a Shot! - UPDATE
- Thread starter ryork
- Start date
I doubt it will be that early!
ryork
Senior Member
Well, yesterday's hurdle has been cleared. Friday is now the next step to hopefully iron out a formal agreement on some things. I'm confident it will go well as I think everyone involved wants it to happen. After that, it will be like the old Jerry Reed song says, a long way to go and a short time to get there................
DynamicDennis
Senior Member
If I ever get up that way, I will certainly patronize your place.
Good luck my friend ! I’m sure you’ll be successful and if I’m ever in the area I’ll for sure give you a visit
ryork
Senior Member
Geffellz18
Senior Member
I was certain you’d be partnering up with that farm you frequent for a farm to table expansion!
Downtown placement could be a home run too, especially if they are revitalizing the area. Downtown Gainesville is now a hopping spot to be compared to even 5 years ago due to the Vision 2030 plan they established back in 2005 or so.
Looking forward to your journey and will most definitely make a trip to patronize when it all comes together!
Downtown placement could be a home run too, especially if they are revitalizing the area. Downtown Gainesville is now a hopping spot to be compared to even 5 years ago due to the Vision 2030 plan they established back in 2005 or so.
Looking forward to your journey and will most definitely make a trip to patronize when it all comes together!
ryork
Senior Member
Nothing easy these days........ still working on some details but we're at a point where I can share some details. I always practice a little reverse psychology so trying to temper my excitement still as until the OPEN light turns on I might not still believe it.
If anyone is familiar with Mentone AL, the location is going to be at Moon Lake Village. This is the former Moon Lake School just east of "downtown" Mentone. The school, which was built in 1911 I believe, never reopened after COVID. The City of Mentone has transformed it into an artisans center, and it is now the home of numerous artist studios, shops, and a couple of professional offices I believe. There is also a newly constructed amphitheatre and the location is the home of the annual Colorfest in October. The only currently unused part of the facility is the lunchroom. As far as school lunchrooms go, this one is small with the dining area being 1,350 sq ft. It has a full kitchen fully equipped and everything is built in ADA compliant. That was the draw along with the location. But, it looks like an elementary school lunchroom complete with Little Red Riding Hood paintings on the wall. The city is going to allow us to transform that dining room space, which is basically going to be a complete makeover of the walls, floor, ceiling and bathroom along the construction of a small bar area, a stage and a window into the kitchen. We will lease the space from the city and they've been incredibly gracious through this process and will be rent free while the renovations are taking place. There is something very similar in Athens KY called the Athens Lunchroom.
Our plan is have a coffee shop type atmosphere in the mornings up to four days a week (Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun) serving beignets with various dipping sauces, gourmet doughnuts and basic breakfast items. If this goes well, may extend it a couple more days. Can't disclose the master doughnut and beignet maker yet......... Lunch will be 3-4 days per week and be fairly simple. The evening offerings will be Thurs, Fri, and Sat and the plan is for a rotating seasonal menu with limited offerings of which a lot will have Creole type feel. I hope to make this reservation only with two seating times each night, that's it. Am considering even trying to have orders placed with reservations, not sure how that will go over. Open to anyone's opinion on that. All of that is in order to keep food costs low. We also plan on featuring quality professional live music offerings during the breakfast times and evening on the weekend days. Typically live music in restaurants is a turn off to me as it is usually not all that good and it is too loud. Those will be carefully selected. Eventually, we may add an outdoor seating area overlooking the amphitheatre.
As Mentone has a lot of weekend homes in that immediate area and a ton of visitors in the literally hundreds of rental cabins in the area during the summer for the waterfalls and swimming holes in the canyon, we want to take advantage of that, but also have something attractive to the full timers and locals. As restaurant options are fairly limited in this area, we're hoping to draw folks from all over NE AL and NW GA for the evening deal.
Have done a lot of planning and searching in order to remodel that space without spending a fortune. I've watched a few episodes of Restaurant Impossible...................................
Our goal is to open for a few test runs in Sept and be up and running full speed around the first week or so of Oct as thousands of people will be in town the third weekend for Colorfest. We're hoping to have some really good musical acts in there for that weekend.
I'm starting to getting excited and scared all at the same time. Interestingly, one of the first things I noticed when I went in the place the first time was a small mural on the wall in between all the nursery rhyme paintings and kid's drawings that were never taken down. It said "Life is a Grand Adventure or Nothing at All" ... Helen Keller. That's kind of how I'm looking at it..............
I'll post up some before and after photos as this moves along.
Appreciate ya'll!
If anyone is familiar with Mentone AL, the location is going to be at Moon Lake Village. This is the former Moon Lake School just east of "downtown" Mentone. The school, which was built in 1911 I believe, never reopened after COVID. The City of Mentone has transformed it into an artisans center, and it is now the home of numerous artist studios, shops, and a couple of professional offices I believe. There is also a newly constructed amphitheatre and the location is the home of the annual Colorfest in October. The only currently unused part of the facility is the lunchroom. As far as school lunchrooms go, this one is small with the dining area being 1,350 sq ft. It has a full kitchen fully equipped and everything is built in ADA compliant. That was the draw along with the location. But, it looks like an elementary school lunchroom complete with Little Red Riding Hood paintings on the wall. The city is going to allow us to transform that dining room space, which is basically going to be a complete makeover of the walls, floor, ceiling and bathroom along the construction of a small bar area, a stage and a window into the kitchen. We will lease the space from the city and they've been incredibly gracious through this process and will be rent free while the renovations are taking place. There is something very similar in Athens KY called the Athens Lunchroom.
Our plan is have a coffee shop type atmosphere in the mornings up to four days a week (Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun) serving beignets with various dipping sauces, gourmet doughnuts and basic breakfast items. If this goes well, may extend it a couple more days. Can't disclose the master doughnut and beignet maker yet......... Lunch will be 3-4 days per week and be fairly simple. The evening offerings will be Thurs, Fri, and Sat and the plan is for a rotating seasonal menu with limited offerings of which a lot will have Creole type feel. I hope to make this reservation only with two seating times each night, that's it. Am considering even trying to have orders placed with reservations, not sure how that will go over. Open to anyone's opinion on that. All of that is in order to keep food costs low. We also plan on featuring quality professional live music offerings during the breakfast times and evening on the weekend days. Typically live music in restaurants is a turn off to me as it is usually not all that good and it is too loud. Those will be carefully selected. Eventually, we may add an outdoor seating area overlooking the amphitheatre.
As Mentone has a lot of weekend homes in that immediate area and a ton of visitors in the literally hundreds of rental cabins in the area during the summer for the waterfalls and swimming holes in the canyon, we want to take advantage of that, but also have something attractive to the full timers and locals. As restaurant options are fairly limited in this area, we're hoping to draw folks from all over NE AL and NW GA for the evening deal.
Have done a lot of planning and searching in order to remodel that space without spending a fortune. I've watched a few episodes of Restaurant Impossible...................................
Our goal is to open for a few test runs in Sept and be up and running full speed around the first week or so of Oct as thousands of people will be in town the third weekend for Colorfest. We're hoping to have some really good musical acts in there for that weekend.
I'm starting to getting excited and scared all at the same time. Interestingly, one of the first things I noticed when I went in the place the first time was a small mural on the wall in between all the nursery rhyme paintings and kid's drawings that were never taken down. It said "Life is a Grand Adventure or Nothing at All" ... Helen Keller. That's kind of how I'm looking at it..............
I'll post up some before and after photos as this moves along.
Appreciate ya'll!
Cool Hand Luke
Senior Member
Gonna be good
Keep us posted
Keep us posted
slow motion
Senior Member
Good luck brother. Not that you'll need it.
Mexican Squealer
Senior Member
Love the progress pal. I think this is such a cool project and you got the skilz to crush it. I know you will! If you ever need crawfish, I know a guy….best of luck brother
Geffellz18
Senior Member
Creole-Crawfish=No Brainer partnership
ryork
Senior Member
Will keep that in mind!
Outstanding news. Looks like it's starting to take shape. I looked up Mentone on Goople Erf and it didn't look like much but after reading further into your post it sounds perfect. You're gonna be rich I tell ya! 
That's Awesome!!! Want to try to make your Grand Opening!!!! May God Bless your effort!!!
ryork
Senior Member
Thanks David! That would be an honor!
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Banning Mills runs their dinner reservations and ordering very similar to what you are describing. It seems to work well, they’ve been doing it for years. Pretty good details about it on their website. Best of luck to you sir.
ryork
Senior Member
Outstanding news. Looks like it's starting to take shape. I looked up Mentone on Goople Erf and it didn't look like much but after reading further into your post it sounds perfect. You're gonna be rich I tell ya!
Can’t lose money, but I
Thank you!
Can’t wait to see your progress ! Would be neat if you could somehow leave the mural on the wall or some of the kids drawings .
Good luck bud !
Good luck bud !
