Hanover
That’s the case with each of a quartet of new restaurants in the Upper Valley in which four families have tapped their culinary backgrounds — or simple love of cooking and hospitality — to open eateries in Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield and West Hartford. Two of the eateries are the latest ventures from restaurant veterans; the two other mark the first time the families have struck out on their own.
Operating a restaurant can be a brutal business. The hours are long. The busiest time of the day for workers — lunchtime, dinner and weekends — by definition is the leisure time of everyone else. There is no repose: the sole two modes at work are standing or rushing. The pay? Modest. The financial rewards? It’s a long shot. Restaurants have a notoriously high failure rate.
Still, it’s not always all about money. For many, opening their own eatery is the realization of a long-time ambition, a sign of independence and a demonstration of optimism. When asked why they opened a restaurant, given all the challenges the business entails, the reply often begins with the same three words: “I’ve always wanted …”
Interviewing and spending time with the families behind each of the new restaurants reveals how this country both attracts people looking for economic opportunity as well as affirms it for those who were born here. Two of the restaurants involve families who originally come from other countries and are bringing the cuisine of their native culture to the Upper Valley; the two others are Upper Valley residents who know what their communities like to eat: simple and hearty Northern New England fare.
All have found room; now they just hope to find appetites.
The Deli and Sandwich Shop
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” explained Renee Herrel-Plante, who along with son, Jeremy Herrel and help from daughters, Krystle and Alicia, opened Nazy’s Deli & Bakery in the former West Hartford Village Store building on Route 14 in West Hartford on April 1. After years spent working at Ramunto’s Flash Fired Pizza in Claremont and Briar Rose Deli in Quechee, Herrel-Plante said she wanted to “run my own kitchen.”
Herrel-Plante and her adult children — Jeremy also works at Vermont Spirits in Quechee — scraped together savings for three years before finding the space in West Hartford, which briefly reopened as a deli following Tropical Storm Irene before closing and being remodeled by the property owner. In a couple weeks, Herrel-Plante will move from Claremont into the apartment above the deli.
Every little bit of money helped, Herrel said, “even if was just dropping a dollar into the jar.” They eventually saved $10,000, enough to secure a lease and buy some equipment (the space already had ovens and refrigerators installed). “We didn’t want to go into debt.”
Nazy’s — the name is how Herrel-Plante’s grandchildren pronounced “Renee” — is currently in a “soft opening” period with a “half menu” before it officially opens on Mother’s Day, May 8. Jeremy Herrel said the emphasis will be on fresh ingredients — “we don’t have any freezers” — for his mother’s recipes of such menu items as the “steak tip sub” (marinated in bourbon-barrel aged syrup) and thin-crust pizza (cut into squares, not triangles) and fresh-baked breads, pies and muffins.
Although the stretch along Route 14 in West Hartford where Nazy’s was heavily damaged during Irene and has taken a long time to recover, Jeremy Herrel said he believes the deli’s location is well-suited to cater to local residents who would either have to drive into Sharon or Hartford Village and White River Junction to get something to eat. He also hopes to entice hikers coming off the Appalachian Trail — Nazy’s is situated between the trailheads on either side of the White River — with an ice cream stand and outdoor deck that will be overseen by his own children this summer.
“There’s your summer business,” Herrel said.
Herrel he said he focuses on the business side while his mom and sisters see to the food preparation and cooking. Unlike most restaurants and stores, they’ve decided to forgo working through a distributor for supplies, and instead source locally — Cabot Creamery for all dairy needs, Liberal Beef Co. in Claremont for meats, Market Basket in Claremont and BJ’s in West Lebanon for basic ingredients.
Eventually, if things go well, Herrel said they will turn the back room into a sitting area for served meals, but that will come only after he and his mother and sisters think the business can support the expansion. One thing they don’t have to worry about, however, is hiring.
“We have a big enough family that we can handle anything,” Herrel said.
The Hip Thai Eatery
Kata “Bobby” Chompupong, at 26, is a veteran of the restaurant business. His family has operated several Thai restaurants in Vermont, including Bangkok Minute Thai Cafe in Shelburne, Bangkok Bistro in Burlington, Bangkok Bistro on the Hill in Stowe and Bangkok Thai Cuisine in Killington.
Now on his second solo venture, Chompupong opened Kata Thai Kitchen at 6 Allen St. in Hanover, in the basement space formerly occupied by Metro Bakery & Cafe and across the street from Everything But Anchovies. He has brought in his father, Thai chef Champ Chompupong, to run the kitchen in what Kata Chompupong describes as a casual eatery targeting the Dartmouth College crowd with the kind of inventive Thai-fusion cuisine often found served from food trucks in college towns.
Although Hanover already has two other Thai restaurants, Chompupong said his place, which opened Jan. 9, is more about “larger portions, lower price” — no dish is more than $10.95 — and focuses on “noodles, rice and curries” rather than a sit-down-and-dine experience. The basement space affords room for only about eight tables. “I’m going for that diamond-in-the-rough concept,” he said.
He emphasized all the dishes are prepared fresh daily, with many of the ingredients purchased at Asian markets in Boston. He notes his father was trained as a chef in Thailand, and his mom.
Kata Chompupong — he said “Kata” means “skillet” or “frying pan” in Thai, a stab at baby-naming humor by Chompupong’s parents — said the family picked Hanover as its latest restaurant site while making college tours with his sister, now a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and on the way down from Burlington would stop at Exit 20 in West Lebanon for something to eat, only to discover the predominance of fast-food chains.
Touring West Lebanon, Lebanon and Hanover, they eyed an opening in the market.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t know there were two other Thai restaurants in town when I signed the lease,” Chompupong said. “I knew there was one. But I’m not afraid. We’re not a full-service restaurant.”
Still, because of Kata Thai’s modestly priced menu and the restaurant’s “quick-in, quick-out” style, the eatery is more in the vein of the town’s other off-campus student destination eatery, Boloco. “There’s not a lot of places here where students can go” for a quick, filling, and relatively cheap meal, he said.
The Greek Classic
Steve Kritikos grew up in Sparta, Greece, but has owned Village Pizza and The Cave bar in downtown Lebanon for 28 years. The eatery and sports bar has served a no-thrills menu of pizza, burgers and chicken carbonara to faithful clientele at its location in the Commerce Building on the Lebanon Village Mall.
Still, despite his success, Kritikos felt now was the time to try an idea he’d been harboring.
“I always wanted to do a Greek restaurant,” he said, sitting at a custom-made navy blue banquet before a table draped with a rich dining cloth in a new area remodeled and set off from the shared space within his restaurant. “A place where you can hear Greek music and eat Greek food.”
Kritikos calls his restaurant-within-a-restaurant Santorini Taverna, named after the Greek island in the Aegean Sea famous for its whitewashed houses that sit atop an ancient volcanic caldera and is one the world’s top tourist destinations. Kritikos said he got the idea for the restaurant when he visited the island last year on vacation. “I went there with my family and I got inspired,” he said.
Santorini Taverna opened March 22 for dinner only, although in a few weeks Kritikos hopes to expand hours to the lunch crowd “once word hopefully gets around.”
The menu features such classic Greek dishes as arni fasolakia kokkinista (braised lamb, green beans and potatoes in tomato sauce) and the “Greek tavern favorite” paidakia (lamb chops roasted with lemon potatoes.)
“We took my mother’s recipes,” Kritikos said, pointing on the menu to a dish called youvetsi, described as a “traditional Sunday staple in most Greek homes” and made from chicken or lamb and a “hearty orzo” baked in a “rich tomato sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese.”
The chefs are Kritikos himself and his wife, Louiza Kritikos.
Kritikos did not stint in designing an ambiance meant to evoke Greece and Santorini — a giant painting he commissioned of the Parthenon temple dedicated to the Goddess Athena hangs on one wall, as does a stylized mosaic of a Greek woman bearing a basket of fruit composed out of 26,000 tiny colored tiles. Two white statues of Greek goddesses stand on the floor.
He allows the renovation cost upward of six figures, although he doesn’t want to divulge the precise amount.
The Country Tavern
“Originally my daughter and I wanted a little cafe, but everybody said if you’re going to have tea and sandwiches, you should have other stuff, and then it snowballed into a restaurant,” explained Priscilla Wheeler, who along with her husband, Robert, opened The Olde Village Haunt tavern on Route 12A in Plainfield last November.
The Wheelers have kept their day jobs — she’s a quality assurance inspector for the Defense Contract Management Agency and her husband works at Geokon in Lebanon — and “the Haunt” is open only for lunch and dinners Friday and Saturday and brunch on Sunday. The cooking is done by Fred Morey, Priscilla’s brother, who has worked at the Hanover Inn and at restaurants in Las Vegas.
The Wheelers gutted the structure and spent three years renovating the 1830 post-and-beam building that is permitted to seat 26 and four at the beer-and-wine bar. “Everything is homemade. Fred totally believes in eating healthy. I make the desserts from scratch,” Priscilla said.
Indeed, the Olde Village Haunt, with its wood panel interior, serves hearty tavern fare such as a three-meat platter of pork cutlet, sausage and New York strip steak with a side of mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables ($15) and sword fish topped with fresh fruit salsa, parsley potatoes and green beans ($14) or lunch specials like chipped beef on toast ($6).
The reason the Wheelers named it “Olde Haunt” is because “weird things happened” during the renovation. “Doors opened and closed. … We do have a spirit,” Wheeler confides. At the same time, “haunt” is an old phrase for “gathering place,” she pointed out.
The Wheelers financed the restaurant by selling some stock Priscilla had acquired from work and rolling it into the property.
“So this is my retirement,” she said, laughing. They spent “probably more than I care to say” to open the restaurant. “It’s costly. I didn’t realize all the permits that are required.” But they managed to make purchases judiciously, hunting for equipment and furnishings sold by restaurants going out of business.
A four-person staff handles the operation. “I do the front with the bar,” Priscilla Wheeler explained. “I have one waitress. Robert helps Fred in the back. They are usually able to get out by 2 p.m. on Sundays to free up the afternoon.
As far as whether Olde Haunt Tavern is turning a profit, Wheeler understands the economics of the restaurant business requires patience. “Oh, heck no. Even my brother said it would take at least a year. I’m happy as long as it brings in enough to buy the food each week, pay wait staff, insurance and workman’s comp.”
The gratification comes in the enjoyment diners take in the “home-made” dinners and brunches. A growing number of the diners are repeat customers, Wheeler said, which engenders a warm atmosphere with people from Plainfield and surrounding towns. “It’s neat because you exactly who they are and what they want,” she said.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com or 603-727-3219.
