CLAREMONT — When Debbie Richards was 12 years old, she walked into Dusty’s Cafe looking for a job.
Sandra Lefebvre, who owned the Claremont business, told her to come back with the appropriate working papers, then she put Richards to work.
About five years later, Lefebvre sold the cafe and began splitting time between Claremont and California, where she opened another Dusty’s. Around 2019 she moved back to Claremont full-time, and later opened a food trailer called East and West, LLC. that Richards helped her run for two summers before it closed in 2024.
Now, almost 40 years after Richards walked through Lefebvre’s doors, the old friends and business partners are back with a new venture: Cardinal Cafe, an eatery in the Glidden Street building formerly occupied by One Way Bakery, which closed last summer.
Another longtime friend, Heather Marcott, 60, who also worked at the Claremont Dusty’s, has come on board to manage the cafe’s social media.
“We figured we’d do one last fun adventure together,” Richards, 49, said in an interview at the cafe.
Both Lefebvre, who is 69, and Richards are Stevens High School alumni, and the cafe’s decor pays tribute to their alma mater.
The school’s mascot, appears on the cafe’s mugs and decor, and in its name.
“We figured it would be good for the community,” to pay tribute to Stevens, Richards said, especially as the Claremont schools are struggling while the district digs itself out of a multi-million dollar budget deficit.
New Hampshire also gets a reference in the cafe’s slogan, and website name, “Eat well or die,” a play on the Granite State’s motto: “Live free or die.”
“We wanted to eat good, but still have something referencing New Hampshire,” Marcott said.
Cardinal Cafe’s menu offers classic diner fare of omelets, eggs, pancakes, home fries, coffee and espresso drinks, plus a lunch menu of burritos, wraps, hot dogs, salad and other offerings.
On Tuesday morning, friends Brian Vielguth and Cheston Lawrence, Richards’ cousin, polished off a heaping plate of loaded home fries topped with sour cream, melted cheese, bacon and green onions for $7, and an $11 loaded breakfast burrito, which comes packed with scrambled eggs, cheese, home fries, onions, peppers, salsa, sour cream, and a choice of bacon, ham or sausage.
Lefebvre, who manages the kitchen, cuts the home fries by hand and cooks them in bacon grease.
“They’re all crunchy, every one of them,” Vielguth said.
At the cafe’s long diner-style bar, Bob Hillsgrove, 90, tucked into a bowl of oatmeal and a plate of crispy bacon. He wrapped one of the bacon pieces in a paper napkin to feed to his 8-pound chihuahua, Tonka, when he got home.
Hillsgrove, a Claremont resident, had eaten at the cafe the day before, too. “The food’s good,” he said, and he couldn’t be bothered making himself breakfast while his wife was away on a cruise.
“I’m glad this place is here,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s the only place open today.”
Indeed, few food establishments are open on Mondays in Claremont, which is part of why Lefebvre and Richards opted to be open Monday through Saturday, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The owners lease Cardinal Cafe’s building for $1,200 a month from the First Congregational Church next door.
The cafe’s opening marks a new adventure for Marcott, Lefebvre and Richards, but for Richards it also coincides with a period of newfound sobriety after years of heavy drinking, which worsened during COVID-19.
Richards tried getting sober by going to rehab, but she was back to drinking about four months later.
Then a few years ago, she was at church and prayed that God wouldn’t let her visit the liquor store next door when she left. When the service finished, she walked past the store without going in, which started a new period of sobriety that she’s maintained in part by attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, getting a sponsor, and finding new friends and work.
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“I really respect her. She’s such a kind, thoughtful person,” longtime friend Brian Gobin said in an interview at the cafe. Gobin used to work with Richards at Family Dollar in Claremont and has since quit drinking himself.
“It’s good to see her open up something with her friends,” he said.
When the time’s right, Lefebvre plans to make Richards the sole owner of the cafe.
“I think that Debbie has proven herself. She works really hard,” Lefebvre said.
CORRECTION: Cardinal Cafe opened in the building formerly occupied by One Way Bakery. A previous version of this story provided an incorrect name for the bakery.
