Pictured getting ready for their Friday restaurant opening are the workers at the You Pick restaurant. From left: Lacie Swenn, Renae Stewart, Brandy Stewart and Riley Beeler.
The doors open at 7 a.m. today for Renae Stewart's new restaurant, to be known as You Pick, located in the building formerly known as Red's.
Breakfast will be served until 11 a.m., either by use of the drive-through window or in the usual sit-down area. She says the business will be open seven days per week until 9 p.m. in the evening, except closing after lunch on Sunday. She encourages telephone orders to be placed in advance for speedy service at the drive-through window. The number is 327-8047.
The type of food to be served was determined by surveying a lot of people, and from volunteered suggestions. Stewart said, "The bottom line is everybody wants a good chicken-fried steak, they want mashed potatoes and everybody wants breakfast."
Her daytime cook will be Michael West and the evening cook will be Jordan Flynt. So far, the wait staff consists of Lacie Swenn, Riley Beeler (daughter), Kelsi Smith and Brandy Stewart (stepdaughter).
Stewart comes from a long line of restaurant operators. Her great-grandmother cooked for railroad crews from a kitchen in a railroad car.
"Then my grandmother was next," she said. "I remember washing dishes at age 7 in her restaurant in McIntosh, South Dakota, on an Indian reservation. Later, my mother established Buffalo Billies in Rapid City, South Dakota."
Stewart ended up moving to Alva in 1989, then after a five-year detour to Arizona, she returned to take a job as the cook at the Bill Johnson Correctional Center in 1995. She still holds that job.
"I've wanted a restaurant for a long time, and I needed it to come at the right time," she said. "This opportunity came a couple years early because I'm not retired from BJCC yet, but it has been a blessing. The community has pitched in to help. When they see us down here working, they'll knock on the door and ask if there is anything they can do to help," she said tearfully.
In defining her price category, she said, "Well, we didn't swipe prices from other people. I want to say we are very fairly priced. We use a formula to compute our menu prices and they are very competitive."
The menu shows a huge variety of selections. For example, the breakfast menu includes biscuit and gravy at $1.99, cinnamon roll at $1.49 or sausage (bacon, ham, etc) egg and cheese biscuit for $3.59.
A small sampling of the lunch menu has a salad bar at $7.99, taco salad at $4.99 and sirloin steak at $9.99. The french dip sandwich is $5.99 and a loaded Ranger Burger is $6.99. There are many items in the appetizer category along with 27 side dish choices.
Stewart pledges time-aware food service. She expects breakfast orders to be out in ten minutes. She said lots of people eat out during the noon hour and they cannot be late at returning to work. "I know," she said. "That's exactly my situation at my other job at BJCC."
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