A menu with care
Agapé Family Restaurant owner Georgette Chmura and manager/supervisor Jeremy Day stand in the dining area of the restaurant on Route 40 in Scenery Hill. It is expected to open Feb. 10.
Exterior of the new Agapé Family Restaurant on Route 40 in Scenery Hill
That’s Agapé with an accent. An accent on caring.
“Agapé is Greek and it means unconditional love,” Georgette Chmura said. “Our goal here is to involve family.
“Family values have gone down the drain. People have become so busy, so microwaveable instead of sitting down and having a nice home-cooked meal with their family. We want to get back to that.”
To that end, she is launching Agapé Family Restaurant on Route 40, along a strech of National Road with relatively few dining options, in an area where hungry oil and gas workers proliferate.
Appropriately, it will be in a space previously occupied by Frosty Kiss, a once-popular ice cream destination, and in the same building as the Scenery Hill Post Office.
And, even more appropriately, the restaurant will open Feb. 10, Valentine’s week. Cupid, draw back your bow.
Agapé will be open for lunch and dinner, although the owner and her manager, Jeremy Day, plan to eventually expand staff, hours and meal offerings. The time frame for adding breakfast, they said, is predicated on several factors, including restaurant success and finding a sufficient number of qualified employees. Breakfast orders may be taken as early as 6 a.m.
Hours initially will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday.
The Sunday shutdown is a no-brainer. “We’re Christians,” said Chmura, like Day, a member of Christian Assembly of God in Bentleyville, where they met.
Christian- and family-related messages, drawings and photos adorn the walls of the dining room, with a seating capacity of 50. “We also have a Steeler wall,” Chmura said. “That’s our team, win or lose.”
Alcohol will not be part of the Agapé team and cell phone use will be dissuaded. Profanity will not be tolerated – violators, according to a sign, will be summarily bounced. The dining experience will include the soothing sounds of K-Love radio, a Christian music network.
“We’re not telling people how to live,” Chmura said, “but we want an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. We’re all about family.”
Truckers, of course, are common on Route 40 – and frequently traveling solo or with one co-worker. Chmura assures they will be received warmly.
“Even if you’re not with your family, don’t feel that you’re not welcome. We will be your family.”
The Agapé family of home-cooked entrees includes lasagna, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbages, steaks and burgers. There will be daily specials, free drink refills, and Visa, MasterCard and Discover will be accepted.
Gordon Food Service is the supplier, although Day said he and Chmura want to support local farmers.
“Anyone selling produce should contact us,” he said.
The two are eagerly anticipating the grand opening Feb. 10, a Tuesday, offering a free appetizer to the first 50 guests.
They also will have a Valentine’s special the following Friday and Saturday: $35 per couple, with a choice of three entrees — stuffed chicken breast, shrimp, a steak dish — plus vegetable, potato, salad and a dessert to share.
Reservations are recommended at 724-986-2426.
Scenery Hill, for the uninitiated, is just that: a village largely on a bluff with fabulous vistas of valleys to the north and south. The back window of the Agapé dining room affords such a view.
Renovations have been minimal, although Chmura said she had to “scrub everything” inside. A lot of dust and debris had accumulated since Frosty Kiss shut down in 2011. Agapé passed its health inspection Tuesday.
Chmura is keeping the front window through which Frosty Kiss devotees ordered, paid for and received frosty treats. During warm-weather months, Agapé customers can go there for ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, fries and similar items.
Parking is not plentiful in the front, with several spaces reserved for the post office, but there is room for about 10 vehicles around the left side of the restaurant.
She is leasing from Frank Satina, owner of the building, with whom she intitiated talks in November. A mere two-plus month later, Chmura and Day are preparing for launch.
For the owner, it’s the realization of a longtime ambition. “I started dreaming about this probably 30 years ago,” said Chmura, of Scenery Hill. “I love to cook and everyone has told me, ‘You need to open a restaurant.’
“The only thing I had ever done in a restaurant was be a waitress, but I’m a homemaker, so I can run a restaurant.”
Caring for diners should be simple compared with what Chmura has had to deal with personally and professionally. No only do she and husband Ed have four children and three grandchildren, she is a two-time cancer survivor and a critical care nurse.
For a while, Chmura was on staff simultaneously at Uniontown Hospital and Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. She left Uniontown after 11 years and now works part time at Mon General.
For now, Chmura and Day will do much of the cooking. Day, who has a master’s degree in business administration, will handle many of the daily operations.
Day, 34, has a varied and interesting professional background. He is from Fredericktown, a 1998 Beth-Center High graduate who has been a professional photographer and worked in catering. Day recently returned home after 11 years in Colorado.
“A restaurant is more steady (than catering),” he said.
At this time, only Chmura, Day and maintenance man John Yankura are on the payroll, although interviews for cooks, servers and other staff are beginning. A staff of 12 to 15 is the short-range plan.
Chmura sighed as an interview wound down inside the dining room last week. The project has been ambitious, she said, but certainly worthwhile.
“This has been a lot of hard work, she said, “but I’m not afraid of hard work. And I’ve really wanted to do this.”