Aug
4
Written by:
ngreditor
8/4/2009 10:02 PM
 |
| Welcome, Danette and Larry Edgell, at the opening of their new restaurant. |
Good food, home food: Yai-Ya’s opens Thursday
Kenneth Purscell
As soon as you enter you can see it. A lot of hours, sweat, and labor have gone into the renovation of the old Hombre Lounge on the main street of Newman Grove. Now the preliminaries are almost done. On Thursday, August 6, Yai-Ya’s will be open for business. Danette Edgell, the new owner, is getting ready to cook.
“I like to say I was raised by a ‘pack of wolves,’” she says. “I was raised by four Greek women, each of whom had a restaurant.”
She and her husband Larry moved from Washington State to Nebraska recently. After working in the hospital food service at Genoa for about a year, she was looking for an opportunity to open a restaurant of her own.
“God led us to Newman Grove and to this opportunity,” she says.
The menu at Yai-Ya’s will focus on home style foods. Much of it will be familiar: burgers, sandwiches, potato salad. But there will also be some variations on these themes.
“I’m going to offer a sandwich called ‘It’s Greek to Me,’” she said, “with a tomato-basil bread. And there will be chicken that is brined and then deep-fried. I did that recently for a wedding, and the leftovers from that chicken stayed moist forever.”
Danette says that there will be pizzas later. Friday nights will be prime rib, but steaks and seafood will be available every night. Saturdays will feature home style meatloaf “and everything that goes with it.” Sunday evenings will be turkey dinner.
She plans to introduce a Greek palate to the community slowly. “Nobody here knows or likes spanikopita,” Danette said. However, when I replied that I know and love the spinach- based dinner—not to mention my fondness for moussaka and dolmathes (look them up)—she grew excited.
(I admit it: my personal hope is to encourage her to make the Greek introduction sooner rather than later.)
Desserts will be homemade, such as carrot cake, fried ice cream, and pies.
The opening will be on August 6. Hours are 11 am to 10 pm on Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 10 pm on Sunday.
“God has definitely led us to this place,” Danette says. We did not want to open until after church on Sunday.
For those from out of town, Yai-Ya’s is on Hale Ave. (our main street), two blocks west of the high school, on the north side of the street. The home cooked food will make the trip to Newman Grove worthwhile.
“We welcome everyone from other communities around to come give us a try,” says Danette.
The hours of work are about over. On Thursday the real labor of love begins.
Copyright ©2009 Newman Grove Reporter