| Landmark
cafe returns
By
Tara Nelson
Carol’s
Coffee Cup is back, and it has a new name.
The popular Deming restaurant attracted hordes of customers
for more than 27 years, but closed when it became too busy
for its owners – the Hillard family – to keep
up.
So, in January of 2001, the Hillards closed the restaurant’s
doors, much to the dismay of its loyal customers.
“People were pretty heartbroken,” said Kathy
Hillard, daughter of the restaurant’s founders, Carol
and Bill Vander Yacht. “Mom was especially upset.
She really wanted it to stay open. But I was basically
tired.”
Hillard, along with her younger sister, Susie O’Connor,
kept the building occupied by opening Carol’s Girls
Catering inside.
O’Connor already owned a small catering
company and Hillard said she liked the idea of working
with her sister. Catering, however, also proved too much
work and didn’t leave enough time for family, Hillard
said.
“We had a lot of fun,” O’Connor said. “But
catering is a lot of hard work with a lot of nights and
weekends. We just wanted to have more of a structured lifestyle.
So after five years, we said, ‘Okay, that’s
enough.’”
On December 1, Hillard and O’Connor decided to give
the restaurant business a second chance. They continued
the operation at the same location – a small lot
surrounded by trees just off the Mt. Baker Highway – but
with fewer hours, to give them more time for their families.
And they would name the restaurant Carol’s Girls
Café.
Customers can expect the same items as before but with
some additions such as an expanded menu, a walk-up espresso
window, wireless Internet and more vegetarian items.
The restaurant is still a family affair, with Hillard and
O’Connor’s mother, Carol, employed as a cook
on Friday and Saturday. But most importantly, Hillard will
continue to bake the popular cinnamon rolls and pies that
made the restaurant famous.
“Everything except the hamburger buns is homemade,” she
said.
One thing the new restaurant lacks, however, is the Carol’s
Coffee Cup deep fryer. Hillard and O’Connor sold
that when they closed that restaurant.
“We didn’t need deep fryers in catering,” O’Connor
said. “So it was a very conscious decision to not
bring them back.”
“Plus, it makes such a difference in the way it smells
in here,” Hillard added.
French fries or not, customers wasted no time forming lines
outside the building on the opening day.
“We continued to sell out every day for about three
weeks,” O’Connor said. “It was amazing
the response that the community had. One customer told
me, ‘Thanks for coming back.’”
Carol’s Girls Café is open from 6 a.m. to
2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and can be reached by calling
592-5922.
|
ARCHIVES
