By DOUG DONNELLY
Advance Editor
A Blissfield icon is back.
The Stable restaurant opened Friday to customers for the first time in years as the landmark business served customers drinks and food on opening night.
“It felt good to have the doors open again,” said Maria Carrico, who is overseeing all operations of The Stable. “Everyone seemed happy and excited to be there. The food looked great and people seemed thrilled with it being open again.”
The initial two nights were for invited guests only. This week, The Stable is open by reservation only as they build up to a full open bar and restaurant.
“It went really well, but we are still amping up,” Carrico said. “It will be a couple of weeks. The controlled environment for a couple of weeks will be nice for us to get going.”
The American Farm Museum and Education Center board began its re-tooling of The Stable facility last fall and have been working since, updating the inside of the business and getting all of the necessary inspections done. The result of five years of being closed meant some things had to be replaced and things like the fire suppression system was out of date.
During that process The Stable switched chefs and had some staff turnover. Some last-minute repairs in early July pushed the opening back by about a week.
Those fixes have been all made and now it’s time for the staff to get up to speed with a full-scale restaurant.
“We are using this first night to prepare and train the staff,” said Melissa Tsuji, the AFMEC board president, on opening night. “It’s a wonderful night and everything is going well so far.”
Carrico said one of the biggest things staff had to learn was some back-end items like using the computer and communicating customers’ orders to the kitchen.
“We are all learning,” she said.
The menu is nostalgic, offering appetizers like “Stable Grazing Board,” which is a mix of sausage, Prosciutto, hand selected cheeses and Mediterranean Olives, the “Angry Brussels Sprouts” and the “Short Rib Potato Cakes,” that was an instant favorite. The “Buffalo Blue Deviled Eggs” features farm fresh eggs.
There are also several variations of burgers, “Stable Stacks,” which are sandwiches like a grilled Reuben or “Up-North Grilled Cheese” and a variety of salads to choose from.
Sides include french fries and sweet potato fries with a dipping sauce.
There are also cocktails, wine and beer on the menu plus a dessert menu that is brought out after the meal is finished.
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