Freshness – that’s the key ingredient in what one will find at Simone’s Café and Confectioners.
Owner Valerie Simone said Monday that Andalusia’s newest eating establishment isn’t the “fried, fast-food” kind. Instead, it’s a “cloth napkin kind” featuring green salads, fresh deli sandwiches and soon, scrumptious dinners.
Simone, a former senior professional executive in human resources, said she, her husband and 16-year-old son are Philadelphia natives. The family relocated to the area after Simone’s parents retired here.
“Years ago, they were driving through the area and a week later, they bought a house here,” she said. “One of their favorite movies is ‘Doc Hollywood,’ and Andalusia has that quaint feel to it. So, we followed them here. We wanted to start a new life, and I thought that a family restaurant would give me that family balance I was looking for. I thought that Andalusia would be a fit for that.”
Since then, Simone has been devoted to realizing her dream of opening a restaurant.
For months, locals have watched with interest as the outside of the stone-fronted, former home of Eleanor Butler was transformed. Butler bequeathed the building to the Andalusia Academy of Ballet, who sold the building to Simone. Now, bright white trim and landscaping is nearly ready to invite diners in to enjoy a sit-down meal.
Inside, the transformation continued as years of neglect were stripped, painted and reassembled into a quaint eating establishment that features a more formal seating area, as well as a bakery.
“What we’re doing – it’s not gourmet,” she said. “It’s good food. It’s not sandwich meat on bread. It’s oven-baked ham, sliced, or for the French dip, a roast in its own au jus sauce.
“On the bakery side, this is things you’d find in an old-fashioned diner,” she said. “Apple pie a la mode with ice cream, muffins, cupcakes – something that goes great with a good cup of coffee. Not any of those specialty items. Like I said, I am not a gourmet cook.”
An outbuilding was also constructed for those to enjoy their lunch outdoors.
Simone said a “soft opening” will be held either the last week of March or first week in April. Hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, with the bakery open from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. and lunch served from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Simone said dinner will be served “about four to six weeks after the soft opening” from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
“That’s to give us time to properly training our staff,” she said. “We want to provide a great experience with great food.”
Dinner selections will include steaks, broiled fish, Gulf shrimp and about 12 entrees and different specials.
The restaurant will employ between five to 10 people, she said.
“Everyone here, especially the people with the city’s building department, have been so wonderful to offer their help,” Simone said. “I can’t wait to get things going.”
Even as area leaders joined LBW Community College and LBW Foundation officials to “break ground” for the foundation’s student housing project Friday, heavy equipment operators worked fervently in the background.
Park Lane Construction of Birmingham has only 180 days in its contract to get the $3 million, 24-unit Saints Hall ready for occupancy in the fall term, and company officials said they could pause for nothing.
Dr. Herb Riedel, LBW president, praised all who have been involved in the project, but especially the developer, Kent Campbell of Cubed LLC.
“We had been talking about this for a long time,” Riedel said. But until the agreement with the USDA, which is financing the project, was signed, Campbell was acting on faith, Riedel said.
The two-structure project will house 96 students in 24 four-bedroom apartments. The complex is being built just across the nature trail near the tennis courts.
Among those on hand for the event were Sen. Jimmy Holley, Rep. Mike Jones, state BOE member Tracy Roberts, project architect Bruce Herrington, developer Kent Campbell, and many local officials.
- Andalusia Star News
I f you heard it in the beauty parlor, it might be fodder for this year’s Red Garter Review, which opened at LBWCC’s Dixon Center last night to great laughs.
It was the Andalusia Junior Woman’s Club’s 30th annual show, themed “Sweet Home Alabama.”
“If you don’t know what the heck you’re doing, somebody else sure does,” co-host Hannah Merrell said as she introduced a skit set in “JayKay’s Beauty Salon” where Amy Dugger, a la Olympia Dukakis in “Steel Magnolias” pitched plans for her mayoral campaign. Tara Dalton’s character said good hair is important for a campaign.
“The DA, well he has those long, luscious locks. Judge Short has good hair. And Judge McGuire. Well, he used to have hair,” she said.
If District Attorney Walt Merrell ever had any secrets, his wife and co-host told them, including the story of when she fell in love with him.
“You know he was a long snapper in high school,” she said of an early date at the University of Montevallo. “I guess he was trying to impress me, because he told me to get way back and he’d snap the ball to me.”
She said that, like Andalusia, Montevallo is a small place where people know each other’s business.
“And everybody knew Walt went commando,” she said.
Just before the man who would be her husband snapped the ball, she said, the crotch of his khaki shorts ripped.
“It was love at first sight,” she said.
Tickets to the show, which runs again at 7 tonight, Sat., March 9, are $12 for general admission and $15 for reserved seating. Tickets are available at the door or from Ansley Place or Harold’s.
- Andalusia Star News
Community spirit matters.
That’s just one of the reasons Charles Anderson gave for moving Andalusia higher up on his In Search of Eden list of the top small cities in America.
Anderson is a retired high school geography and civics teacher who spent more than 50 years researching his list, which he released in January with Andalusia listed at No. 49, higher than any other city in Alabama. Last week, he notified The Star-News that he has had reason to revise the list, and has moved the city to No. 44.
“You have replaced Livingston Montana at No. 44, as I decided that they had a bit too much wind during the coldest months,” Anderson wrote.
Andalusians’ embrace of the designation also contributed to the move, Anderson said.
- Andalusia Star News
Eat better, feel better, that’s what Tropical Smoothie Café hails as its slogan, and soon Andalusia residents will have the opportunity to try the menu.
Skip Enzor, of the local Little Caesars/Tropical Smoothie Café, said the menu boasts fresh, healthy and flavorful food and smoothies.
The menu includes toasted wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads and gourmet salads made fresh with high quality meats and cheeses and serves them with fresh produce and appetizing sauces.
“We’ll always have fresh food,” he said. “Our truck will run twice a week, so nothing will sit on the shelf for very long. We want the freshest quality we can give our customers.”
There’s also a kids menu with wraps, cheese quesadillas, salads and cheese pizza.
Another feature Enzor said people may not know is that they have an all-day breakfast menu with items such as wraps, sandwiches and bagels ranging in price from $1.59 to $3.99.
And smoothies are a big part of the business with kids’ smoothies, supercharged smoothies, indulgent smoothies, and low-fat smoothies.
Supplements such as energizer, ground flax seed, vitamin-C immune complex, multi-vitamin, weight management, whey or soy protein and whole grain oats are available.
Smoothie flavors range from Sunny Day, which is a mango, banana, orange and kiwi combination, to Triple Berry Oat, which is a strawberry, blueberry, cranberry, multi-vitamin, ground flax seed, whole grain oats, whey protein and Splenda combo.
And for those in a hurry, orders should never take more than six minutes, Enzor said.
But what Enzor said will set Tropical Smoothie Café apart is the customer service.
“We will definitely be customer service-oriented,” he said. “It will be different in that you will be able to get consistent customer service. We’re going to have a plan more like Chick-fil-A, and we’re only going to keep those who have good customer service.”
The new café will open in the old Subway location next to Little Caesars on the West Bypass.
Opening day is March 14, and business hours will be Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., and from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday.
- Andalusia Star News