Casey’s is a family enterprise — a quality particularly visible on the day I visited this small eatery on State Street in Shelburne Falls. I went during school vacation week so Casey Kotright-Clark was joined, as she often is, by her three children, Aksel (almost 6), Jaxon (10) and Jaiden (12).
Jaiden pointed proudly to the black-and-white photograph of the three youngsters in aprons that adorns a wall of the restaurant. Clearly, the boys feel deeply involved in the business owned by their parents.
Father Joey Kotright-Clark was working at another job when I stopped in, but he often takes shifts behind the counter at Casey’s, which specializes in grinders, pizzas, salads, and soft-serve ice cream.
The restaurant adjoins the Shelburne Falls “Wash ‘n’ Wire” laundromat in a festive-looking building the color of a particularly bright butternut squash.
Since taking over a year ago, Casey Kotright-Clark told me, the family has tried to maintain the pizza/grinder menu familiar to customers of the previous owner while adding its own touches to the selections.
Kotright-Clark, who grew up in Shelburne Falls, maintains a garden, cans vegetables and fruits in season, and raises her own chickens. She wanted to bring her emphasis on healthy homemade food to the menu.
“We freshened everything up” she explained, noting that she uses local produce whenever possible in her dishes and purchases her beef from Wheelview Farm in Shelburne.
She and her staff make their own tomato sauce, meatballs and dough. They also hand cut Casey’s regular and sweet-potato fries — and hand toss each pizza.
Kotright-Clark has worked in education over the years, but has also held a variety of jobs in restaurants.
I asked about her culinary training. “I’m self-taught,” she said. “I began with ‘The Moosewood Cookbook’ and Mollie Katzen … Mentors helped me get more creative and comfortable with my cooking. I’m very passionate about it.”
Kotright-Clark identified the steak and cheese grinder, the taco salad, and just about any pizza as the most popular items on her menu. Her current personal favorite is the antipasto salad. This colorful plate includes greens, artichoke hearts, hummus, capicola, roasted red peppers and Kotright-Clark’s own pickled onions.
Kotright-Clark said she hopes to expand her menu in the coming months. “I’d like to do Panini sandwiches, maybe rotisserie chicken, and some hot dinner items,” she said. Casey’s is in the process of acquiring a beer and wine license, which should please its customers.
The Kotright-Clarks are working to make the ambiance at Casey’s more welcoming. They expect to have booths instead of tables along the walls soon, making it easier for families to eat together.
The restaurant already has plenty of color, with graceful handwritten menu items on the wall, festive lights above the counter, and a pinball machine in the corner to entertain diners waiting for food.
Casey’s is open seven days a week, so life is busy for the Kotright-Clarks, and running this enterprise has required some adjustments. “It’s beginning to feel … I won’t say ‘balanced,’ but it’s more integrated into our life,” Casey Kotright-Clark said with a smile.
Asked how he likes the restaurant business, young Jaiden Kotright-Clark said it suits him just fine. “But I’m hungry,” he added, looking longingly at a slice of pizza. His mother calmly and quickly made sure that her children were fed before returning to the kitchen.
Casey Kotright-Clark sent me home with this flavorful salad featuring beef from Wheelview Farm and a spicy cumin dressing. It made a delightful lunch.
Ingredients:
for the cumin dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Sriracha
for the salad:
2 cups mixed greens
thinly sliced red onion to taste
1 small to medium tomato, thinly sliced
shredded carrots to taste
6 ounces thinly sliced Wheelview Farm beef
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Instructions:
First, prepare the dressing by whisking together all the ingredients. You will have more dressing than you need, but if you refrigerate it you may use it again and again.
Next, place the greens on a medium-size plate. Sprinkle the onion and tomato slices on top, followed by the shredded carrots.
Quickly grill or pan fry the beef to the doneness of your choice, cutting it into bite-size pieces and sprinkling on salt, pepper, and garlic powder as you cook. (It will take very little time to cook the beef if you slice it thinly enough.) Sprinkle the beef pieces on top of the salad, and drizzle dressing over all.
Serves 1.
Tinky Weisblat of Hawley is the author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook” and “Pulling Taffy.” If you have a suggestion for a future Blue Plate Special, please email Tinky at Tinky@TinkyCooks.com. For more information about Tinky, visit her website: www.TinkyCooks.com