Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
When thinking about new uses for an old hardware store, not many would think of a café, but when it comes to the Rivertown Café on the first floor of the former C.J. Richardson building, it works.
The vast entrance to the café is still surrounded by the original shelves and bins that once held a variety of nails, screws, nuts, bolts and other hardware supplies. But there is now the addition of a small stage, tables, couches, fireplace and free library that directs diners to the back of the building where the small café counter and kitchen await.
The café is owned and operated by husband and wife team Aaron Davis and Nicole Schwarz. The couple lived in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for many years and moved to Marlinton when Schwarz got a job with the U.S. Forest Service.
Davis said they both have extensive backgrounds in the restaurant field. Ever since he could, he has worked in kitchens and they both were night bakers for Panera Bread for 13 years prior to their move to Pocahontas County.
With the way things go around here, Schwarz just happened to be taking a yoga class taught by Alison Safrit, whose husband, Bob, is the owner of Rivertown. One day, the ladies were discussing the idea of adding a café to the building.
“My wife blurted out, ‘hey, my husband has run several kitchens, would you be interested in his services?’” Davis said, laughing.
Not long after that, the couple was putting together a menu and preparing the café for its soft open, which just happened to be on one of the busiest days in Marlinton – RoadKill Cook-off.
They made it through the day and immediately took a week’s vacation.
“Our official opening was probably a week later,” Davis said.
Davis runs the café and has quickly become a member of the community. He’s so easy going, inviting and personable, you could swear he has lived here his whole life. He greets his customers as if they are old friends and is quick witted with jokes and jabs.
“We’re welcoming,” he said. “This isn’t like a hand-over-fist restaurant where you get your sandwich and leave. We’ve got tables. We’ve got a fireplace. We’ve got a couch. We also have a free library. There are games; there are toys for the kiddie-winks.”
And, even more important, there’s the great menu. A fresh and simple selection of sandwiches, soups, salads and a weekly special is all they needed to draw in a crowd.
“I’m a lifetime line cook, and I’m always thinking about ease, price and speed to service,” Davis said. “So, how easily can we make it? How cheaply can I make it without sacrificing quality? How can I do this easily, quickly, affordably and so on, and so forth.”
Davis doesn’t paint himself into a corner with adhering to a certain culinary style. The menu has five sandwiches – chicken salad, shrimp burger, barbecue pulled chicken, mushroom and roasted red pepper baba ganoush and grilled cheese. They all come with a side of popcorn or plantain chips, when they are available.
The specials range from soups, salads, sandwiches and more, drawing from Asian, Mexican and American mainstays.
“Anything we can try, we try,” Davis said. “Case in point, a couple weeks ago, we did ramen as our special. People were surprised.”
No, it was not the typical packet of ramen found at the grocery store. It was the traditional Japanese and Chinese ramen noodle soup with beef, vegetables and a boiled egg.
In addition to specials and regular menu items, a variety of baked goods entice diners from a case right next to the register. Those are created by Schwarz. Soft, chewy cookies, such as chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and iced sugar cookies are joined by specialty items like mini cheesecake, flan, Irish potatoes and more.
The café also serves coffee that some might say is better than that of the most well known coffee franchise.
“We do fanciful coffee drinks and we also do standard drip coffee, cold coffees, just anything that we can with the equipment we have,” Davis said. “We do use a local roaster, Lori Doolittle out of Hillsboro.”
Doolittle Roasting Company isn’t the only local source of ingredients for Rivertown Café. Davis said he tries to use as much local produce and products as he can when crafting the menu and specials.
“I try to, as often as possible, use local ingredients from local producers because you guys have got a lot of them around here,” he said. “If you want to talk about not just good, cheap and quality – it’s local. We’ve been using Lori Doolittle’s coffee pretty much since we opened this place. There’s another place, Middle Mountain Farmstead – we use their products. I’ve been getting stuff from Tim Wade’s Farm sporadically. He’s got me down for a constant intake of his eggs.
“From here on out, unless something happens, all the breakfast sandwiches will have Tim Wade’s eggs in them,” he added.
“We make everything fresh. There are very few things we buy that are pre-packaged, especially when it comes to the sandwiches and soup. Just like I tell people with our cookies – everything starts with butter and sugar. Everything we make starts with the vegetables.”
Rivertown Café is open Thursday through Monday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. For weekly specials and updates to the menu, visit the Rivertown Café Facebook page.
