A new family-owned restaurant in Pottsville is offering simple food in a building with looks of a European cafe.
Owners Carol and Brian Tassone opened Ruby's Kitchen, 212 S. Second St., at the end of January.
Carol said the restaurant is named after her grandmother Ruby, who passed away at 93 years old and was a special person in her life.
She made sure to follow what Ruby said to always do - first and foremost, to keep the family together.
"We promised we'd do that, then this just came about and it's going well," she said. "We got sisters, aunts and cousins pitching in."
Carol's sister also helps out at the restaurant, Ruby Kirkland, who was named after their grandmother.
Living next door to the restaurant, the building was already owned by Carol and her husband. It was her husband's workshop, he did all of the renovations in about eight months.
She said her husband works in high-end construction, having built the Mountain Valley Golf Course, currently is in charge of construction at Yuengling Park and works up the coast doing construction all the way to Boston.
"When we constructed the outside, that yellow was the wrong color that he brought home, but when he put it on with the red, it just popped," she said. "Then he came up for the idea for the awning and it just gave it a nice little neighborhood feel.
When renovating, her husband tries to keep buildings the way they were historically. Carol said her husband made sure to keep the old worn feeling when you walk inside. He also constructed the same cabinets as inside her home and everything else was made by him, including the woodworking and tables.
As for the menu, everyday Ruby's has different specials, featuring simple recipes at an affordable price.
"We wanted to create a nice homey atmosphere that's comfortable with just simple foods like sandwiches and homemade soups," she said. "The name is a very special lady in my life and all the recipes we float out at Ruby's are hers, like a lot of the soups we were used to growing up with."
In addition to the soups and sandwiches, also homemade at Ruby's are halupkies, turkey, stuffing, bacon dressing and deserts, carrot cake and cheese cake.
She said although they do not make the bread, it does come for a local baker.
"I think simplicity rules because life is hectic enough," she said. "I hate to go into a place and have a menu with 20 items. I just wanted to try something nice, something different for the community. It's a passion of ours."
Having never advertised for the business, Carol said it built a "nice clientele base" just by word of mouth and by posting the specials daily on Facebook.
In the future Ruby's plans to eventually add a deck on the side with some chairs, making "a quaint little feeling on the side for lunch."
In addition to the restaurant, Ruby's also is available to cater events.
Ruby's is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday though Saturday.
For more information visit the "Ruby's Kitchen & Catering" page on Facebook or call 570-581-8772.
