Dunkirk restaurant to be reborn

Often a small town has one place that can hold much of the community’s spirit. So when Christie’s Family Restaurant closed, a little piece of Dunkirk was left inside its locked doors.
But that spirit will hope to be revived as the old Christie’s will soon be open for dining under new ownership and its new name, Rumor Meal.
With a tentative opening date of Feb. 24 of this year, current Dunkirk police officer Andrea Weekley and partner Lois Ridgway will dive into the world of owning a restaurant.
Weekley had previously worked for Christie’s and learned under the tutelage of then owner Kathleen Christie. “She was a great mentor to me,” Weekley said. “I learned a lot of recipes from her.”
Rumor Meal will look to keep the same style as the previous restaurant, serving a variety of dishes that you might eat in your own home. Weekley said she wanted to continue the home-cooking theme as it was well received before.
One of those dishes will be homemade biscuits with the same recipe Weekley had learned from Christie during her time working at the restaurant. Also on the menu will be homemade cinnamon rolls which come straight from her mother’s recipe book.
The second-shift police officer said it will be a challenge to have her own restaurant, but she is excited and hopes the same people who ate at Christie’s before will come back and want to see the changes made.
One of the major changes will be the restaurants’ décor. Weekley said her mother, Harriett Weekley, has helped with the look and layout of the inside with a special idea in mind.
Formerly the community saw different cliques sit at specific tables. Weekley and Ridgway wanted to keep that tradition going with the design, so they have planned to make the décor around each table suit a specific group.  “It will be funny to see if people come back and go directly to their same seats as before,” Weekley said.
Rumor Meal will begin only serving breakfast and lunch with the hours starting out as Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“People have asked me about serving dinner, but I tell them that I want to see how everything goes first and have time to get established,” Weekley said.
In the days leading up to the official opening, the restaurant is having carpets cleaned, a fire suppression unit put in, stocking its shelves full of food, and preparing for a final inspection.

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