A new restaurant comes to Green River

Green River has a new restaurant opening in town.

Staci Ann's Cafe opened Monday at 95 East Railroad Avenue. The opening was the soft launch for the restaurant. The official opening day is tentatively set for Monday.

The cafe's owner, Staci Martin is no novice to the restaurant business. She has served, managed and operated various restaurants throughout her food-service career, and owned a restaurant before this one as well. Frequenters of the Rolling Green Country Club may know her food from the golf course restaurant this summer, The Rusty Putter.

"It was always my goal to someday have my own place," Martin said.

She said her opportunity to own the seasonal restaurant at the Green River golf course this year opened the door to having her own location in Green River.

"It went over pretty well," Martin said. "People really liked it, so we decided to go a little bigger and move into our own location and expand our menu."

Martin plans for Staci Ann's Cafe to be a local homestyle restaurant; family-friendly with homemade food. Restaurant hours will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily. The menu includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, a variety of each, and more. The restaurant will include a salad bar as well.

"It's a 16-foot salad bar, so probably the largest in the county," Martin said.

She said she is known for her specialty breads she makes, which are also featured on the menu. Some of her specialty breads include ciabatta, asiago basil, jalapeño and walnut cranberry.

Customers can choose to substitute her breads in various entrees featured on the menu. The lemon mint white chocolate bread is popular as french toast and the walnut cranberry is often made with the turkey sandwich. Burgers can also be made with either a classic hamburger bun or one of her specialty breads.

The Bogey Burger is often made with the jalapeño cheese bread. The restaurant's food is important to Martin, as is the atmosphere. She remembers the time when Embers was in the same location years ago. She remembers being Embers' first waitress. She remembers the rapport Embers had with the Green River community, something she aims to recreate with Staci Ann's Cafe.

"I started here as a teenager, and now in the same building as an owner," Martin said. "And that's kind of what I want to see it come back to, is a good family-style restaurant like it used to be."