I always wondered about how Bakers Restaurant became Back to Bakers. I recently spoke with Kerri Mellon who owns Back to Bakers with her husband Alex, a Culinary Institute of America trained chef.

Kerri told me that the restaurant was purchased in the early 1960's by Ben and Marge Mitchell (no one named Baker in sight), and they ran the bar and restaurant at its present location just about forever. When Ben passed away, he left the restaurant to his grandchildren Alex and Ashley and Kerri Mellon was their friend and next-door neighbor at the time. Kerri and Alex were already running a restaurant in Peekskill, New York and were searching for a new venue. In 2016 they relocated and bought Bakers from Ben's family and the Mitchell family named it Back to Bakers.

Back to Bakers quickly became a favorite dining spot in Highland and, with their seven employees and eighty seats, during normal times the cozy spot would be jammed packed with locals enjoying pizza with twelve different topping options or the Irish Nachos, the 12 oz. Cast Iron Burger or one of their many daily specials.

It is a comfortable and relaxed setting with good food and great service. Back to Bakers has “Tacos Tuesdays”-with fish or carnitas tacos for $2.00 and $5.00 margaritas and on Wednesday a plain full-size pizza with a bottle of wine for $20.00. “The food is amazing, and the owners and staff are lovely, and they are very supportive of the community and the school district”, said School Board Member Kristen Smith of Yulan.

And then Covid-19 changed everything for everybody. Kerri told me that during the pandemic the takeout food business has been fairly steady, but the alcohol sales have not been doing well. It's been tough handling all this Kerri told me, “and we are worried about how much longer we can sustain doing business the way it is now. We are trying to plan and waiting out what the next move will be for the County to reopen and then to open back up in a smaller capacity, and we are even considering doing an outside patio,” she said. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate the support we are getting from our customers during this tough time. And it really helps us to keep doing what we need to do, and it makes us want to go on.” Alex told me that “their customers and the community are being supportive seeing us through this and we wouldn't still be here without them and there has been issues with the availability of food especially produce and meat prices are really going up. It's been tough but I'm just taking it day by day.”

I asked Kerri what she thought the summer will hold, and she told me that she is “very worried about it and wonders what will happen and whether Back to Bakers will still be open by the summer's end and we are exploring all options to reduce capacity by maybe taking reservations, and we are setting up five umbrella picnic tables for outside family dining.” We feel the support we are getting from our community Kerri said and we are ready to go Back to Bakers for sure and it just makes us tough it out and keep our business going”, she said.

This highly rated four star restaurant and bar has an extensive menu featuring sandwiches and burgers served with mixed greens and fries, pizza, salads, wings, tacos, seven appetizers and a full bar and their specials are posted daily on Facebook. Back to Bakers is located at 184 Barryville-Yulan Road in Barryville and you can call them at (845) 456-0256 and they are open for take-out on Tuesdays through Saturdays 3 - 8 p.m.

Pete Carmeci, The Commander of VFW Post-6427 and VFW County Commander, has announced that out of an abundance of caution due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he has canceled the annual Memorial Day Service scheduled to be held at Heroes' Park on Monday, May 25. According to Pete Carmeci over three hundred American flags have been placed on each of the veteran's graves in our local cemeteries and flags will be placed by the VFW at Heroes' Park on Memorial Day

Lock Down Tip: I have found it difficult and uncomfortable to wear my face mask, and it seems that we all will be wearing them for a long time. I recently bought a face mask that comes with flexible ear loops that can be adjusted to be comfortable while still providing the necessary protection. Some newer variations are sewing buttons on a headband to attach a mask, or face masks attached to baseball hats. You can google face masks with adjustable ear loops for more information and several DIY instructions.