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GIRARD —
GIRARD — Crawford County is known across the nation for its fried chicken restaurants. There’s one that isn’t quite so well known, probably because it’s only in operation for a few days each year at the Crawford County Fair.
“Everybody tells us our fried chicken doesn’t taste like anyplace else around,” said Janie Scott, a volunteer worker at the Angels Among Us Cafe at the fairgrounds.
She said that the cafe gets its chickens from the same supplier who provides poultry for most of the other fried chicken places in the county. That’s where the similarities end.
“We make our own coating for the chicken, and it’s not the same person who always fixes it,” Scott said.
The menu is not limited to chicken. The cafe opens for breakfast at 6 a.m. every day with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and biscuits and gravy, which is available until around 9:30 or 10 a.m.
Luncheon starts around 10:30 or 11 a.m. and the restaurant is open until 8 p.m. Also available are ham, the usual sandwiches and Sloppy Joes.
“New this year are barbecued beef sandwiches and Frito chili pie,” Scott said.
Dessert are homemade pies and cakes that have been donated by sororities, churches and other organizations.
Proceeds go to Angels Among Us, which assists cancer patients with financial need. According to Diana Polston, founder and coordinator of the group, that can include paying for gasoline to help patients go for treatment out of town, helping pay bills such as rent, providing groceries, even helping with Christmas presents.
The cafe is staffed entirely by volunteers.
“This is the sixth year for the cafe, and I’ve been here since the start,” Scott said. “I’m just one among many. This is a huge undertaking. We have 15 people working in the kitchen alone, along with servers, cashiers and others.”
It took a lot of volunteers to get the cafe building ready.
“They started a week ahead of time, putting in the fryers for the chicken and the air conditioners,” Scott said. “This is the coolest place in town. We opened up from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night because of the horse show and did pretty well. We had a pretty big breakfast this morning.”
The cafe was also packed for lunch Wednesday. One satisfied customer was Michael Doue.
“The food is excellent, and I always try to come in here for lunch at least once every year,” he said. “Sometimes I even come for breakfast.”
GIRARD — Crawford County is known across the nation for its fried chicken restaurants. There’s one that isn’t quite so well known, probably because it’s only in operation for a few days each year at the Crawford County Fair.
“Everybody tells us our fried chicken doesn’t taste like anyplace else around,” said Janie Scott, a volunteer worker at the Angels Among Us Cafe at the fairgrounds.
She said that the cafe gets its chickens from the same supplier who provides poultry for most of the other fried chicken places in the county. That’s where the similarities end.
“We make our own coating for the chicken, and it’s not the same person who always fixes it,” Scott said.
The menu is not limited to chicken. The cafe opens for breakfast at 6 a.m. every day with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and biscuits and gravy, which is available until around 9:30 or 10 a.m.
Luncheon starts around 10:30 or 11 a.m. and the restaurant is open until 8 p.m. Also available are ham, the usual sandwiches and Sloppy Joes.
“New this year are barbecued beef sandwiches and Frito chili pie,” Scott said.
Dessert are homemade pies and cakes that have been donated by sororities, churches and other organizations.
Proceeds go to Angels Among Us, which assists cancer patients with financial need. According to Diana Polston, founder and coordinator of the group, that can include paying for gasoline to help patients go for treatment out of town, helping pay bills such as rent, providing groceries, even helping with Christmas presents.
The cafe is staffed entirely by volunteers.
“This is the sixth year for the cafe, and I’ve been here since the start,” Scott said. “I’m just one among many. This is a huge undertaking. We have 15 people working in the kitchen alone, along with servers, cashiers and others.”
It took a lot of volunteers to get the cafe building ready.
“They started a week ahead of time, putting in the fryers for the chicken and the air conditioners,” Scott said. “This is the coolest place in town. We opened up from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night because of the horse show and did pretty well. We had a pretty big breakfast this morning.”
The cafe was also packed for lunch Wednesday. One satisfied customer was Michael Doue.
“The food is excellent, and I always try to come in here for lunch at least once every year,” he said. “Sometimes I even come for breakfast.”
John and Shirley Knightly were volunteering at the cafe for the first time.
“It really makes you appreciate waiters and bus boys and how hard they work, not that we’re working that hard,” Mrs. Knightly said.
Her husband noted that Angels Among Us had catered the Pittsburg Garden Tour and he ran into Diana Polston at the tour.
“I got to talking with Mrs. Polston and she signed us up,” Knightly said. “I really admire what Angels Among Us does.”
Customers have until 2 p.m. Saturday to enjoy the cafe, then it will close down for another year. There’s a lot of hard work involved in this as well.
“Everything will have to be taken out, chairs, tables, everything,” Scott said. “Nothing can be left in the building. It takes so many volunteers to make this work.”
