Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. They never had a chance to say goodbye.
First Street Pub and Grill owners Lisa and Dan Plank, after 11 years of building a family of employees and customers at the restaurant located on First Street, closed its doors in October, 2015, without a chance to let people know it was going to happen.
Now, they are doing a month-long thank you to all the people who supported them for 11 years, who kept their restaurant thriving. For the past two Tuesdays, Lisa and Dan have cooked their long-time most-popular dishes, the recipes are the same, even though the kitchens are different. First Street specialties are being served at the Stage Stop Restaurant in Rollinsville for the next two Tuesdays, prepared by Lisa while Dan makes the drinks to go with the meal.
Lisa says she has been sad because she never really had closure when the restaurant shut down. The First Street Pub and Grill has played a major part in her life and deserved a fitting ceremony for the parting of ways.
Restaurants and cooking have been a part of Lisa’s life since high school in Mexico, Missouri, a farming town near St. Louis. She worked in a restaurant during high school and when she graduated she she attended Central Missouri State University, where she studied Hotel and Restaurant Management.
As an intern, she was sent to Europe where she studied at a hotel/restaurant in Holland. She was 23 years old and helped open the second Applebee’s in Europe.
“I saw other cultures and I learned about myself. I became fluent in Dutch and I became submerged in the Dutch culture. The whole experience helped make me who I am today.”
When Lisa came back to the states in 1996, she worked at Applebees, and then, feeling adventurous, she went to Winter Park to snowboard and visit her cousins. Lisa loved the mountains and lived in the ski town, snowboarded, worked at Hernando’s Pizza and ended up spending a year there. Then she headed back to the midwest, ,to Minneapolis where her brother lived, and she ended up working at Applebees, where she ended up meeting a friend of his, Dan, who became a friend of hers. A good friend. They have been together ever since.
She and Dan headed to Nederland where Jessica Conlin, her best friend, lived.
At that time the I&I Caribbean Cafe was for sale and Jessica told Lisa she could come out to Colorado and buy a restaurant. Lisa said she had worked hard and saved her money and it seemed like “a chance of lifetime.”
It was March of 2004 and the beginning of a great 11-year run in Nederland. Lisa and her partners came up with recipes from each of their families and a menu that went through many taste tests. Dan tended the bar.
Regular customers loved the crab cakes and the mac and cheese, the fish and chips, and the First Street’s Caesar salad. It was non-stop work but Lisa relished the responsibility, knowing that that’s what one signs up for when they own a business.
They were successful.
“It was all about how we treated our customers and employees and the really good food. The mac and cheese, it was delicious. The recipe is a secret.”
The First Street Pub and Grill became a local place to hang out, to relax after work, to join in on the karaoke nights, to watch the Rocky Mountain Oyster Eating Contest during the Frozen Dead Guys Days.
Then, last October, the restaurant had issues with a water leak in the crawlspace and had to close for a few weeks for repairs. After three weeks, the owners decided not to reopen. The staff had found other jobs and they needed to basically start over in order to reopen. The inventory had perished and it would have taken a whole lot of work to train a new crew.
“It was out of my control. It was very upsetting and sad and I have missed the employees and customers. It seemed like we never really had a chance to say goodbye. We have been working on cleaning out the pub ever since, bringing out the equipment. Heather let us store it in the basement.”
Heather Hatwan, the owner of Stage Stop not only helped Lisa with the move, but she suggested doing a First Street at the Stage Stop month, a chance for Lisa and a few former employees to reconnect with their friends and customers and relive about 15 of First Street’s most popular recipes. A chance to make Frank and Susan Lutz’s favorite chowder.
For two more Tuesdays, First Street fare will be available from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Stage Stop.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the years, the support you have shown. And thanks to Heather and her staff for opening their doors and letting us do this.”
Lisa and Dan are on the hunt for other jobs, but for right now, they are happy for the chance to give former customers what they want, one more time.
