Volunteers help: Extensive redo project delays LaX cafe launch

Dionne Evans is working from dawn to well past dark to get the former Teapot Cafe ready to open. Evans had hoped to open the restaurant, now the Grillbilly Cafe, by March 1, but she now expects to open by mid- to late-March.

She said the building, most likely built about 1915, needed major renovation, taking more time than she had initially planned.

“We are doing every major part of the cafe from the kitchen to the bathroom to the dining area,” Evans said.

On Saturday, Evans and her mother, Jeannine Henley-Larkin, were carefully using paint brushes in the final phase of redoing the countertop in the dining area.

Evans said the project is a community effort, with many volunteers pitching in to help. High school students also have helped with the renovation.

All the barn wood, used throughout the dining area, along with other items and immeasurable volunteer hours have been donated, Larkin said. She added they have peeled many layers off the floor to get down to the original wood.

Evans said the Grillbilly will serve breakfast and lunch with dinner offered a couple of times a month. They will have a large wood pellet barbecue in the back to make gourmet burgers, chicken and other barbecue specialties. They also will feature fresh pies made daily by Julie Roberts who gained notoriety for her pies while operating the Dusty Cafe.

Evans also has become known for her homemade biscuits and gravy served at the Hay church and they will be offered at the restaurant.

“Our goal is to make it a destination,” Evans said.