Cheryl Vitale and her daughter Anna Wall took over the former axe-throwing center on Ocean Drive to open Red Bird Kitchen.
Vitale said the new location allows them to be more than a restaurant. They’ve added catering and hosting private parties to their services. They wanted to provide options for people looking for a place to go after other coffee shops close.
Vitale and Wall have found inspiration from other Homer restaurants to shape their menu. Vitale said they’ve chosen their main offerings.
“It's kind of a sandwich shop, but we do rice bowls and we'll have soup. And what we like to do, which we've done for a few years, out of our commercial kitchen out East End road, we would do Friday night dinners. So we'll probably pick those up,” Vitale said.
Wall said their menu has changed weekly but they’re settling on what to offer regularly.
“The sandwiches will always stay the same; it's the rest of it that seems to change. But I'm hoping we can stick with this and then just have specials,” Wall said.
In addition to a dining area, the duo created a space for people to hang and sell art. The restaurant also has a book and puzzle library. Vitale said anyone can exchange puzzles there.
“The puzzle is just something we thought, you get puzzles, you do them, and then what do you do with them? So we thought, people can come and trade them for a different puzzle they haven't done,” Vitale said.
Looking ahead, the duo hopes to develop a retail section to include various cooking sauces and spices.
Red Bird Kitchen is now open Wednesday to Saturday on Ocean Drive in Homer across the street from the Homer Farmers Market.
