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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing
Article Summaries |
How Slates Beganby Tim Plumer Ed Farrin and Paul Fuller had antique shops next to each other on the southern end of Water Street. One day, toward the late '70's, I went in to find the two of them thrashing and bashing in the rear of Paul's store. Most of Paul's inventory was missing. "So what are you two up to?" I asked. "Putting in a restaurant," they chimed in unison. And that they did in very short order. It was very clever the way they went about it. They cut an archway towards the rear of the two shops joining them together. Another archway was made at the rear of Paul's shop (north side) where a small kitchen was put in. They used a showcase to separate the kitchen from the front of the room. Old doors were used to make walls, creating a raised panel affect. The doors also made a space for the bathrooms in the rear of Ed's shop, which backed up to the dishwashers' station on the other side, minimizing pipe work. Virtually every piece of building material was scrounged from used stuff. All the equipment, tables, chairs, flatware, and china were mismatched and used. The bar back was built out of cupboard tops with a big mirror between them (quite striking). Outside the kitchen door there is a tall Eastlake style secretary that makes a perfect waitress station. The main dining room (Ed's side) has about a dozen tables, no two alike, with fifty or so chairs, no two alike. The same went for the dinnerware and flatware. An exception was made for the bar glasses for the sake of consistency. They hit the decks running, Hallowell was ripe for an upscale, funky restaurant, and they had it. The antique dealers moved in and made it their home base (my buck was the first one, and I imagine it is still behind the license). The brick walls and antique furniture led to formal dining in casual dress, which still goes on today. The front of Ed's shop was sided in slate, so Slate's Restaurant was born. The boys had a very successful run in the early 80s, turning a pile of used building materials into a very lucrative business. It came time for them to move on so they sold out to two Wendys (Hassard and Larson). Wendy Hassard brought in entertainment. Wendy Larson revamped the menu. They had a few lean moments but in the long run they prevailed. The music was good, and Wendy Larson has a real flair in the kitchen. There were a few more 1/2 partners but Wendy Larson and her crew are the glue that holds the place together. The base crew has 15 plus years of service behind them, unheard of in the restaurant business. They are still going strong as of this writing, a five star restaurant known throughout New England. But as they say if those walls could talk. Timmy Plumer is the owner of Dukenfields, an antique train and toy store on Water Street in Hallowell, his favorite town and the subject of his book which is "about good people doing funny and stupid things." | ||