Restaurant Info
Hawthorne's Dining and Celebrations is located at 1150 Park Street in Oregon. Look for it opening in mid-June. It will be open from 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday, and Sunday mornings for brunch.
NEW GLARUS - David Bookstaff's wife, Shan, made him love small towns, and she wasn't really trying.
Bookstaff was born in Milwaukee and went to school in Madison. He went into partnership in 1995 to buy J.T. Whitney's Pub and Brewery in Madison.
Shan was born in Monroe and, like many small-town teens, thought she had to get to the big city as quickly as possible, and never come back.
"Back then, I thought a business in a small town couldn't make it," Bookstaff said. Today, he's investing in small-town living.
The couple brings their children, Isaac and Sydney, to eat often in the Swiss atmosphere of the Glarner Stube in New Glarus, as just one way of supporting small-town businesses.
And now, he and his partners are opening Hawthorne's Dining and Celebrations, a large restaurant in Oregon.
The couple married in December 1995, just three months after buying the pub. It was during the drives to Monroe to visit Shan's family that Bookstaff began to fall in love with the countryside. And he learned the people in Green County actually knew their neighbors.
"David has this Norman Rockwell idea," Shan said.
He even keeps a post office box in New Glarus, so he can pick up his mail downtown, where he's most likely to run into people to talk with. To him, it's one of the best parts of living daily in a small town.
But when one of his partners at the pub wanted him to consider purchasing the Valentine Restaurant in Oregon, neither Bookstaff nor his wife was eager.
"One of our partners built the Valentine Restaurant. I went to look at it, just to get him off my back," Bookstaff said.
"We both went down to look," Shan said.
"It was beautiful ... and it was brand new," she said.
Bookstaff echoed his wife's words.
"It has a huge banquet hall; it's well designed; all the equipment included," he said.
"We're doing a soft opening," Shan said. "No ads, no publicity, before any big announcement."
The soft opening is intended for local customers and organizations to become familiar with them first. And with the goal of "top-notch food and service," Bookstaff is looking to the community for its input.
The new restaurant has an outdoor patio that will accommodate 200 people, and a bar for 40. Booths are being installed in the loft area of the banquet room that handles 220.
"To give a cozier feel to the dining area, like this," Bookstaff said, looking around the Glarner Stube. "We want it to be really comfortable - a local place,"
The small-town feeling Bookstaff loves was waiting for him in Oregon. He is delighted with the reception he has received.
Dropping in at a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, he said he felt very welcomed by other Oregon business owners. Neighbors and job applicants also have been stopping by while he is working at the restaurant.
Bookstaff plans to return the gestures by "being part of a small community" in other ways that will benefit the local economy and non-profit organizations.
Bookstaff said his partner, Geoffrey Sandler, already has accepted a request from the Chamber of Commerce to D.J. the three-hour Oregon Poker Fest June 28, with Hawthorne's sponsoring the event.
"The PTO (parent teacher organization) is an example," Bookstaff said. "Schools always need money. In a large city you can't make much of an impact. But the PTO in a small community, what you do has a definite effect."
Bookstaff was born in Milwaukee and went to school in Madison. He went into partnership in 1995 to buy J.T. Whitney's Pub and Brewery in Madison.
Shan was born in Monroe and, like many small-town teens, thought she had to get to the big city as quickly as possible, and never come back.
"Back then, I thought a business in a small town couldn't make it," Bookstaff said. Today, he's investing in small-town living.
The couple brings their children, Isaac and Sydney, to eat often in the Swiss atmosphere of the Glarner Stube in New Glarus, as just one way of supporting small-town businesses.
And now, he and his partners are opening Hawthorne's Dining and Celebrations, a large restaurant in Oregon.
The couple married in December 1995, just three months after buying the pub. It was during the drives to Monroe to visit Shan's family that Bookstaff began to fall in love with the countryside. And he learned the people in Green County actually knew their neighbors.
"David has this Norman Rockwell idea," Shan said.
He even keeps a post office box in New Glarus, so he can pick up his mail downtown, where he's most likely to run into people to talk with. To him, it's one of the best parts of living daily in a small town.
But when one of his partners at the pub wanted him to consider purchasing the Valentine Restaurant in Oregon, neither Bookstaff nor his wife was eager.
"One of our partners built the Valentine Restaurant. I went to look at it, just to get him off my back," Bookstaff said.
"We both went down to look," Shan said.
"It was beautiful ... and it was brand new," she said.
Bookstaff echoed his wife's words.
"It has a huge banquet hall; it's well designed; all the equipment included," he said.
"We're doing a soft opening," Shan said. "No ads, no publicity, before any big announcement."
The soft opening is intended for local customers and organizations to become familiar with them first. And with the goal of "top-notch food and service," Bookstaff is looking to the community for its input.
The new restaurant has an outdoor patio that will accommodate 200 people, and a bar for 40. Booths are being installed in the loft area of the banquet room that handles 220.
"To give a cozier feel to the dining area, like this," Bookstaff said, looking around the Glarner Stube. "We want it to be really comfortable - a local place,"
The small-town feeling Bookstaff loves was waiting for him in Oregon. He is delighted with the reception he has received.
Dropping in at a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, he said he felt very welcomed by other Oregon business owners. Neighbors and job applicants also have been stopping by while he is working at the restaurant.
Bookstaff plans to return the gestures by "being part of a small community" in other ways that will benefit the local economy and non-profit organizations.
Bookstaff said his partner, Geoffrey Sandler, already has accepted a request from the Chamber of Commerce to D.J. the three-hour Oregon Poker Fest June 28, with Hawthorne's sponsoring the event.
"The PTO (parent teacher organization) is an example," Bookstaff said. "Schools always need money. In a large city you can't make much of an impact. But the PTO in a small community, what you do has a definite effect."