No one understands the significance of a sense of community better than Kathy Wilcutt, a great believer in America and Americana. When she was a photo/journalist serving as managing editor of the News-Democrat & Leader, the North Logan native subscribed to the theory that every person-no matter how obscure to most people-has a story. She wrote memorable portraits of everyday people while shooting touching and telling photographs of them.
Now in Logan County, there’s no better example of living the American dream while honoring her heritage and her country than this journalist turned chef turned entrepreneur.
Wilcutt has opened American Pie Café on West Third Street in Russellville, just a few doors down from DDI and Main Street. Her 32-seat eatery is near the Baptist Building and diagonally across the street from Crabtree Furniture. The American Pie Café is filled with community, homespun goodness and patriotism. It’s a modern snapshot of a simpler time in America’s history, completely in good taste.
“When the boys were deployed to Iraq, I knew I had to have something to take my mind off it,” she explains. When she says “the boys,” she is referring to her twin sons, Daniel and Dusty Cowan. The Logan County High School graduates were sent with their Kentucky National Guard unit to the war-torn Mideast this fall.
Cooking-especially baking-has been a part of their mother’s life forever. She not only worked at the old Charlie’s Restaurant in nearby Market Square, even managed it for a while, but she also worked at the drive-in Bethel Dipper and at Burger King before it became Druther’s. Long ago she and good friend Sharon Milam Ray worked for Kenny Chapman at his Kwik-Service Market in her native Lewisburg.
Kathy is well known for baking pies, cakes and breads and then marketing them in a variety of businesses. Often she’s done that between full-time jobs.
This is the first time, however, she’s owned her own business. She is anything but an absentee owner, however. She gets to the café at 4:30 a.m., five and a half hours before opening the doors at 11 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. She needs to be there so early because she cooks everything herself from scratch. “Nothing’s taken from a bucket nor off a truck,” she says. “I go grocery shopping for fresh ingredients, and I try to buy everything I can locally.”
The menu constantly changes, just as it does at people’s homes. That’s because home cooking has been transferred to a restaurant scene. Soups, sandwiches and salads are prevalent along with pies and cakes. “And always fresh chicken salad is available. It’s a staple,” Wilcutt notes.
American Pie Café’s staples are available for carryout orders. Customers can call 726-8388 to order pies, cakes, other desserts, pretzel salad, chicken casserole, and, of course, chicken salad. The restaurant is open for in-house seating from 11-2:30 Tuesdays through Fridays.
Meanwhile the setting is homey and patriotic. Calico tablecloths abound. All food and drinks are served on antique dishes and real glasses-no plastic or styrofoam appears. The wooden counter is one that Lewisburg residents knew and loved at the old Browning-McReynolds Store. Iced tea is fresh-brewed, nothing instant here.
The walls are covered with family and patriotic memorabilia. A huge 48-star flag was sent to Howard and Ruth Hall Hoskins to commemorate the death of their son Adrian, who was killed when his military glider went down. Mrs. Hoskins was the cousin of Kathy’s mother, Betty Wilcutt. Kathy’s uncle, Bates Wilcutt, was killed in war at Saipan. Her dad, the late Shelby Wilcutt, was a disabled veteran.
Kathy’s cousins, Terry and Kevin Wilcutt, are Marine colonels. Terry is well-known for his career as an astronaut. Kevin was assigned to the Pentagon and was President George H. Bush’s helicopter pilot. They’re pictured on the walls.
Also on the wall are family items, such as quilts and a painting of the house in which she was raised at Spa. One of the quilts was pieced by her great-grandmother. The home was known as the George Wilcutt House.
Kathy’s daughter, Brooke Cowan White, is helping out at the restaurant while completing her degree at Western Kentucky University in agriculture education. Victoria Cowan also helps out.
With all the Americana, military reminders, and homespun setting, Kathy Wilcutt hopes to reach her goal of not only serving customers but also “serving memories.”
Wilcutt is renting the building from DDI’s Beth Rutherford, who has been a big help to her, she says. In fact, the historic wooden counter from Lewisburg days belongs to Rutherford.
Dusty and Daniel Cowan left home in July and shipped out to Bagdad on Aug. 1. Their mother had been hoping that President Barack Obama would bring them and other American soldiers home before Christmas. Last week, she and many other family members breathed huge sighs of relief when the twins arrived safely back on American soil. The date of their return to Logan County is uncertain.
If they do get home for the holidays, they can be certain many home-cooked meals will await them. In fact, all of us can share in those made-from-scratch goodies and memories at the American Pie Café.