Eatery is coming down the mountain
Killington standby to add Rutland site
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Green Mountain Boys’ Discount Beverage and Hinckleys Order Up are shown on Woodstock Avenue in Rutland on Thursday. The beverage store is moving next door to make room for a restaurant this summer. Cassandra Hotaling / Rutland Herald |
Toolbox
By PATRICIA MINICHIELLO STAFF WRITER - Published: February 5, 2010
A new restaurant serving breakfast and lunch is a few months from opening in the building occupied by Green Mountain Boys in Rutland Town.
Longtime restaurateurs John and Luanne Petrone, who own Johnny's Boys Pancake House on the mountain in Killington, expect to open Johnny's Boys II, a spin-off of their Killington Road establishment, by early June.
The couple purchased the Green Mountain Boys location, a 3,600-square-foot building on Route 4 East, on Jan. 26 for $190,000, according to town records.
Just before lunchtime Thursday, John Petrone said his new restaurant will need a great deal of renovations, but when all is said and done will offer the best breakfast in Rutland.
"Just like we do up here, we offer the best breakfast and food anywhere in the area, we're going to bring it down the mountain," he said.
When Johnny's Boys II moves into the Green Mountain Boys building, the discount beverage business plans to move up the street to the location originally built as a Taco Bell and known more recently as Hinckley's Order Up. Until then, Petrone said, Green Mountain Boys is renting from him.
When asked how much the renovations are expected to cost, Petrone said, "whatever it takes to get it done. I don't want to lock into a number because once you lock in, you delude yourself," he said.
Petrone said he and his wife have been looking to tap into the Rutland market for a couple of years now.
With a staff of between 10 and 15 people, Johnny's Boys II will open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., seven days a week.
Highlights of the menu at Johnny's Boys II feature several of the same items offered on the mountain including "a myriad of omelets," Belgian waffles as well as amaretto-mascarpone-stuffed French toast.
The new eatery will also have a liquor license for morning cocktails, including mimosas and bloody Marys.
Petrone, 65, as a chef and restaurant owner has a lifelong resume in the food industry. He started working in a New Jersey restaurant when he was 13 years old. He moved to Vermont in 1972.
Over the years, he and his wife have opened a variety of restaurants in Rutland including Silver Dollar on Merchants Row, Back Home Café on Center Street, Petrones in the Opera House and many more.
As Petrone spoke on the phone Thursday, he cooked two omelets for the breakfast crowd in Killington.
"You hear that," he said, referring to the sound of pots clanging in the background. He continued, "I'm just hoping for a real good local response. We know a lot of Rutland people over the years."
"You open the door and you see what happens," Petrone said.
patricia.minichiello@rutlandherald.com
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