Our Daily Bread open in Rockford

 

 

 

By Christa Jennings

Senior Staff Writer 

 

A new deli-style restaurant is open in Rockford, helping serve hungry customers breakfast and lunch three days a week.

Our Daily Bread held its soft opening on July 21, followed by its grand opening on August 4. Over the last month the staff has been adjusting to this new venture, refining and adding to the menu and feeding numerous customers.

Owner Sandra Wilson said that all of the restaurant’s food is homemade, “nothing out of a box.” They already have a lot of “regulars” who frequent the restaurant, and Wilson said they appreciate that and the support.

Our Daily Bread serves breakfast from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m., offering biscuits served various ways, grits, eggs, breakfast sandwiches, and more. The restaurant also offers breakfast bowls, which include meat, grits, scrambled eggs, and cheese, with one bowl option also including sausage gravy.

Wilson said they also plan to add breakfast plates to the menu in the near future.

Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with options including soups, salads, sandwiches, and desserts.

The soups change daily and include tomato basil, loaded potato, broccoli and cheese, and chicken and dumplings, with Tuesday having become “chicken and dumpling” day. Wilson said she also plans to add taco soup as an option this fall.

Salads are made to order, with fresh tomatoes from a family in Chilton County.

Customers have the option of ordering sandwiches off the menu, or they can go with a “build-your-own sandwich” option, selecting from the available breads, meats, cheeses, and toppings.

Wilson said the Crew’s Ham Sandwich dates back to the one locals are familiar with from the days of Crew’s Drugstore, saying she made it as close as possible to the drugstore’s sandwich from days gone by.

Sandra’s Roast Beef Sandwich features home-cooked roast beef with gravy and provolone cheese. Meanwhile, the restaurant menu also features Mr. Robert’s Tomato Sandwich, in honor of Robert Smith. The restaurant also has homemade chicken salad offered as a plate or a sandwich.

Customers can also opt for a combo, which includes a cup of soup, half a sandwich and a drink.

Wilson recently added a “Sunday dinner in a bowl” option as a special. It is described as a whole meal in a bowl and includes mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, pork loin, and gravy, but is made to order so customers can request certain things removed.

The dessert options include banana pudding on Mondays and Tuesdays, chocolate pudding on Wednesdays, key lime and lemon icebox dessert cups, and cookies, including chocolate brownie, oatmeal with and without raisins and Nestle Toll House.

Muffins were recently added to the menu and are available while they last, with varieties including lemon blueberry and apple cinnamon.

So far the restaurant’s top sellers have been the Crew’s Ham Sandwich, Sandra’s Roast Beef and THE Club.

Wilson said they will be adding some things as time goes on. The menu will also change seasonally, such as adding taco soup, chili and possibly bean soup in the fall.

During hunting season, she said they also have an idea to have a breakfast box conveniently available that hunters can call and pick up.

She also plans to have homemade bread and yeast rolls added in the near future.

Wilson said that she does not want to compete with anything else, that she just wants to “fix what [she] fixes.”

A love for food and cooking runs in her family, and the family also has a history of being in the restaurant business. Wilson said that she started making biscuits at 8 years old and has always loved it.

Regarding the restaurant, she says, “I just decided to start this late in life.”

The restaurant is also family-focused, with many family members helping in the kitchen and with other aspects.

Wilson’s daughter Angela Wilson handles the sandwich bar, and her daughter Christina Crumbley helps in the kitchen, while her grandson Chris Crumbley typically handles the front of the restaurant and taking orders. Her son-in-law Ronny Crumbley makes the biscuits, her grandson Lee Crumbley helps at the restaurant and designed the restaurant’s logo and T-shirt, and family friend Charlotte Phillips also helps out at the restaurant.

“It’s truly a family business,” Wilson said.

In addition to breakfast, lunch, desserts, and drinks, the restaurant also offers gift certificates for those looking to support a local business while shopping for others for a special occasion or just because.

“I appreciate everyone’s support,” Wilson said. “I want them to feel welcome and want it to be a good experience, whether they’re dining in or getting take out.”

The dining section of the restaurant features a mural on one wall painted by Charlotte Blencowe. The mural shows a lady in a field with flowers and the words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Our Daily Bread also has historical elements in the restaurant, some that may be familiar to longtime locals. A framed painting on a wall near the entrance highlights the old hardware store that once stood in the same place where the restaurant now stands, and the bench and order station came from the old Flint Hill Church, with the order station having been the church’s pulpit.

In addition to Our Daily Bread, the restaurant will share space in the building it occupies with Enoch’s Hardware Bait and Tackle. Located in the other portion of the building and with a dividing wall separating the store from the restaurant, current plans are for the hardware and tackle store to be open in November, and it will also be a family business.

Wilson thanks everyone for their support of the restaurant so far and for continued support. She said word of mouth has been helpful in promoting their business.

“As long as they enjoy the food and experience, that’s what matters to me,” she said.

Our Daily Bread is located at 304 Jackson Street in Rockford, behind “The Coosa County News” office and near the Post Office. The restaurant is open Monday through Wednesday from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The restaurant can be reached at 256-329-4231 or via its Facebook page at “Our Daily Bread 304.” Wilson said people can also check the restaurant’s Facebook page for daily specials, as well as menu and general restaurant updates.

From the name of the restaurant to some of its inside elements, Wilson’s faith is carried over into the business, and she credits God for allowing her to run the local restaurant.

“I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to do this and stay within His plan,” she said.