Yee-haw and salutations! Eckert’s Country Restaurant of Belleville has announced a major, recession-defying project that will expand the humble eatery into a formidable 22,000-square-foot multiuse facility.
Come July, the public will be able to enjoy expanded space for local produce, locally raised beef and pork in a fresh meat shop, specialty foods, an expanded bakery, and a 1,200-square-foot cooking and workshop classroom. By September, the restaurant will also double its capacity, to 360 seats.
Eckert’s will continue to feature dinners served family-style, all-you-care-to-eat fried chicken, breakfast served daily, and complete meals to go for four (fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, pork sausage and sauerkraut, and meatloaf and mashed potatoes).
That’s all in addition to Eckert’s seasonal apple, peach, pumpkin and berry pick-it-yourself orchards, of course.
– Byron Kerman
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2010.