Saturday, February 10, 2007

Grab a cup of coffee and roll at Rail Café — or drop in for a steak at suppertime

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Belen Six months ago, you never would have imagined that an 80-plus-year-old dilapidated house could suddenly be transformed into a beautiful café. But three people saw the structure's potential, and with a vision of creating a place that would complement the new Rail Runner Express train, the Rail Café was created.

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Max and Shawn Kiehne, along with Tom Greer, partnered up to renovate the old house, and their mission to have it ready when the Rail Runner came online at the Belen station was accomplished.

Needless to say, at 5 a.m. on Feb. 2, the Rail Café opened its doors, serving an assortment of coffees, homemade croissants and muffins.

"It's real easy to forget what we started with because it wasn't much," Greer said.

What's available now?

Although the Rail Café still has a little way to go before it will provide a full dining service, the coffee shop and bakery is fully operational, and a panini sandwich lunch menu is also being offered.

"Our signature panini lunch menu features the Rail Café Reuben, which in my mind will be one of the best reubens you've ever had," Greer said. "It's one of my favorite sandwiches, and I know how to make them really well."

Greer said that the Rail Café has about six to eight different kinds of panini sandwiches including ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, three cheese, veggie and peanut butter and jelly.

In addition, the Rail Café offers homemade soups, pastries, croissants and muffins and is carrying a line of O'Hara's jellies from Durango.

"They're spectacular," Greer said. "The jalapeño is a taste we're familiar with in New Mexico, but a lot of people have never had it in jams and jellies."

The coffee served is Bosque Coffee Roasters, and Greer said it is roasted the day you order it.

"If you're looking for freshly roasted coffee, this is it," he said. "There's been nothing but amazing comments on the coffee and bakery products."

Greer also said that the café will offer a lunch delivery service that will consist of panini sandwiches along with kettle chips.

"You know, kind of the classic brown bag lunch," Greer said. "We'll offer that in a week or two."

What's coming

The second phase for the Rail Café to develop will be a fine dining restaurant. A 60-foot boxcar will be a used as a commercial kitchen and restroom facility, and a cupola caboose will be used as a private dining room and a one-room, upscale bed-and-breakfast.

Greer said for people wanting to celebrate a special occasion or to just get away for a night, the bed-and-breakfast will allow them a nice place to stay.

"People could come from Albuquerque, stay, eat and take the train back," Greer said. "Even a working couple can (stay) during the week."

Greer said they are looking at late spring before the full dining service will be operational.

The restaurant and four small private dining rooms will be based on Fred Harvey's concept and service style. Dinners will be by reservation and will be a single seat, which means that patrons will be allowed to come and stay until closing if they want to without being rushed.

"The idea of that is the business and professional needs of this changing Belen society demand that we have someplace that people can entertain and get to know each other," Greer said.

The tables will be double-draped in white linens, with carnations, and the chairs will have seat cushions. The tables will also be set with fine china.

"It will be set up and designed as it was done in the 1960s by the Fred Harvey Restaurant Company," Greer said. "We're going to add a different type of dining with international cuisine that is a complement to what is already happening in Valencia County."

The restaurant will serve steaks, fresh seafood, two lamb items — chops and rack of lamb — and pork.

Outside the café, there will be two patio areas: one with a terrace for the fine dining side of the restaurant and another in front of the café with umbrella tables for patrons to eat lunch.

Greer said they also have free wireless wi-fi with outlets installed throughout the dining room to plug into laptop computers.

The Rail Café will also carry several newspapers including The Valencia County News-Bulletin, Albuquerque Journal, Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

"So for people who are in business or finance or those kind of things, they can actually pick a paper up on the way to the train," Greer said. "They can read it on the train rather than waiting until they get to the office."

Greer said that the Rail Café is the first point of contact for people coming to Belen and they wanted to design the business in a style that sets a good image for the Hub City.

"We're building on the railroad history and on a theme that's very compatible with what they'll see with the Becker Street renovations. We all like how it turned out," he said. "It's something that we need here. If you want to have and experience, here's a new opportunity — exquisite food and a fine dining experience."

The Rail Café is open from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

For more information or to place an order, call 864-CAFÉ (2233).

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