Judy’s Place, an iconic diner in Newbury Township, sits dark and quiet along Kinsman Road now.
Judy’s Place, an iconic diner in Newbury Township, sits dark and quiet along Kinsman Road now.
A red “For Sale” sign at the corner of Kinsman and Elm roads lets passers-by know the entire TLC Plaza — recently home to a pet groomer and auto garage on more than 12 acres — is ready to be repurposed.
But residents from miles around remember when Judy’s Place was so popular 15 years ago, they were lucky to get a table for Saturday breakfast.
Cars and trucks would fill the parking lot, overflowing to the dirt yard to the west of the structure. Hungry customers would tromp around puddles or trudge through cold slush to meet up with family and friends for that first cup of good coffee.
Nichole Jacques, an agent with Real Living Brokers Realty Group, said her parents would take her there for breakfast 30 years ago.
“We kids always liked to go there for pancakes and dippy eggs,” Jacques recalled, adding she didn’t know the real name of the treat — eggs over easy — until she was an adult.
The crowds kept owner and chef Judy Kaye and the staff hopping, said Lois Talcott-Cameron.
Now waiting tables at JC’s Restaurant — owned by John and Cindy Chambers in Burton Village — Talcott-Cameron said she spent 20 years serving breakfast and lunch at Judy’s Place and her memories aren’t just fond, they are “fantastic.”
It was a different time filled with generous customers and co-workers, she recalled.
“We had a lot of laughs working there,” Talcott-Cameron said.
Several of the waitresses had young children over the years.
“If one of us couldn’t find a babysitter, the kids would be parked in a corner with toys and crayons,” she said, adding when one mother went off shift, she’d take all the kids home until their parents could come for them.
“We helped each other out,” Talcott-Cameron said.
Tables were arranged for two or eight customers and it wasn’t uncommon for different couples to be seated at the same table, she recalled.
“Sometimes people who ended up sitting together became friends for life,” she said. “You don’t see that any more.”
Like Jacques’ parents, who lived in Mesopotamia, people would travel half an hour to gather around a large table for an hour of conversation and diner cuisine.
In fact, this reporter lives in Newbury Township and ate many breakfasts there when Judy’s Place was still owned and operated by Judy Kaye.
“We still have some groups that get together at JC’s,” Talcott-Cameron said.
Breakfast at Judy’s Place was a real mob scene when the Alcoholics Anonymous conference was held over three days twice per year at Punderson State Park.
Then waitresses and cooks would fly around the tables without a break, laughing and joking with the campers.
“Sometimes, we were so hurried, we’d bring the wrong meal,” she recalled, adding, however, it was not a big deal to many. Sometimes it became a customer’s favorite menu choice in the future.
“They’d say, ‘It’s not what I wanted, but it was real good,’” she said.
With Kaye in the kitchen, there weren’t any poor choices and many dishes was made from scratch, Talcott-Cameron said.
“Judy started the biscuits the night before,” she said, noting the owner didn’t have a written recipe.
But it was the gravy that made biscuits and gravy a hot menu item.
“I don’t think they even sell that grease for restaurants any more,” Talcott-Cameron said.
The restaurant would open for special occasions and she recalled a baby shower that was especially well attended.
Then there was the pony from Kaye’s farm down the road that would sometimes escape its pasture and show up at the diner’s back door looking for Kay’s daughter, Maddie, who worked at Judy’s, Talcott-Cameron said.
“It was an awesome place to work,” she said, recalling the informal and friendly atmosphere. “We had generous and wonderful guests.”
Jacques said when Kaye retired and Judy’s Place closed, she was surprised another restaurant was not successful there.
The frontage on Kinsman Road is zoned for commercial mixed use and the acreage along Elm Road that leads back to Kiwanis Lake could be developed, as well, she said.
“I listed it just two weeks ago. The (opportunities) are wide open,” Jacques said.
