FARMINGTON — It’s under renovation at the moment but when it opens Grantlees, a new Fairbanks Road restaurant, will bring the North and South together.
With an expected August 1 opening, new owners are working hard to give the former Cabin Restaurant a whole new look, one with a Civil War theme, said Danielle Bates, who is working along with her parents and owners, Rick and Vicky Bates, and other family members to re-open the empty space.
Her father is a real Civil War buff, she said. The name Grantlees stands for Ulysses S. Grant, Union army commander, and Robert E. Lee who surrendered the Confederate Army to Grant at Appomattox.
The Grantlees logo will bear their photos at the end of the Civil War at Appomattox with one holding a beverage and the other a fork and knife.
“A place ‘Where people come together,’” she said, Wednesday as she and her boyfriend, Scott McGill, worked to paint and clean the kitchen.
A new rug, new tables and booths with seating for about 44-people is planned for the dining room decorated with Civil War memorabilia. During a trip back to their homes in Tennessee next week, Rick Bates and McGill will bring decorative items geared towards helping families learn about the Civil War, she said. It will be a family oriented restaurant and one that reaches out to the many local families who had members involved in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Although Bates reveals her southern roots with a slight southern accent, her father wanted to move back to an area where he has family and start something he’s dreamed about doing since he was a teen, she said. Bate’s grandparents owned a home on Bailey Hill but her father left the area for several years.
It’s not just the Civil War theme but the food itself that brings North and South together. Southern dishes including barbecue, pulled pork and breakfast items like gravy and biscuits will be offered along with Northern favorites such as lobster rolls, shepherd’s pie and more.
The family plans to add a deck onto the restaurant and hopes to offer southern barbecues in the future, she said.
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