The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG- Homemade red velvet doughnuts, build-your-own sandwiches and themed dinners will soon be served at 206 Main Street, as the Callahan family wraps up the last few preparations for a soft opening of Millstone Cafe and Bakery.

"I have always wanted to own a restaurant," owner Deb Callahan said. "I have been cooking all of my life, I've catered a good portion of my life." Deb said that her husband, Jim, is getting ready to retire and they are looking forward to having a business that, with the right employees, they can operate while still taking the occasional vacation.

The cafe will be doing a soft opening on April 23 in adherence with Governor Inslee's 'Stay Home, Stay Safe' order. During the soft opening, Millstone Cafe and Bakery will serve their breakfast menu, soups, and sandwiches to-go. The cafe will also offer take-and-bake pizzas.

Once the restrictions are lifted, Millstone Cafe and Bakery will offer a Sunday breakfast buffet and themed dinners, like Chinese Wednesday, Fish Friday, and Sunday Supper, as well as the only salad bar in the Walla Walla Valley. Deb said it is hard for small town restaurants to keep a full menu stocked and she thinks the themed dinners will help reduce waste. If the restrictions continue longer than anticipated, they will offer the dinners in a grab-n-go style.

"We will have a senior menu, and we will always deliver to seniors over 65," Deb said. She wants to create an environment that the kids enjoy and feel at home with, so each kid's meal will come with the choice of an ice cream cone or ice cream and a freshly baked cookie.

Callahan and her son, Brian, have been traveling to the Tri-Cities regularly to participate in bread and cinnamon roll classes.

"He is the one who is pushing the sourdough," Callahan said, referring to Brian. "He wants to have a traditional Waitsburg sourdough starter. As a matter of fact, we are fighting over what we are going to call the sourdough. He wants to call it Preston-Schaffer Sourdough" said Deb good-naturedly.

Not only will this bread be made fresh and "from scratch" but it will be made from locally milled flour from Smalls Farms in Touchet.

The café includes a homey touch, made from a piece of Callahan family history. The live-edge wood that was used to make the bar in the café's front window came from a walnut tree which once stood in the Callahan's front yard.

"Jim's grandmother used to play under that walnut tree when she was a girl," Deb noted. "She forbade us from cutting it down while she was alive but after it started to rot we had to remove it."

Callahan said the bar will be finished with a backsplash and will include USB ports for phone chargers. With this counter the cafe will have a happy reminder of Betty Callahan and her favorite walnut tree.

The cafe will be open from 7 a.m.- 8 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday, and 7 a.m.- 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Deb said that they will stay open later on game days and other regular events when school opens back up.

"I just can't wait to open, I've waited for this for so long," Callahan said, smiling. "Even Jim is excited!"