Aberdeen Cafe

Reviews

• Dining Out: Aberdeen Cafe

  November 12, 2009

  Fayetteville Observer

  ABERDEEN - Ben and Rose Ottgen, owners of the Aberdeen Cafe, specialize in putting a twist on traditional dishes.
  Burgers are served on pretzel buns. Sweet potato fries are sprinkled
  with brown sugar and served with tangy ranch dressing for dipping, and
  the "T" in the cafe's BLT sandwich is a fried green tomato.
  Those are just a few examples of how the couple gives classic recipes a fresh spin.
  "I want people to come through the door and expect the unexpected,"
  said Ben Ottgen, who has 20 years of experience working in kitchens.
  "All of our food pretty much is comfort food but we do our own little
  twist with it."
  The Ottgens, who are originally from northern Michigan, opened the
  cafe in February. Ottgen worked as a sous chef for two years at the
  Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines before venturing
  out on his own.
  The location in Aberdeen was perfect, the couple thought, because
  they wanted to establish a restaurant in a small town that had strong
  community ties. They opened the restaurant in a storefront on North
  Sycamore Street that faces the railroad tracks in the heart of downtown.
  "I really want our customers to feel like they're our guests but
  also like they're family," Rose Ottgen said. "We want to offer people
  real good food but not with an uptight atmosphere."
  The building has tall ceilings, hardwood floors and wooden tables
  and chairs. Rose Ottgen decorated the eatery with vintage railroad
  posters and framed vintage sheet music. They wanted it to be a fun
  place for friends and families to gather.
  "The community has been very wonderful to us, very supportive,"
  Ottgen said. "Everybody is so glad to see us have this place open."
  "Word-of-mouth has been really our best advertising," Rose Ottgen
  chimed in. "It's been really nice just to see people that come in and
  tell us they really enjoyed it and we see them again and they bring
  their family with our friends."
  For now the restaurant serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week
  and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. The Ottgens said they plan to
  start dinner every night after they get their beer and wine license.
  The restaurant brings in musicians to play live music on Friday and
  Saturday nights. "It's more like background music," said Rose Ottgen,
  who is a singer-songwriter herself. "It's not necessarily the focal
  point. We try not to get it too loud, but we still want people to have
  a good time."
  Breakfast is served all day. The menu features the cafe breakfast
  with two eggs, hash browns or grits and a choice of toast, biscuit or
  pancake for $4. The sweet potato pancakes are made with slow roasted
  sweet potatoes and a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon for $4.50.
  Appetizer options include pasties, which are savory Cornish pastries
  filled with ground beef or lentils and diced onion, potato, carrot and
  rutabaga and covered in a brown gravy. Pasties (pronounced pass-tees)
  are $6 each.
  Sandwiches include Farrell's Fried Green Tomato BLT, which is
  cornmeal battered fried green tomatoes, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomato
  and pimento cheese served on toasted bread for $7. Rosie's Reuben is
  thick sliced homemade beef brisket, sauerkraut and Thousand Island
  dressing and Swiss on rye for $7.
  The Carolina chicken salad has apples, raisins, celery and pecans,
  and is topped with lettuce and tomato and a choice of bread for $6. The
  Rockfish sandwich is a beer-battered catfish, with lettuce and tomato
  served on a warm pretzel bun with tarter sauce on the side for $7.
  Sandwiches come with handcut fries or, for $1 more, sweet potato fries.
  The restaurant is committed to using local produce, Ben Ottgen said,
  to support the local community and because it's fresher and tastier.
  "We usually do two to three specials a day besides our normal menu,"
  Ottgen said. "And that goes by things that I can get that I get
  seasonally."
  Staff writer Amneris Solano can be reached at solanoa@fayobserver.com or 486-3521.

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• Aberdeen Institution Reopens

  March 27, 2009

  The Pilot

   

  The third installment of the Aberdeen Cafe recently opened on North Sycamore in downtown Aberdeen.

  Ben and Rose Ottgen decided to keep the name and feel of Aberdeen Cafe
  when they took over the restaurant. The location has been home to a
  diner since the 1970s, Rose said. The previous two were also called
  Aberdeen Cafe.

  "We've had a lot of people come in and tell us they used to eat here
  when they were kids, or that they remember eating lunch here after
  church," Rose said. "We wanted to keep the home-style cooking and feel
  to the place by serving burgers or sandwiches your mother or
  grandmother would make, but a little more upscale."

  The restaurant uses a lot of local produce, and the Ottgens make almost everything from scratch.

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  They said they pride themselves on being fresh and cooked-to-order, and want to provide their customers with a good value.

  "Most of our sandwiches are under $6, and they all come with our hand-cut fries," Rose said.

  The restaurant offers an all-day breakfast menu and a kids' menu as
  well as salads and soups. On Friday and Saturday night, it features an
  all-you-can-eat fish fry along with another weekend special. In the
  past, the specials have included ribs and fried chicken. Another
  weekend offering is the live local music that Aberdeen Cafe brings in.

  Rose said she and her husband love their location in downtown Aberdeen.

  "During the week, the people working in town and the locals keep us
  busy," she said. "It's a little slower on weekends when people aren't
  working in downtown, but it's picking up."

  The Ottgens moved to Southern Pines about 18 months ago when Ben
  accepted a job as a sous-chef at Pine Needles. Previously, they had
  lived in Michigan in the upper peninsula.

  "We've really put down roots here," Rose said.

  The Ottgens list the people, weather and being just a couple of hours
  from both beaches and mountains as their favorite perks of living in
  the Sandhills.

  One of the things the Ottgens brought down from the upper peninsula is
  the restaurant's signature dish, a Cornish creation called a "pasty,"
  which is popular in Michigan. Rose said it is essentially a pot pie
  without the tin, with gravy served on top, filled with ground beef,
  potatoes and carrots.

  "We've been getting people to try it, and the next time they come in, they usually order it again," Rose said.

  The restaurant offers a pasty punch card for fans who get a free pass after buying five.

  The Ottgens also gave the interior of the cafe a makeover, repainting
  the walls and redecorating. They kept the original tables and chairs.
  Rose collects vintage sheet music covers from the 1930s, and she framed
  some from her collection to decorate the walls.

  Many of the decorations are train-themed, in honor of the Aberdeen train depot across the street from the cafe.

  The Aberdeen Cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through
  Thursdays, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to
  4 p.m. on Sundays.

  The restaurant also offers catering and hosts private events.

  Contact Laura Eddy by e-mail at laura@thepilot.com.

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• Restos Reign in Aberdeen

  July 1, 2009

  Pinestraw

  They serve pasties. They must be from
  Michigan.
  Rose and Ben Ottgen are, indeed, from the Upper
  Peninsula where Cornish
  copper miners introduced
  these hand-held
  meat-and-vegetable pies.
  The Ottgens took over
  the café in February
  intending to make it a
  family-friendly community
  gathering place. So it appears: fresh lime green
  walls, shiny plywood floors and wainscoting, train
  posters, oversized coffee mugs, and breakfast served
  all day: Build your own three-egg omelet for $4.50.
  For a few bucks more add a biscuit and hand-cut
  sweet potato fries, which they call (thank you very
  much) pine straws.
  “Aberdeen’s got potential,” food and otherwise,
  Ben believes. Rose pushes the envelope with a
  Moore County Monte Cristo (turkey, ham, Swiss
  grilled between French toast slices topped with powdered
  sugar and strawberry jalapeño jam), then falls
  back on the popular liver, onions, mashed potatoes
  and a Friday fish fry: unlimited battered or baked
  fish, fries, and cole slaw.
  Chances are their Carolina chicken salad studded
  with apples, raisins, pecans, and celery would drive
  Miss Daisy wild, especially on the nights the lights go
  down and a local musician tunes up at the funky,
  welcoming little trackside café.

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