ShawneeDispatch.com

Tucked in behind displays of antiques and knickknacks, and sometimes serenaded by an antique player piano, Tina Marie’s restaurant is carrying on the tradition of homestyle cooking in Shawnee in a unique setting.

Tina Myers, owner, opened her restaurant Feb. 1 in The Ridge Antique Mall, 7410 Nieman Road, with a menu that features many of the items she took from 11-1/2 years at the former Yarbrough’s Restaurant, which closed at the end of the year after 40 years in business. The word about Tina Marie’s quickly got out to the Yarbrough’s regulars.

“Since I’ve opened, I’ve seen a lot of customers that I took care of at Yarbrough’s,” she said. “I think the antique mall and the dealers here have liked it, too.”

After briefly operating as “Nonni’s Bistro” and carrying coffee and baked goods, Myers took over the revamped space at the back of the antique mall. The antique mall had created a dining area under a pergola with a Tuscan mural on two walls.

Myers added a banquet room that seats up to 75, where she incorporated the antiques sold at the mall, using dining sets, paintings, and lamps from mall dealers to help fill the space.

Myers said while the restaurant’s name has changed to Tina Marie’s, they still are using the “Nonni’s” name in different ways. She said it is appropriate, as she learned how to cook on her grandmother’s Indiana farm.

In Myers’ professional career, she worked for several national chain restaurants, but the return to from-scratch home cooking is what first attracted her to Yarbrough’s.

“It was like coming home,” she said of working at the restaurant. “The only thing they didn’t do was can fruits and vegetables.”

When she learned Yarbrough’s was to close, Myers first planned to continue offering Yarbrough’s-style cooking through a catering business in her home, but then the antique mall’s owners offered her their space.

Like Yarbrough’s, Tina Marie’s will have specials that change daily, and Myers said she has no plans to have a “set” day for specials.

“I never will – I like to change things as I go,” she said.

And some Yarbrough’s favorites can be found either on the permanent menu or in specials.

The Baked Deluxe Chicken Breast, formerly a permanent item at Yarbrough’s, will be a special at Tina Marie’s, but the Tortilla Encrusted Baked Tilapia, a special at Yarbrough’s, is on the menu full-time for Myers.

Still, she said she’s doing her best to work with customer requests, and she’s also still offering catering and delivery.

Other favorites that will continue through Tina Marie’s: Yarbrough’s famous cinnamon rolls and pies. And the restaurant also features cappuccinos, espressos and lattes, as well as other special baked goods from baker Holly Theisman.

Tina Marie’s is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. The restaurant can be contacted at 268-4447.

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