Residents in Isanti were excited to see the Creamery Crossing (formerly the Creamery Cafe) open for business Tuesday, Sept. 7 and once again smell the warm scent of fresh home-made pies. Co-owners of the Creamery Crossing Paul Petersen and Darrell Carlberg said Tuesday residents were waiting at 4:50 a.m. for the doors to open at 5 a.m. "It has been really busy," Carlberg said. "I'm glad that so many old customers have returned and so many new ones have stopped in to check us out. It's fun to see so many familiar faces." Carlberg and Petersen were partners once before when they owned the Creamery Cafe together. So when the Creamery Cafe closed in mid June, the calls started coming that they should once again own the restaurant together. Carlberg and Peterson said by the first part of July they decided they would open the restaurant back up. "When we heard the Creamery Cafe was going to close we started looking at the opportunity to partner again," Carlberg said. "So we started working with the landlord again. It was important for both of us to get the long-term employees back to work. We wanted to take a quick approach to getting things done to open the restaurant again." Even though Creamery Crossing has the same "homey" feel as the Creamery Cafe, interior changes have been made. The restaurant has been repainted, received new carpet, furniture, lighting, flooring, wall coverings and is smoke-free. Carlberg said due to feedback from customers and with the movement in both big and small communities restaurants to go smoke-free, they felt it was a good decision to have the Creamery Crossing be smoke-free. All the rooms inside the restaurant have been redesigned with the intent to keep the small town atmosphere. The Cheese Room is now the Lodge Room with wildlife and country pictures gracing the walls. The owners tried to bring more of a country feel to the main dining room, while keeping memorabilia displayed depicting the history of the town. The main dining room also has a refrigerated pie display case reminding customers to keep room for dessert. The smaller dining room on the north side of the restaurant has now become the Railroad Room letting customers know that Isanti was formed around the same time the railroad was built. Light fixtures also hang throughout the restaurant that replicate milk can covers. Carlberg and Petersen have 38 full and part-time employees and two managers. A good majority of the employees are returning employees. "Our employees have a way of making all customers come together," Petersen said. "Our employees make are customers feel welcome, while our customers make our employees feel welcome. It's a family place and our customers feel good here and our employees enjoy working here." While Carlberg and Petersen would have liked to have the restaurant still be called the Creamery Cafe, legally they had to change the name and went through 65 different names before deciding on Creamery Crossing. The menu items are pretty much the same with daily specials being offered. A goal of Petersen and Carlberg is to enhance the evening dining menu. Carlberg and Petersen would like to thank everyone who helped them get the restaurant back open so quickly, noting it took a lot of people to make the Creamery Crossing open possible. Hours are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Overall Petersen, who is from the Cambridge-Isanti area and Carlberg, who is from Blaine, are excited have the doors back open and look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting some new ones. "We would like to maintain the customer base the Creamery Cafe had, while making new people in the community aware that we are here," Carlberg said. "We encourage new people to stop in and give us a try and we always welcome feedback." ©Isanti County News
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