Aces of Trades: Yesterday's Pub a step back in time in Newark
NEWARK — They didn’t really plan it, but they’ve been dishing up “fantastic food at reasonable prices” at Yesterday’s Pub since the 1970s.
“Dave and I both grew up in this area,” began Kay Kittel. “He graduated from Lakewood, then joined the Marine Corps (this was during the Vietnam era).”
“I graduated from Utica,” Kay continued, “then went to Capital University, fully intending to becoming a nurse. However, although I loved the academics, when it was time to begin rotation and actually being in the hospitals, I knew it was not for me.”
“When I announced this decision to my father and mother,” she added, “they were very disappointed. My dad wanted to know what I wanted to do. Without thinking, the first thing I said was I wanted to be a hairdresser and make people happy, not see them sick or dying. The following week he enrolled me in cosmology school, which I loved from the first day. I earned my degrees as a cosmologist and an instructor.”
After Dave’s time in the Marines, he came back to Newark, and he returned to work as a forklift driver. For extra money he worked at a gas station.
“I met him and knew he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” Kay said. “Six weeks later, we were married.”
Then one day they noticed something in the newspaper.
“We saw an ad in the Newark Advocate,” Kay recalled, “for a neighborhood bar and restaurant for sale called Fox Brother's Cafe. This was in 1979. Thus began a new chapter in our lives. Dave, having been a cook in the Marines, and me, being a people person, decided to buy it. The interest rate then was very high, but we did it anyway, making a lot of sacrifices and very little money.”
“Since this was originally a stop on the old canal,” she noted, “and having a wall-long Victorian back bar, we decided to change the name to Yesterday’s Pub and decorate it with antiques.”
“Our menu has changed a lot through the years,” added Dave, “our specialty being authentic Maryland crab cakes, served the first and third Fridays of the month.”
“Through the years,” said Kay, “we’ve met some really wonderful people – helped young people giving them their first job, patrons who have become friends. Our entire family has worked here through the years, including our Tracee and her son Nick, our grandson.”
Now there are thoughts of retirement.
“We would miss our wonderful friends and patrons,” concluded Kay, “but not the long hours and hard work.”
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.
Where are they?
Yesterday’s Pub is located at 78 Wilson St. in Newark. For more information, go to its Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Aces of Trades: Yesterday's Pub in Newark a step back in time
