Sisters Rachel and Tabby Sexton both started working at Rosie’s Restaurant when they were only
14 years old.
Years have since passed and the old pay phone out front is long gone, but the sisters from Rush plan to soon re-open the former café as Momma’s Kitchen and bring back the homemade tastes that made the place famous with local diners.
“We have a lot of work left to do,” Rachel Sexton said, adding they hope to feed their first guests as early as next week.
Nancy Daniel, who worked at Rosie’s for a dozen years “15 years ago or longer” visited the Sexton sisters this week as they planned and worked toward the reopening. Daniel, whose pies and cakes were among the reasons customers loved Rosie’s, will be returning to the kitchen to make “all homemade” desserts for Momma’s Kitchen.
“Banana Split Cake, cream pies, blackberry cobblers, homemade rolls and biscuits – everything will be homemade,” Daniel said.
Tabitha “Tabby” Sexton said family-friendly flavors will be featured, with meats locally sourced from Opell’s.
“We really like the hot sausage from there.”
Unlike the Rosie’s of old, the new restaurant will be smoke free, and open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. instead of around the clock.
In addition to their memories of working at Rosie’s, the Sextons have a family connection to the building they’ve spent the past couple of months renovating. Their great-grandmother Edith Hall opened the establishment as a grocery store nearly 100 years ago. The establishment’s namesake, Rosie, was the next ownerthe sisters explained.
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Graduates of East Carter High School, Tabby and Rachel Sexton said Momma’s Kitchen may be open as early as “not this Monday but next Monday. We have a lot to get done.”
Momma’s Kitchen is located at 8869 US 60, Rush Kentucky. For more information, visit the new restaurant’s Facebook page. Carter County Post will also provide follow-up coverage of the restaurant’s opening.
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| The interior of the longtime local eatery has been completely renovated, along with much of the building’s infrastructure. |
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| A painting by Rosie’s patron Helen Hunt indicates the establishment first welcomed customers in 1925. |
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| Tabby Sexton points out the old pay phone in a painting of the old Rosie’s Restaurant. Smiling, she explained she once depended on the phone to call her mother for a ride when she finished working inside. |
Story and Photos by TIM PRESTON