ALTON - After starting S and S Sandwich Shop, which is now Sammi's Sandwiches, next to Norb's, located at 2505 State St., Scott Yarbrough has opened a second location next to Woodstock Lounge, located at 638 E. Broadway, called Sammi's Grill.
Yarbrough said he has been a patron of the bar, owned by Eliot Gray, for a long time. He was approached by Gray to take over the kitchen as long as four months ago, and Yarbrough said he was made an offer he "couldn't refuse." Since then, he said the business at the second location as been something of a roller coaster ride. Since a second entrance was outfitted onto the property and new signage was added, however, Yarbrough said business has been a steady flow.
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"We've been slow growing it and taking our time with it," he said. "I finally got my person, Connie Snyder. She's down here most of the time. She's down here five days a week. She's a culinary graduate. She's spectacular. She runs a lot of the specials, and takes care of all those things for me."
Those specials set Sammi's Grill apart from the six-year-old Sammi's Sandwiches. In the second location, Yarbrough said he has access to fryers and other kitchen equipment, meaning a more expansive menu for customers. Besides the usual Pig on a Wing and chicken sandwiches, Sammi's Grill also offers burgers, salads and assorted "blue plate" specials, including meatloaf and stuffed pork chops.
"Down here it's different," he said. "We can do chicken sandwiches. We can do Pig on a Wing still and things off that menu. But, down here we have an oven and we have a fryer. It's a completely different menu."
If Gray would have asked him to start a second location of Sammi's Sandwiches, though, Yarbrough said he would have told him no.
"I need to break up my day, and I've been doing the other place for six years now, so it's nice to have a change of pace down here," he said.
Sammi's Sandwich Shop is still going strong. Yarbrough said he is back and forth between both locations several times a day, as many as seven days a week.
Yarbrough described Woodstock Lounge as a nice bar full of nice people, featuring good food.
More information can be found at Sammi's Grill at Woodstock Lounge's Facebook page. Hours in the winter are 11 a.m.-6 p.m., but Yarbrough said summer may extend those until 8 p.m. in the future.
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