Rustic Restaurant Keeps It All In The Family

Surrounded by acres of farmland in Rocky River, the Riegelsberger family opened Rustic Restaurant across from a drive-in movie theater on Center Ridge Road back in 1947 with a modest menu of house-made burgers and barbecued sandwiches. As the city grew over the years with an abundance of houses and an influx of family dining hot spots, the owners continued to thrive with a made-from-scratch approach inside their iconic wood-shingled restaurant. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this month, Rustic’s menu has since expanded to include a rotating list of house-made specials such as chicken potpies, stuffed cabbage, chicken paprikash and scrod almandine. Third-generation co-owners and cousins Kurt and Gary Riegelsberger talk to us about what it takes to keep the stoves cooking for 70 years, how they tackle a fast-casual dining scene and what they’re doing to stay fresh.

Kurt Riegelsberger: We both cook every day. One of us works mornings, the other works nights and then we switch shifts every other week.

Gary Riegelsberger: I never went to a cooking school and neither has Kurt. It is just reading and trying new things.

KR: We’re trying to keep it basic and simple, because I think that’s what’s worked for us over the years.

GR: I remember in ’64, I used to be in the back at 6 or 7 years old slicing ham with my cousins.

KR: We always had a good work ethic from our parents because they worked their butts off all the time. It was 1977 or something, and my dad said, “Kurt, you’re going to work now.” I’ve been doing it since the summer of seventh grade.

KR: Every Friday, we have chicken paprikash. That recipe probably goes back to my grandmother. When you’re making it homemade, you’re putting a lot of care into it.

GR: A couple years ago, I had a hankering for a sloppy Joe because my mom used to make sloppy Joes. So, I put sloppy Joe on the board. We sold probably 60 pounds of sloppy Joes a week. People were calling off the hook.

GR: You need to be diversified a little bit and not have the same thing every day.

KR: We instilled in our kids the kind of work ethic our parents and our grandfather had. Be there, do your job, enjoy what you do and work hard at whatever it is you do whether it be flipping burgers or building houses. You’ve got to have a sense that you take some pride in what you’re doing.