Cookies are baking at new restaurant

By The Observer

She started serving lunch in her Adams Avenue restaurant on Monday. That wasnt a hard decision to make.

The hardest thing was coming up with a name to call the former One Smart Cookie.

I dont know what to call it, said Audrey McNurlin late last week as she stood behind the counter at 1119 Adams Ave.

Ive had several suggestions. Things like Audreys, Eats and Sweets. I have to decide soon, she said then. I cant even get a phone until I have a name.

The name she finally chose was Cookie Cafe. She said she drew a good crowd for my first day on Monday.

She said the decision to open at the same site as One Smart Cookie was a fast one, we werent prepared to come in here so quickly.

She said the small restaurant in the center of downtown would be similar to One Smart Cookie, and hopefully the food will be as good as hers was.

Edie Harbour closed the business without selling it and moved to New York, McNurlin said.

McNurlin said she and her husband, Jerry, began renting the space July 23. They did not buy the One Smart Cookie business although they did make an offer. When Harbour closed the business after operating it for 12 years (and sporadically over the last year), the McNurlins rented the building. They own Highway 30 Coffee Shop, also on Adams Avenue.

I was always in the kitchen there, Audrey McNurlin said. This will be a challenge to start to get out of my hole and interact with the public.

I always loved One Smart Cookie. This will be exciting. Ill just have to play it by ear, and see what people like.

We will continue to have sweets and we will have luncheon specials on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We will try to continue some of the things Edie had, like pasta salads, cheese bread.

McNurlin plans to be ready to serve lunches at 11 a.m. each day, an hour before Harbour was ready.

Hours for the Cookie Cafe will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

McNurlin has hired one full-time employee, all she feels she needs for now, she said.

There are six tables inside for seating, usually three or four per table, and McNurlin hopes to provide sidewalk seating eventually.