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Foothills Faces

People & Places of the Carolina Foothills

Owning a restaurant isn’t for everyone, but for Michaila Cowles…it’s everything.

3/28/2018

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​Most sixteen year olds are thinking about a weekend date or what to wear on Monday. But when Michaila Cowles was sixteen she was thinking business and she was not thinking small!
 
It doesn’t take long chatting with Michaila to know that she is goal and career driven. At 23 years old she’s already made a success of Huckleberry’s, a casual-dining restaurant, in downtown Tryon.
 
Michaila and her family moved to Polk County from New England for a lot of reasons and like a lot of area transplants…escaping the long and cold winters of New England and those occasional “nor’easters”  was one deciding factor. She entered Polk County High and graduated early at age 16. Michaila always knew she wanted to cook and even as a young girl was experimenting in her grandmother’s kitchen. She remembers one time choosing special spices based on the “pretty” color of the jar tops and enjoyed concocting a meatloaf and cinnamon dish that to this day she does NOT serve in her restaurant. That was Michaila’s start in the food business and she’s never looked back.
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​Michaila started running a bakery in Lake Lure (also called Huckleberry’s) while in high school and at age 16 she could smell success. She enrolled in Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte concentrating in several disciplines including culinary arts, food service, hospitality & tourism, and bakery & pastry. Michaila finished a six-year program in four…and that doesn’t surprise me one bit. All of that added to her already solid experience with her own bakery and on New Year’s Eve 2014 she opened the current Huckleberry’s.
 
Michaila wears all the hats in the business but she’s not alone. A staff of nearly 15 takes care of running the restaurant open seven days a week. Her family is also involved; her mom handles marketing, sister helps everywhere, and dad even designed and built the woodstove that cooks all the wood-fired specialties. She says she has the best staff and keeping a good staff is one of the challenges for any business owner. 
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​One of Huckleberry’s unique touches is the placement of a spiral-bound notebook on each table. Each notebook, complete with attached ballpoint pen, is meant for customers to fill in the “life” of that table. It’s a great way to spend wait time reading comments from others and adding your own. Michaila saves all the filled notebooks. This author is thinking there’s a book coming out of those notebooks one day!
​Owning a restaurant isn’t for everyone, but for Michaila it’s everything. She enjoys being her own boss but it has its downfalls including the long hours. Michaila wears all hats and some days floats between front of house duties and kitchen work. “Some days I don’t have a set job, other days I’m dedicated to the chef whites and am working on the line. Some days I get to dress like the girls and wait tables, and there are days I’m staying late washing dishes. It’s all good.”
 
She does offer a bit of advice to anyone thinking of starting a business like hers…try it first! It’s not an easy life. In fact it’s hard. Long hours, every day, all year. It takes a lot to open a restaurant and even more to keep it going. Huckleberry’s is successful for several reasons including Michaila’s drive and hard work and the dedication of her staff. Of course having great food helps!

More to Know: Huckleberry’s is open seven days a week and is located at 62 North Trade Street (the main drag) in downtown Tryon.  828/ 436-0025. The restaurant seats about 120 counting indoor and outdoor patio seating. Boots & breeches are always welcome and dogs can join their people parents on the patio. Beer and wine are available now and a new full bar will have a grand opening on May 5 with 19 North Carolina distilleries offering tastings. In fact, it’s going to be a big celebration with a small section of Trade Street closed for a block party featuring craft vendors, two live bands, and food. Check the website for more info at www.huckleberrystryon.com.
 
 The spelling of Michaila is itself an interesting story. She says she was born during a hailstorm and that’s how the name came about. You’ll need to ask her yourself if this is true. 
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Joseph Letterio IS a Renaissance Man!

3/22/2018

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It’s not often one gets the opportunity to be around someone who has faced hardships most of us can’t even imagine. And then sit in awe as this person sparkles with enthusiasm when talking about the life he lives. It’s a life that Joseph sees as a challenging current situation that he has learned to enjoy with a positive outlook. “My life as a whole is quite good.”

​Joseph Letterio, known by lifelong friends and associates as Joseph Maimone, has just had his first book published. That’s a goal most would-be authors dream of but never see happen. Joseph has been beaming with pride ever since the book rolled off the printing press. The title might give you a hint of the sense of humor Joseph exudes. Musings of a Wannabe Renaissance Man is a collection of writings dating back to his tenth grade year, through his college days when he was struggling to find the new Joseph, and his current life experiences.
 
You should know that Joseph’s life turned upside down during his second semester of his freshman year at NC State University. He and some college buddies decided to try one more ski trail, a double black-diamond run at Snowshoe in West Virginia. Joseph, one who to this day doesn’t turn down a challenge, took on this trail and it was a bit more than his ski skills were ready for. He ran into a tree going 35 miles an hour and the end result left him a C5 quadriplegic. Life as he knew it could have ended right there. But for Joseph, he made this the beginning.
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With the help and love of his parents, six siblings, friends, and his faith – Joseph moved ahead. Nothing is easy as I observed how everything we don’t even think about becomes a challenge for Joseph. Finding a way to support a fork, drinking coffee through a straw, needing a bit of help here and there. He takes it in stride. His humor helps. He is amazing.
 
Joseph was able to go back to college and finish his bachelor’s degree at Belmont Abbey and just recently was awarded his master’s in data analytics from Southern New Hampshire University.
 
 Joseph puts things in perspective this way, “Every single person has at least one big cross that they carry through their life. Most of these crosses are invisible and no one notices and they carry it alone.  For me, it’s visible. It’s one of those things that you allow to either make you or break you. It’s not in my nature to give up or sit idle.”
 
Writing has been an interest of Joseph’s for much of his life. He grew up with a literary family (both of his parents are educators) and they encouraged him to write along with teachers. Joseph sees J.R.R. Tolkien’s work as another inspiration and he gets a lot of positive feedback from social media. In fact, Facebook friends started commenting on his occasional literary posts wanting more. So finally Joseph posed the question, “Who would actually buy a book of my writings?” The answers started flowing in and that was enough of a rush to get Joseph Letterio to finally make it happen.
 
“I hear a lot of people say they would like to write. I say what’s holding you back? You have to recognize that nothing is ever going to be perfect in this world. And if you wait for something to be perfect, you’re never going to do anything. You need to brace a little bit of humility, say I have something to offer, and share it because that’s what the world needs.”
 
Well, Joseph is about as perfect of a man as I’ve ever met. He is an inspiring person to be around and should offer hope to anyone struggling with writing or with life.
 
More to know:
 Musings of a Wannabe Renaissance Man by Joseph Letterio can be ordered from Amazon. Joseph is developing a YouTube channel to highlight read-alouds and through this and his writings, he hopes to inspire others. Joseph is already at work on his second book. Letterio, is his pen name, which also happens to be his middle name. There’s a good story there, but we’re out of room. ​
Listen and watch as Joseph reads a couple of selections from
​Musings of a Wannabe Renaissance Man.

Joseph Letterio - The Daily News from Mark Levin on Vimeo.

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A delicious way to start this journey...

3/16/2018

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Freida Graber (left) and Martha Graber are serving up some very tasty baked goods and other delicious treats.
It was my lucky day to start my Foothills Faces journey at a bakery. I got to combine several of my favorite things in one short visit: meeting nice people, taking photos, and eating!
 
​Martha’s Amish Bakery and Sandwich Shoppe has been around since 2014. You might have visited before when it was known as Cool Mama’s Bakery.  
 
The mama is Martha Graber and her daughter, Freida Graber, own and run the bakery. They’re also the bakery chefs, the wait staff, and the dishwashers and handle all of that with precision and grace. Martha’s Amish Bakery is filled with wonderful smells of fresh-baked goods including muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls, and an amazing variety of breads. The coffee is good, too. It’s all good!
 
It was a busy morning with a steady stream of customers when I visited today. Some enjoyed their treats in the shop and others grabbed it to go. I’m thinking those taking it to go opened up their treats before making it out of the parking lot.
 
The bakery itself offers a warm and comfortable seating area surrounded with Amish-inspired décor. It’s the kind of place you’d feel welcome sitting around for ten minutes or an hour.
 
Martha said they started cooking and selling baked goods at the Saturday morning Columbus Farmer’s Market back in 2004 when they moved to Polk County. As the demand for their treats got to be too much for their home, they knew it was time to find a permanent place. Martha says, “It has been a process to get to this point. We’re really excited to be here and see the business grow.”
 
Martha and Freida moved to Polk County from Guthrie, Kentucky where Martha’s parents founded the first Amish community in that state back in 1958. There’s a large community of Amish living in Kentucky now but I can tell you for sure…I’m glad these two moved to Polk County.
 

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Lots of fresh-baked breads.
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Martha starts laying the groundwork for a custom-made sandwich.
More to Know:
 
Martha’s Amish Bakery & Sandwich Shoppe is located in the Green Greek Community at 6431 Highway 9 South just a stone’s throw from the blinking light at the corner of Landrum Road and Highway 9. They’re open Wednesday through Saturday for early morning snacks, tasty lunch sandwiches, coffee, and more. Check them out on Facebook. Phone: 828/ 863-4643.
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It begins soon...

3/15/2018

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I've started setting up my first rounds of interviews and plan to post the first of these within the next few days. By the end of March I'll be well underway.

Please share this site with your friends, subscribe to this blog, "like" the Facebook page, and send me your suggestions for folks to include and places to highlight. 
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    Mark Levin

    ...retired in 2017 from a life of work, mostly in education. I decided it was time to stop commuting and stay at home a while. Foothills Faces is meant to bring you short snippets of life through photography, videography, and audio recordings of some of the wonderful people and places of the Carolina Foothills..

    And for something new:
    Check out Mark's new YouTube Channel, The Country Life with ColumbusMark. It's a lighthearted look at life in the country.

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