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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Shelton's Vern's Dishes Up More Than Food with Passion

The website for Vern’s Restaurant in Shelton proclaims that they serve food with passion. They might want to add “food with compassion.” We have often dined at Vern’s on my way to and from our home on the coast and found the food to be wonderful and the atmosphere welcoming. Today they dished up some compassion along with their award winning clam chowder.

I have a special aunt and uncle who live in Shelton. Following the unexpected death of her brother recently my aunt suffered a heart attack herself and underwent a triple by-pass. My stoic Finnish uncle didn’t want anyone to come and be with him and despite it against every fiber in my body I controlled my instinct to fly to him. Fortunately his children risked defying him and are there to give him love and support, but this morning I had an “ah-ha” moment and thought of Vern’s.

A quick check of their website revealed that Vern’s delivers. I’d found a way to help without being intrusive. I dialed the number listed and was connected to Chef Treacy Kreger, the owner operator of Vern’s. I explained the situation and Mr. Kreger quickly agreed to deliver a gallon of chowder, for practically nothing, to the family home so that everyone coming and going from there could have a hot bowl of chowder.

True to his word, the chowder was delivered by Treacy himself and although the family had gone to the hospital, the chowder was left packed in boxes of ice, a welcome sight when they returned. My cousin’s daughter has never liked chowder, but declared Vern’s to be delicious! I agree, believing it the best I've ever eaten and I've had a lot of chowder in my lifetime.

Vern’s is not a one hit wonder although their chowder has won awards in competitions in the Puget Sound area. All of their food is fresh and delicious, but my favorite treat is a big bowl of chowder coupled with their crab cakes.

Maybe the reason that Vern’s dished up compassion to a family at a trying time is that it is a family affair. A visit to Vern’s is liable to be hosted by waiter and son Jason Kreger, a charming young man that is following in the family’s footsteps of culinary service.


If you wanted to dine well and be treated like family stop by Vern's. Check out the website where their menu is posted.

http://vernsrestaurant.com/index.html

2 comments:

JosephMcG said...

Thanks for sharing this inspirational story... Joseph

Lorraine Hart said...

Yum! If I'm in the neighbourhood, I'll be stopping in for sure. Thank you Chef Kreger!