BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) – The Opera House Cafe is making an effort to be experimental, upscale, and exciting with the dishes that they are preparing.
(PICTURED ABOVE: The Opera House Cafe owners Sam and Adrianna Rubino)
Current owners Sam Rubino, a retired state department employee, and his wife, Adrianna, bought The Opera House Cafe from Jon Hoak in 2018. Neither owner is a native of the area, as Sam lived in many foreign countries due to his father’s profession and Adrianna was raised in Buffalo, New York.
After Sam’s retirement, the couple searched to determine which town best fit their desires on an online website.
“With our filters, Brookville came out second in the nation,” Sam told exploreJeffersonpa.com.
They moved to the area and re-opened The Opera House Cafe on July 31, 2018.
“(Opening a restaurant) was never even on my radar,” Sam explained.
“This is a really pretty town. It’s one of the few towns around where Main Street is still viable and vibrant. The people are nice and supportive,” Adrianna said.
“For me (moving here) was really strange. Everybody knew everybody.
“After living here for three years, I know everybody. It’s kind of crazy how well you get to know people,” Adrianna added.
According to the owners, since moving here, they have taken up a serious commitment to the community around them – holding meetings with other local business owners and making sure to purchase all that they can locally.
“We also recognize a social responsibility to support any local business that we possibly can,” Sam said.
The owners say that many of the ingredients on the menu are from local sources.
“All of our burgers on our regular menu are farm to table, and our fillets are farm to table. We want to give something to the local community that they otherwise might not even have access to.
“We are a small company supporting a dozen or so other small local companies and that’s what feeds a community. That money is not going to some stockholder, it’s going to Johnny’s shoes, and we’re really proud of that,” Sam said.
Another way The Opera House Cafe is contributing to the community is by supporting local artists. The restaurant has collaborated with Fusion Cafe to sell their artwork.
Keeping local artwork alive was very important to their business, according to the Rubinos.
According to the Rubinos, their local purchases have enabled them to experiment with different foods in the hopes that they can offer new and interesting dishes to the area.
“We offer something that may have been in the area years back but is no longer in the area. We’re doing things completely differently from what anyone else is doing,” Sam said.
Sam added that “You can still get meat and potatoes, but there are also options, such as higher cuts of meat.”
“We’re the only restaurant in a 50-mile radius that serves dry-aged beef. We take some recipes as a base and then modify them and make them our own.”
Much of this effort is spearheaded by the innovative efforts of The Opera House Cafe’s Head Chef, Henry Rape.
Some of the restaurant’s more exotic dishes include creme brulee, Oakmont cakes, roasted rack of lamb, crabcakes, and restaurant specials like Oxtail Osso Bucca and Tuna Tartare.
Common items such as burgers, fries, and crepes can also be found on the menu.
While Sam explained that they “want to be leading the industry in what we are trying to do,” Adrianna added: “People are willing to drive to have decent food.”
The Opera House Cafe can be found at 229 Main Street, Brookville, Pa.
For more information, visit their Facebook page.
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