Millie’s Bruncheonette – a new concept from the restaurateur behind New Hope’s former Blue Moose Restaurant & Cafe, Skylar Bird, along with business partner Kate Attinello – is set to open by end of 2023, early 2024, following an extensive “retro-vation” of its home on the former Flemington Filling Station lot, located at 144 Main St in Flemington, NJ, according to Bird.
“We’re taking this gas station that’s been kind of abandoned for the last 15 – probably close to 20 years, really – and taking it and turning it into a neighborhood breakfast and lunch restaurant,” Bird tells What Now Philadelphia. “It’s been kind of a community eyesore for the last 10-plus years, so we’re excited to get that turned around and do something that’s kind of unique and special there.”
The restaurant, which is named for both Bird and Attinello’s maternal grandmothers, will feature a menu of “scratch-made classic breakfast and lunch dishes with a hint of their family’s Pennsylvania Dutch and German heritage,” according to its official website. There will also be a coffee counter where guests can get quick-service items such as pastries and other baked goods made in-house.
As Bird explains it, “There’s the full-service sit-down side and then there’s the quick-service take-out side; kind of like a gas station, actually, we have the full-service and more of a quick-service, self-service end to the place, so we’re hoping we’ll be able to do a little bit of each.”
Meanwhile, Millie’s aesthetic will draw on the building’s historic location and storied history, evoking the nostalgia and promise of “post-war gas stations that were once viewed as symbols of modernization and renewal.”
The journey to get Millie’s up and running is already three years in the making, as Bird and Attinello initially acquired the property from the town back in 2019.
However, Bird says that “at this point, everything’s looking pretty good” following site plan and zoning board approvals, and that the restaurant is hoping for a grand opening by year’s end, though that might be pushed to early 2024.
“Both of our grandmothers were Depression-era ladies, kind of tough cookies,” says Bird, “and this site is kind of a tough cookie too.”
