If you rebuild it, they will come.
That's what Ruth Oehmig hopes for on Thursday, Dec. 10, when she reopens her Cafe on the Corner at 826 Scenic Highway in the heart of the tiny commercial district of Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
Oehmig had to rebuild from the ground up after the century-old restaurant she owned was incinerated by a fire that started around 4 a.m. on May 27, 2014 - right after a busy Memorial Day when the USA Cycling National Championships rolled through town.
"It reached over 1,200 degrees," Oehmig said of the blaze that firefighters told her was caused by natural gas escaping from a line at the restaurant's fireplace. "The heat was so hot [that] bricks that survived were considered unusable."
Now, 18 months later, Oehmig is ready to reopen in a building designed by Michael McGowan, a Lookout Mountain resident whom Oehmig described as a "beautiful, amazing architect."
Sunlight poured through the windows, recently, as Oehmig talked about her new, "chic" space with room for 100 diners inside and another 60 outside on the patio.
I like to take a dish that is not necessarily Southern and make it Southern.
Photo Gallery
Lookout Mountain's Cafe on the Corner to reopen Dec. 10 some 18 months after fire leveled it
The new restaurant has a ceiling with exposed beams on which widely spaced acoustical tiles hang to dampen the din of a busy restaurant.
As Oehmig gave a tour of the restaurant, passerby Steve Logsdon of Cleveland, Tenn., opened the front door and checked out the progress.
"I saw lights on and thought maybe they've reopened already," Logsdon said.
Sara Smiley, a server and bartender who helped get the restaurant ready said, "That happens about 20 times a day." Cafe on the Corner started taking reservations weeks before the reopening.
While Oehmig loved the old building that housed a variety of businesses over the decades, including a malt shop run by a cousin, she said its "beautiful wooden floor undulated. Tables had to be propped up all the time."
The menu will bring back favorites that people have asked Oehmig about during the restaurant's closure, including fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese.
They're twists on old Southern standards, or "Southern comfort food redefined," said Oehmig, who developed recipes with help from her son, Sven Lindroth, a classically trained chef who helped her open the restaurant in 2009.
The fried green tomatoes, for example, are crusted with Asian-style panko breadcrumbs and served with pepper jelly and basil aioli, a sauce similar to mayonnaise.
She's developed some new dishes, too.
"I like to take a dish that is not necessarily Southern and make it Southern," Oehmig said.
Prices for dinner entrees will range from $13 to $23, Oehmig said. The restaurant will be open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch, which Oehmig said showcases the restaurant's Bloody Mary. Cafe on the Corner has a full bar, she said, that specializes in good beers, wines, bourbons and gin - no "frou frou" cocktails.
Oehmig is a well-known name on Lookout Mountain. Ruth Oehmig's notable kin include her father, Bill Oehmig, who owned the once-booming 11th Street farmer's market; an uncle, Dan Oehmig, who was a Tennessee state senator; and Lewis "Sweet Lew" Oehmig, a well-known golfer. Her aunt, Gertrude "Trude" Oehmig, ran an eatery on Lookout Mountain during World War II and also was head dietitian at Girls Preparatory School.
When Ruth Oehmig lived in Chicago, where she raised her children, she worked as a data integration consultant at Electronic Data Systems, the company founded by former Presidential Ross Perot.
But she dreamed of opening a restaurant even then.
Oehmig recently came upon an old newspaper article about entrepreneurs who opened restaurants that her father had sent her.
"You need to read this," she remembers her father said then. "This is all you ever talk about."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.