Springfield Restaurant Group

Rachel’s Roadhouse Employee of the Month

Amy Chiappini

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile!  Amy has been here a long time and has been a great addition ever since she started!

Amy lives in Grove City with her husband and two daughters.

Years with the company: 18 years

Position: Server

Favorite food from Rachel’s Roadhouse:  Sun Valley Pasta

Favorite Singer/Band:  Journey

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  Housewives

Favorite Sport:  Football

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  Jack, I started when I was very young and he was always a great role model.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?  My children

If you could live anywhere besides here, where would you live and why?  Somewhere warm….I don’t like the cold!

Iron Bridge Inn Employee of the Month

Jonathan W. Linton

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile!  Jonathan is always willing to help out wherever he is needed!

Jonathan lives in Mercer where he takes care of his mother.

Years with the company: 6 months

Position: Bartender/Server

Favorite food from the Iron Bridge Inn:  The 16 oz. prime rib – medium, with sweet potato fries and French onion soup.

What do you like to cook at home?  North Carolina style BBQ pulled pork

Favorite Singer/Band:  I like all genres of music

Favorite Childhood Toy:  Big Wheel

Favorite Childhood Book:  Clifford the Big Red Dog

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  Big Bang Theory

Favorite Sport:  Football – Go Steelers!

Favorite Springtime Activity:  Surfing

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  All my managers inspire me, but Sheila the most because she challenges us to take the extra step.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?  In the 6 months that I have been here, I have attained the Bartender position and employee of the month.

If you could live anywhere besides here, where would you live and why?  Hawaii - I was born there and it would be nice to live there for a couple of years.

Springfield Grille – Mercer Employee of the Month

Valentyna Parutina-Horchler

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile!  Val is a great employee that will do anything that is needed!

Years with the company: 4

Position: Server

Favorite food from the Springfield Grille:  Ahi Tuna and Steak Salad

What do you like to cook at home?  I am banned from cooking at home!

Favorite Singer or Band:  Metallica

Favorite Movie:  Too many!

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  Revenge, Law and Order, The Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels

Favorite Sport:  Hockey (Go Pens!)

Celebrity Look-Alike:  I heard I look like Scarlett Johansson

Favorite Childhood Toy:  Teddy bear and slinky

Favorite Childhood Book:  “Kolobok” - Russian

Favorite Springtime Activity:  Running in the park and shopping for new clothes

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  Jerri Barbour, because she’s nice and does things that should be done.  She’s awesome!!

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?  Slowly, but surely, getting closer to Pittsburgh. I’ve moved from Edinboro to Mercer and now I’m halfway to Pittsburgh.

If you could live anywhere besides here, where would you live and why?  Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, Florida, it’s warm and by the ocean!

Springfield Grille – Boardman Employee of the Month

Marina Wilson

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile!  Marina is a great part of our team!

Marina lives with her 3-year old daughter, Kylie and is going to school for HVAC.

Years with the company: 5

Position: Host

Favorite food from the Springfield Grille:  Stuffed Shrimp

What do you like to cook at home? Lasagna

Favorite Singer or Band:  Emmure

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Favorite Sport:  Soccer

Favorite Springtime Activity:  Being outside with my daughter

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  Corinna Proya – She’s like my older sister.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far? My daughter

If you could live anywhere besides here, where would you live and why?  Anywhere if it was free!

Last week, The Springfield Grille in Boardman had a Flying Dog Beer Taste.  I’m not a huge beer drinker, but I really liked most of the beers that were offered.

When we walked in to the private dining area where all the beer dinners are held, we were offered a choice of a free bottle of either Old Scratch Amber Lager or Snake Dog IPA.  The Old Scratch Amber Lager was really good and it was a great way for everyone to relax while waiting for the dinner to start.  I got to sit with Jenn, who was on the other side of the table this time, and her husband.  Jen usually helps serve at the dinners so it was fun to sit with her and hear her take on things.  The spark that got the party going were the guys from Ohio Edison.  They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and got the whole room laughing along with them!

The first course was a dish of Fried Oyesters and Citrus Mint Aioli.  I have eaten oyesters before and liked them and my motto of “everything is good when fried” led me to believe that the two paired together would be good.  I was definitely right on that assumption!  The oyesters had a light taste, not a heavy, greasy taste and the sauce paired perfectly with the oyesters.  This dish was paired with Tire Bite Golden Ale.  This was one of my favorite beers of the night.  It had a light orange taste to it and had an ABV of 5.1%.

The second course was Crispy Marinated Pork Belly with a side of pureed carrots.  The pork was so tender and when biting into the carrots, I wasn’t expecting what I got!  At first I thought it was sweet potatoes because of the color, but the carrots had a spicy curry flavor to them that got tastier with each bite!  The In Heat Wheat beer pairing was perfect for this dish.  It has a clove and banana taste to it and is an American/German beer with an ABV of 4.7%.

Thai Pumpkin Squash and Coconut Curry was our third course of the evening and it was spicy!  There were soft chunks of pumpkin, bits of asparagus, and the pumpkin seeds gave the dish a nice nutty flavor that paired well with the spiciness of it.  It was a great combination of flavors and paired very nicely with the Doggy Style Pale Ale.  The honey flavoring of the beer meshed with the more spicy/nutty flavor of the course.  It was a little more hoppy and had an ABV of 5.5%.

The fourth course was just phenomenal; it was a Pan Fried Skirt Steak with Roasted Vegetable Agnolotti Pasta.  The steak had a great taste and I could have probably eaten another plate of the vegetables alone!  If you thought that was good enough, everything was layered on top of three pieces of spinach ravioli which were just a bonus to this great dish!  The Raging Bitch IPA was a surprising favorite of mine for the evening.  I don’t usually like a bitter hops type of beer, but the flavors of grapefruit, banana, and cinnamon went well together and I actually liked it a lot.  The ABV was 8.3%.

Our last course was a Freshly Baked Chocolate Raspberry Souffle that was light and delicious!  This souffle was not overly chocolatey or sweet, but just the right amount of sweet to end the night.  The inside was warm and delicious and I enjoyed eating my raspberries with each bite of souffle.  The Gonzo Imperial Ale was a very dark beer with an ABV of 9.2%.  It tasted like a chocolate coffee with very small hints of blackberry.  On first taste, I wasn’t crazy about it, but after a few more sips and drinking it while eating the souffle, it ended up being a nice pairing.

Another great job by the staff at Springfield Grille in Boardman!  Make sure you make reservations for our all organic food and wine taste on April 17th.  We will be using the freshest ingredients while tasting different organic wines.  You won’t want to miss it!

In celebration of a year of amazing employees, we threw our 15^th year annual Employee of the Month party for 2011.  Each employee of the month from the last year was invited to attend a dinner in their honor from each of our seven restaurants.

Each year we do a different theme and this year’s was Classic TV shows.  Each restaurant chose to come dressed as a different classic TV show and we had lots of great costumes!  Hickory Bar and Grille chose Friends, Iron Bridge Inn was Happy Days, Rachel’s Roadhouse was Charlie’s Angels, Log Cabin Inn chose Gilligan’s Islands, Springfield Grille in Mars came as Star Trek, Springfield Grille in Boardman was Scooby Doo, and Springfield Grille in Mercer chose MASH.  Dressing up was not mandatory, but some of our employees ran with it and had a great time!  We gave away a Bath and Body Works set for best dressed female which went to Amy Woofter, Iron Bridge Inn, for her costume from Happy Days.  Our best dressed male went to Josh Stearns, Springfield Grille-Mercer, for portraying Klinger from MASH.  He received a dart board.

The dinner was a huge hit and prepared by some of our managers, Eric Shaw from Springfield Grille in Mercer, BJ Sulka from Springfield Grille in Boardman, and Adam Karis from the Log Cabin Inn.  {Describe Dinner Here}

The Springfield Grille in Mercer was decked out in themed decorations and the main attraction was the huge prize table!  Each of our employees received a gift that night and the top ten received our bigger prizes.  Second prize was a LG 42” LCD TV and first prize was an all-inclusive trip to Punta Cana!!!  Some of our smaller gifts included things like tools, cookware, golf clubs, blenders, Panini presses, candles, Vera Bradley sets, grills, purses, gift sets from Bath and Body Works, and hunting things.  Some of our top 10 gifts were an Ipod Nano shuffle, a Kindle Touch, Pens tickets, Ipod Dock, a Keurig, and a Garmin.  Donnie Devine from Springfield Grille Mercer was the winner of the TV and Sue Smith from Springfield Grille Boardman won the trip!

We truly appreciate our employees and all the hard work they do throughout the year; this is our way of saying ‘thank you!’

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Derek with his Dad

Rachel’s Roadhouse Employee of the Month

Derek Leslie

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile! Derek has been a great part of our staff for years!

Derek lives in Slippery Rock and is just enjoying being 22.

Years with the company: 4 ½

Position: line cook

Favorite food from Rachel’s Roadhouse:  Filet Slices

What do you like to cook at home?  Chicken and Steaks

Favorite Season:  Fall

Favorite Movie:  The Departed

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  The Golden Girls

Favorite Sport:  Baseball

Hobbies:  Play guitar, shoot pool, and I try to golf.

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  Everyone I work with is pretty awesome.  They make Rachel’s a fun place to work at.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?  I think I’m still waiting for that!

Iron Bridge Inn Employee of the Month

Cory Kendrew

Each month, we celebrate one of our outstanding employees for going the extra mile!  Cory is one of those employees that puts 100% into everything he does!

Years with the company: 4

Position: Cook

Favorite food from the Iron Bridge Inn:  Three Cheese Alfredo

What do you like to cook at home?  Eggplant Parmesan

Favorite Season:  Fall

Favorite Movie:  Too many!

Guilty Pleasure TV show:  Top Gear BBC

Favorite Sport:  Golf

Hobbies:  Music

Who inspires you the most at work and why?  Sharon Walker because she is the raddest person I know!

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far?  My band

The Springfield Grille in Mercer hosted a Murder Mystery Theater Dinner last Monday and we had a packed house!

Mystery’s Most Wanted came back for the second year in a row with I Loathe Lucy.  Lucy always comes up with hair-brained schemes and someone was sick and tired of it!  It was our job to figure out who the murderer was.

The evening started off with Seafood Bisque and the best Riesling I’ve ever tasted.  Willamette Valley Riesling tasted sweet and light and it paired well with the heavier bisque.  While we were eating our soup, we were instructed to find all the clues at the different tables.

The main course came quickly after that and was a fantastic Tenderloin Roulade which was accompanied by Yukon Gold smashed potatoes.  The tenderloin had a mushroom stuffing that was a little bit sweet, but went nicely with the meat.  The companion wine choice was Santa Ema Cabernet Sauvignon.

After this course, we got to see both acts from Mystery’s Most Wanted.  They are so funny and are great at what they do!  There was audience participation and they cracked jokes with everyone sitting at the tables.  Everyone was laughing and having a great time.  After we were presented with all the facts, we got our dessert course so we could mull over what we knew.  The dessert was a raspberry turnover and absolutely delicious.  So basically, I couldn’t concentrate until I had eaten every last bite!  The actors came out and let us ask them each questions, but apparently, we forgot to ask one of the most important questions……..which I will not say because I’m insistent that you go and see this show when it’s playing elsewhere if you didn’t make it to ours!

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In the end, they gave out certificates to the ones that got the murderer right, but there was one award that I wasn’t aware existed……The Bonehead Award.  Can you guess where this is going?  Yep, yours truly was the recipient of the Bonehead Award.   I’m definitely displaying that certificate at my house for all to see!

All in all, this was an amazingly fun night and it was great to have entertainment with our dinner.  I think we will have to bring back Mystery’s Most Wanted by popular demand, keep checking for updates!