Cynthia Henderson of Lylah’s restaurant in Suttons Bay is opening another restaurant, in the same building.
Lylah’s, which is named after her granddaughter, couldn’t leave the other grandchild out of the restaurant game, as her grandson Ollie Reese will be getting the nod for the new burger joint that is opening up in Suttons Bay.
“I’ve been playing around with the idea of having a burger and shake place, but obviously there’s nowhere else in Suttons Bay to put it,” she said.
We closed Lylah’s at two o’clock and so this just sits empty, and one day I thought we could probably pull this off. We decided to open up Ollie R’s, a burger joint.”
It would only be right to name her second restaurant after another pride and joy that entered the world in 2020.
“When I decided I was gonna open a place, that was just my first thought was naming it Lylah’s,” Henderson said. “My goal is that it’s popular and busy and that we are busy in the evenings and make people happy with a good burger.”
The new burger shop will be open various days of the week from 4 to 8 p.m. with more details to come soon as the restaurant finds its footing for the best days of the week to be open.
Ollie’s will have burgers obviously, including turkey and fish sandwiches, along with other tasty treats including a falafel burger and delicious shakes to wash it all down with.
“Our burgers are premium Angus beef. We’re serving half pound burgers,” Henderson said. “I love going out and getting a burger, but it’s really tough because they’re so expensive. I sat down for several weeks with my food distributor and we went over cost after cost with different brands and really tried to narrow it down where we could have a good healthy burger for less than, you know, 20 bucks.”
Cynthia’s goal is to give patrons a burger that is good in quality and affordable with a bunch of fun toppings. Ollie’s burgers will cost $14-15. Menu options include a ‘You Cheddar Watch Out’ ‘Gobble ‘Til Ya Wobble’ and ‘Olive You,’ to name a few whimsical burger options at Ollie’s.
This is the fifth summer that Lylah’s has been in operation. Lylah’s originally started in Lake Leelanau before moving to Suttons Bay in 2020.
“It was time to grow, time to do something different. Ollie needed a restaurant and he loves cheeseburgers, so it was just kind of a no brainer,” Henderson said.
The restaurant will be serving floats with its Northwoods soda. One thing different about this burger is that there will be no fries as there is not a microwave or fryer in the building.
They are thinking about being open from mid-April to mid-December.
“A good beefy burger at an affordable price and a float. Nobody does floats, so that might be something that brings people in too,” she said.
As for Lylah’s, they will be adding a new sandwich to the menu and adding six more indoor seats along with outdoor seating in the summer.
“Nothing is really new, it’s not broke, so we’re not fixing it yet,” Henderson said.
