Holly Claghorn prepares breakfast pastries at her new restaurant, Prairie Belle Kitchen and Catering Company, at 4900 Paradise Way, Ste. 100, West Richland. Claghorn opened the new eatery in November.
By Veronica Sandate Craker
The irresistible sweet and spicy aroma of cinnamon buns and fresh biscuits wafts though the dinning room at the Prairie Belle Kitchen and Catering Company in West Richland.
That’s where Holly Claghorn can be found busily rolling out dough to create authentic sopapillas, homemade pies and sweet danishes. The preparation and creation of the doughy treats takes a long time because Claghorn insists on making everything from scratch.
“We offer comfort cooking, that’s my style,” Claghorn said. “What I cook here is what I’d cook for you at home.”
The New Mexico native has more than 30 years of experience in the food service industry. She’s worked as a waitress, cook and in food sales.
“I worked food service sales, that’s how I moved up here from New Mexico,” she said. “It’s pretty here because it reminds me of New Mexico, but we have water.”
Claghorn started her cooking business when a friend needed a caterer for her wedding.
After catering for the wedding she realized how much she missed cooking and decided to focus all her time on running the business.
Claghorn operated the Prairie Belle Catering Company for four years before opening the new West Richland restaurant next to Yokes.
“I’ve been looking for over two years for my own kitchen and it took that long,” Claghorn said.
The building on Paradise Way was once a Mexican restaurant that closed in 2009.
“This (building) had a lot of things already in here, the stove, the grill,” Claghorn said. “(But) we did a lot of work in here with the plumbing, painting.”
Claghorn has three full-time and five part-time employees at the restaurant, which offers breakfast and lunch. The diverse menu includes a little bit of everything, from corned beef and eggs to red and green enchiladas.
“People really do know the difference between scratch cooking and not,” Claghorn said. “We make our own potato chips, I cook my own turkey and that becomes our turkey sandwiches.”
The restaurant owner also tries to use as many locally-grown ingredients as possible.
“It’s worth it to spend a little bit extra to get quality ingredients because customers notice the difference,” Claghorn said. “They don’t know what it is, but they taste it.”
Now Claghorn is concentrating on getting the restaurants name out to the public. She’s advertising by handing out flyers, but said her best investment so far is a reader board that points drivers to the restaurant.
“People are really supportive of us, I just need more people to come in,” Claghorn said. “Once they try the cooking they come back.”
The Prairie Belle Kitchen and Catering Company is at 4900 Paradise Way, Ste. 100 in West Richland. It is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is 967-1643.
