After 30 years under the ownership of restaurateur Bill O’Neil, the Crossroads Inn in Kawkawlin has a new owner, a new look inside, and a new menu.
What hasn’t changed is that the family-style diner at 3555 Old Kawkawlin Road is still attracting its regulars for coffee and breakfast.
Ann Zerod, who manages the little diner at the corner of Old Kawkawlin Road and Euclid Avenue in Bangor Township, says the after-church crowd fills the restaurant every Sunday for omelets, breakfast skillets, and a bottomless cup of coffee.
Zerod says most people have found new favorites on the revised menu.
New owner George Nori, also known as Derd Ljajcaj, is no stranger to the restaurant business, and neither is Zerod. Both Nori and Zerod can be found at Nori’s in Auburn. George Nori also owns Marco’s Restaurant in Sanford.
Zerod, who worked for O’Neil as a server, says she and her husband spent about 100 hours cleaning, painting, and re-decorating the inside of the Crossroads Inn, which has always been a small diner. They shut down for a week on April 4, and reopened on April 11 with a whole new look and feel inside.
Zerod doesn’t know how old the building is, but says O’Neil bought it in 1993 from Carl Gakstatter, who also ran it as a family-style diner.
Today, the restaurant no longer serves dinner or liquor.
“When Bill had it, he still had stuff on the shelf that was popular years ago,” she says, and people just didn’t drink there much.
The restaurant was only open through the dinner hour, but now is open for breakfast and lunch.
There may not be liver and onions on the menu as often, but Zerod says diners can still enjoy good Coney Island type food. The family-style menu is an abbreviated version of what’s offered at Nori’s in Auburn.
On the new menu are gyros, pitas, wraps, and salads, including a chicken Greek salad, and a Michigan Salad. And, of course, the diner serves up and Coney Island hot dogs.
Zerod adds they aren’t done with renovations just yet.
“The outside really blends into the surrounding area,” she says, so plans are in the works to do a little work on the building’s exterior. “We want to bring it a little more attention.”
As it’s been for over three decades, the restaurant still takes orders over the phone at
(989) 684-0869. Crossroads Inn is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day of the week.
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