Firefighter and fiancee open down-home country cooking restaurant in Monroe, Ga.

With Kaity’s Downtown now up and running in downtown Monroe, the restaurant at 1480 Highway 78 is scheduled to close down on Feb. 28. However, people used to eating at that location won’t have to wait long for another restaurant to take its place. The following morning, Vittles Diner will begin serving its own brand of down-home country cooking.

“Our signage should be completed over the weekend and March 1 is our first day of operation” said Tim Shore who will be opening the restaurant with his fiancee, Nancy Smith. “The name is changing to Vittles and it will be similar to the home-style cooking with the same concept of a full breakfast, lunch special, dinner and Fridays and Saturdays all you can eat catfish. We won’t be serving crab legs – they are still doing that at Kaity’s in town, but we will be doing a low country boil with crab legs, shrimp, sausages, corn – with the cajun flavor.

“We want to try to be a little unique. We will still have the traditional burgers and fries, chicken tenders and ribeye steak, but we also will be offering baby-back ribs and chicken wings.”

Shore said his fiancee is currently running Kaity’s Diner and she and some of the other staff members who worked with Kaity’s Diner and will be staying on to work Vittles when it opens so they’re hoping it will make for a fairly smooth transition.

“Once we’ve been here about a month or so we will have a big grand opening, but we want to run for a while to get the menu tweaked. We’re looking to add some different things – like a collard green dip.” Shore said. “You can get a spinach dip in many of the restaurants around here – but where can you get a collard greens dip? We’re also going to have a smoked fish dip. My fiancee has the experience, but this is all new to me.”

Shore is actually a firefighter with the Palmetto Fire Department in Fulton County and worked with Walton County Fire Rescue several years back. He also has a company, TS Rescue, that supplies equipment to fire departments. As such, he has a special place in his heart for public safety and he said that will be reflected in the restaurant.

“We will have some public safety discounts and with my relationship with the public safety guys at the city and county we want them to be able to call on us if they’re like out on something. Maybe we can work something out even if we cook up a bunch of burgers and get it to them,” Shore said. “We also will be offering wifi here so if truck drivers stop in they can get on wifi and connect with family.”

Shore said working in public safety most of his life, he’s big on helping people and wants Vittles to reflect that.

“Nancy and I both are big on helping people. We’re going to reach out to local churches and when Thanksgiving comes around we want to be the kind of people who will prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for people who may not have that. I’ve spent the better part of my life helping people fundraise so we’re hoping to be successful enough to be able to give back to the community – be a drop off for Toys for Tots and help who we can – even if it’s just a couple of people. We’re just starting out, but that’s just some of the things we want to be able to do.”

Vittles will have a Kid’s Corner so children can color while the family is waiting for a table and then have their artwork on display in the restaurant.

You can follow Vittles on the new Facebook page and keep up with menu items and specials.