{"id":33881,"date":"2023-01-13T02:30:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T09:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kelly-gregory-finds-a-home-base-for-her-restaurant-and-coffee-shop\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:14:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:14:37","slug":"kelly-gregory-finds-a-home-base-for-her-restaurant-and-coffee-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kelly-gregory-finds-a-home-base-for-her-restaurant-and-coffee-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Gregory finds a home base for her restaurant and coffee shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Locals
Locals enjoy a Kelly\u2019s Kitchen breakfast at the front of the restaurant. From left: Jake Carloni, Matt Clark, Mindi Clark, Hope Carloni and Phil Carloni. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always come back to food for Kelly Gregory.<\/p>\n

A love of cooking is what led the Dolores resident to cart her memorable food truck around Montezuma County for the past year and a half, bringing unique and delectable tacos to locals rain or shine.<\/p>\n

And this love has led Gregory to partially settle down her wheeled ways and open a brick-and-mortar restaurant <\/a>along Central Avenue in Dolores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI built it for the people who live here,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cAnd love this place. So that\u2019s who it\u2019s for.\u201d The restaurant-coffee shop officially opened Dec. 15.<\/p>\n

Gregory\u2019s first foray into the culinary world was as a 16-year-old working at a Mexican restaurant in Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like there were people who loved it, and then there were people who felt like they were prisoners to it, and they just hated it and wanted to get out,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I kind of had this feeling like I wasn\u2019t supposed to like it. But I\u2019ve always gravitated toward it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kelly
Kelly Gregory, owner and founder of Kelly\u2019s Kitchen, is excited for her business to have a permanent home base in the historic Exon Mercantile building, across from the Dolores River Brewery and farmers market, where she has sold wares for a year and a half. \u201cIt just seemed like it was a natural place to be,\u201d she said. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Throughout college at Colorado State University, she continued gravitating toward food service, working in the dorms as a dishwasher, cook and server. After graduation, Gregory served as a caterer for the Hewlett-Packard plant in Fort Collins and then at a hotel in Denver before she moved to Montezuma County in 1998.<\/p>\n

Since her arrival in Southwest Colorado, Gregory has worked in a variety of industries, including at Tuffy Security Products (founded by her brother Shawn Gregory), in cardiac rehabilitation at the hospital, and as a middle school science and health teacher.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan
Ryan Shourdz puts together an Adventurer\u2019s Breakfast Stack. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Brittany
Brittany Featherman grills vegetables during Tuesday prep day. She has been with Kelly\u2019s Kitchen since its early days. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lainey
Lainey Beyhan chops green peppers. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tomatoes
Tomatoes roast in the oven before becoming soy umami tomato bisque. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The final product of the soy umami tomato bisque. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The menus switch up periodically at Kelly\u2019s Kitchen, so Gregory uses magnetic sheets of metal to display her meals of the day. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One
One of the many attractions of the new space for Gregory was its coffee shop-like corridor. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Throughout all these positions, though, food has always been central: Nutrition was a critical component of her cardiac rehab work \u2013 as was her background in exercise science \u2013 and on her route to becoming a teacher, she earned her master\u2019s degree in environmental education.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d had her eye on getting into the food truck business ever since 2016, and when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, she decided to sell some of her goods at the local farmers markets, items like cupcakes and salsa that she knew she could sell under the Cottage Foods Act. After the Dolores River Brewery reopened, Gregory was invited to serve appetizers there on Thursday nights, which soon morphed into taco nights, and soon she was on the hunt for a food truck that would allow her to expand her reach.<\/p>\n

Once the truck was acquired, Gregory \u201clearned a whole lot about electricity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very hard thing to pull off,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s mobile, and you don\u2019t have a lot of space, and you don\u2019t have a lot of storage, and so there\u2019s a lot of logistical challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dolores Community Center became the meal preparation zone, and food was stored at various people\u2019s homes overnight.<\/p>\n

While she and her team grew accustomed to a swift setup \u2013 \u201cwe got to be kind of like a NASCAR pit crew,\u201d Gregory said \u2013 she finally realized that they needed a permanent home base and food storage space, for the winter season in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot to ask an employee to lug all of that stuff around day after day after day, which we did,\u201d she said. \u201cFor a year and a half.\u201d It had been a dream of hers to open up a coffee shop in Dolores ever since she moved to the area, and this seemed to be the right opportunity.<\/p>\n

She began to scope around town for available spaces, and when she found the spot in the historic Exon Mercantile building early last year, it was perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place, the location was what I wanted,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the space was what I wanted, I liked the whole corridor, coffee shop feel. And it was a blank canvas.<\/p>\n

Their new location is across from the Dolores River Brewery and adjacent to the newly opened Kokopelli Bike and Board. Kelly\u2019s Kitchen marks the latest stage in the building\u2019s storied history, which intertwines closely with that of the town itself.<\/p>\n

The building was likely built between 1905 and 1907, said Scott Darling, who co-owns Kokopelli Bike and Board and the building itself, alongside his business partner Pete Eschallier. It originally housed the Exon and Rush Meat Market and Mercantile until the mid-1960s, and later was home to the Dolores Star <\/em>newspaper and printing press and finally an antique store. Darling and Eschallier bought the site two years ago.<\/p>\n

Scott Darling, co-owner of Kokopelli\u2019s and the building, was excited for the arrival of a permanent Kelly\u2019s Kitchen. He and his wife, Cerissa, helped remodel the space to fit the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d Darling said. \u201cObviously she\u2019s super-busy just walking in there, and hopefully that will transition into some additional walk-in traffic for us, especially in the wintertime. A breakfast joint in Dolores is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remodel<\/a> took several months, but wrapped up in time for a December opening. The space is the image of a cozy coffee shop, with a narrow corridor for solitary work-from-homers and a more social gathering area up front. Much remains of the original building\u2019s woodwork and tin roof pieces, and the wavy texture of the storefront\u2019s glass panes casts a slightly refractive light into the shop. Little bits of old newspaper embedded in the wall partitioning off the kitchen recall the building\u2019s days as the Dolores Star<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Large, magnetic, metal sheets, courtesy of Gregory\u2019s brother, display a rotating menu selection above the cash register.<\/p>\n

Freshness is a defining feature of her new restaurant\u2019s menu, which includes huevos rancheros, grilled cauliflower salad, and a wide selection of coffee products, among many other items.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my background in exercise science and nutrition, and knowing what I know about environmental sustainability, I don\u2019t like serving processed food,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to do it. I want the whole food, and I want to cut it, and I want to process it myself so that I know what\u2019s in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Someday she may bring her iconic tacos into the restaurant, but for now she wants to keep the menus of her two ventures separate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that\u2019s the fail of food trucks when they get a brick-and-mortar, is they try to do this niche thing that you can get away with in a trailer,\u201d Gregory said. In restaurants, people expect a wider menu.<\/p>\n

With her eclectic and diverse dishes, she tries to appeal to the \u201cadventurous\u201d culinary tastes of Montezuma County residents. The diversity of meals can make Tuesday food prep days somewhat challenging: she and her team have to prepare for unique menus while trying to streamline the process and searching for crossovers in ingredients. Currently her crew includes nine people, some part-time and others full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do any of this without my team,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cThey\u2019re all amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s Kitchen is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Gregory will also continue to serve dinner at the Dolores River Brewery on Wednesday and Thursday nights from 4 to 8 p.m., operating as a pop-up restaurant in the winter and a food truck in the summer.<\/p>\n

A selection of Kelly\u2019s Kitchen packaged products are available at other locations around the county, including FB Organics, the Dolores Food Market, Zuma Natural Foods, Fenceline Cider and Bell Beef\u2019s Country Store.<\/p>\n

For more information and a full menu list, visit the Kelly\u2019s Kitchen website online.<\/p>\n

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