Culture of Kindness

Our Daily Bread’s “eclectic” menu and Pay It Forward board enabled the Eddyville restaurant to build a loyal following—and survive the last two years

BY TED SLOAN

Our Daily Bread 101 Newman Drive, Eddyville facebook.com/ourdailybreadllc 270.388.4328

People who dine out sometimes “pay it forward,” footing the bill for another customer across the aisle or in the car behind them in the drive-through.

When customers pay it forward at Our Daily Bread restaurant in Eddyville, they also post a note on the Pay It Forward board to let the recipients know that someone cares.

“The Pay It Forward board is close to my heart,” said Rose Pate, who owns and operates Our Daily Bread with her son, Randy Fraliex. “There are a lot of people in need, and there are a lot of people who do things for other people. It can be for a single parent, firefighters, law enforcement.

“If you’re down on your luck, here’s something to pick you up. If you can afford it, pay it forward. If you can’t, that’s OK, too.”

One customer sends the restaurant $100 a month for first responders. Someone else might offer a cup of coffee and one of Our Daily Bread’s legendary big-as-a-dinnerplate cinnamon rolls for someone who is in a 12-step program. People from other communities or even out of state pay it forward for people they have never met.

The Pay It Forward board so impressed radio host and author Matt Jones that he gave it, and the restaurant, a shout-out in his 2020 book Mitch, Please!

That community spirit of people helping people enabled Our Daily Bread to survive the COVID-19 shutdown of 2020.

“We were worried when COVID hit and we had to go to window takeout only,” Randy said. “It was very humbling to see the response.”

Customers from as far away as Evansville, Indiana—about an hour and a half away—lined up at the drive-through to pick up a meal. Many left generous tips for restaurant staff. “It’s crazy to have that kind of following,” Randy said.

“The outreach of people who wanted to help people was awesome,” Rose said.

“Throughout COVID, our community really banded together and made sure they were eating out and getting food at mom-and-pop places,” Randy said.

Randy said that, since COVID

Rose’s Banana Pecan Pancakes

4 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 4 teaspoons baking soda 4 teaspoons baking powder 4 eggs 3 tablespoons vanilla 1 tablespoon butter 3 cups buttermilk 1½ cups milk Butter for pan or griddle 1 banana, sliced 2 tablespoons chopped pecans, plus more to sprinkle on top

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. 2. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, butter, buttermilk and milk. Add to dry mixture and combine well. 3. Butter the pan or griddle. (I cook with butter … Let’s face it:

Everything is better with butter!)

Pour about ½ cup of batter into the pan or griddle and spread it around. 4. Add half the banana slices and 2 tablespoons pecans. Cook until pancake is golden brown, then remove from heat. 5. Spread the remaining slices of banana and sprinkle a few more pecans on top. Enjoy!

Owners Rose Pate and Randy Fraliex

restrictions eased, the restaurant hasn’t seen a down period when school starts, as it would in the past. “We’re holding on by the seat of our pants trying to keep up,” Randy said.

When tornadoes devastated western Kentucky in December 2021, Our Daily Bread was spared, but many homes and businesses in the region were not. Following the disaster, emergency workers and military personnel flooded the area, and customers posted offers on the Pay It Forward board to pay for their meals.

“It was really cool to see our community come together like that,” Rose said.

Rose got the idea to open a restaurant when her youngest son was diagnosed with cancer and she was looking for a way to support him and work on a more flexible schedule. The owner of the space leased it to Rose with the first three months rent-free, and she got it ready with the help of family and friends. Randy had worked in a pizza place in Murray years before and wanted to have a restaurant of his own, so he left his position at a summer camp in upstate New York to come to Eddyville and help his mother. They opened Our Daily Bread in September 2015.

The name of the restaurant is a nod to Rose’s repertoire of 28 varieties of breads. The homemade breads, sandwiches and meals are inspired by Rose’s cooking background, and some of the dishes are made from family recipes that go back as far as Rose’s grandmother. The pizzas are Randy’s specialty.

Randy and Rose describe their fare as “eclectic,” and while they have some regular features—meat loaf on Wednesday, lasagna and chicken carbonara on Friday—their specials on other days of the week could be just about anything. Over a few days in late March, they posted on their Facebook page daily specials of lemon chicken, shrimp Alfredo, apple butter pinwheels and enchilada casserole. They celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with loaded Irish potatoes.

“We’re all over the place,” Randy said. “We specialize in desserts and breads, but we don’t like to be just one thing. If we want to make barbecue one day, we’ll make barbecue. And we’ll kill it. It’s awesome. Eclectic is what we cook. That’s really what draws people in. That’s what keeps people interested.”

Our Daily Bread has seating for 98 plus outdoor seating. It’s open from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, including a menu and daily specials, check out its Facebook page. Q