A Local Staple

Story By Natalie Salvatore Photos By Robert Noles

For 30 years, the Amsterdam Café has been a staple in the Auburn community for students and citizens alike. Even during a global pandemic, the business is still booming.

Opened in 1991 as a bar, the business transformed into the restaurant it is today when the Cleveland Brothers took ownership in 1998.

Amsterdam’s executive chef, Brady Thompson, joined the restaurant’s team in the fall of 2018. He said that Amsterdam is truly a family business that strives to treat everyone who walks through the doors with grace and hospitality. It is the restaurant’s goal to make everyone’s experience enjoyable and comfortable, he said.

“It is my sincere hope that the community thinks of Amsterdam Café as a place where they can have a consistently excellent experience, a place for Auburn students to bring their parents, a place for graduates to bring their children and even a place for visiting college rivals to sit down and experience a little taste of Auburn,” Thompson said.

This restaurant also means a lot to the general manager, Nick Ciza, who started in 2009 as a server and worked his way up through the ranks. As exemplified with Ciza, the family aspect starts with

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its employees and trickles down to how Amsterdam treats its customers.

“To me, an Auburn graduate, this business was a local hot spot long before I even started working here,” Ciza said. “I think over the years we have grown into a restaurant where locals and tourists alike can find a welcoming, comfortable atmosphere to enjoy great food.”

He said that alumni who return to campus can relive the nostalgia of their college days with their favorite dishes.

Current Auburn students get the experience of Amsterdam not only at the restaurant’s physical location, but also at the two Auburn University food trucks. The campus trucks, the Amsterdam Café Food Truck and The Dam Taco Truck, offer students a delicious lunch during the rush between classes. Students line up with their friends to experience a taste of Amsterdam without having to leave campus.

Lily Ann Guagliardo, an Auburn student, said she has fond memories of eating there with her family over her college years.

“Amsterdam is my favorite restaurant in Auburn,” she said. “Whenever my family comes to see me in Auburn, we always go there.”

Amsterdam serves lunch, dinner, desserts, drinks and cocktails and Sunday brunch. They also offer catering and party services.

The menu features seasonal ingredients with different availability, as the chefs use local, farmfresh ingredients for all of their dishes. Guests can choose from a variety of options, including seasonal dishes, family-friendly meals, award-winning sandwiches and traditional favorites.

Chef Thompson said that some of the menu’s long-time dishes are the ones he would recommend. Dishes like the Turkey Wrap & Avocado Sandwich, Lobster Egg Rolls, Rum Salmon Salad and the Amsterdam Burger have been popular with the Auburn residents. More recently, customer favorites have included the “Yardbird” hickory-smoked chicken sandwich, the cast-iron Spinach Dip and

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grilled dishes like the Prime Ribeye, Bone in Pork Chops and Center Cut Filets.

The general manager had some dishes of his own to weigh in on. Along with the classics mentioned, he has a few different dishes to recommend. His favorites include the seasonally-changing Apple Salad, as well as the Fried Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

Like other businesses in the restaurant industry, Amsterdam has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess the problems that arose, Ciza said the cafe has permanently added curbside pickup for guests, as well as adjusted the dining room seating to allow for a greater space between tables so guests can dine while being socially distant.

“We have done our best to overcome the obstacles that it has brought with it though,” Ciza said. “This has brought our team closer together, and when the pandemic comes to an end, we will be stronger for it.”

Thompson said that they have also moved to QR codes and disposable menus for a more contactless approach, as well as created a Sanitation Specialist position whose job is to clean and sanitize the restaurant thoroughly. Along with adjusting operations for the safety and health of staff and customers, the business has also had to adapt to the changing food industry.

“Prices for normal, everyday ingredients and items have skyrocketed,” Thompson said. “A shutdown in a different city or state can mean some ingredients you rely on for daily service can be unavailable for days, weeks, months or can even have its production ceased entirely.”

Despite the challenges, Thompson and Ciza said that Amsterdam will continue to handle the everchanging situation in the future. They said they will continue to think of new ways to improve the overall customer experience while keeping everyone safe based on the information at hand.

“We want to make sure everyone knows that we are a safe place to visit, even with everything going on,” Ciza said. “We just take it day by day and make

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sure we feel safe to continue serving and continue to hope that the worst is already behind us.”

Thompson wanted to add that the business is acting with vigilance by following the health and sanitation mandates from the local, state and federal levels. He said that Amsterdam’s own personal safety guidelines will still be in effect even beyond the pandemic.

“We’ll do everything we need to do with open hearts, a welcoming attitude and smiles on our faces because, we know that’s what we need to do to keep our customers safe and happy,” Thompson said.

Ciza said the cafe is currently working on releasing its spring menu. Along with the campus food trucks, Amsterdam locally expanded to a storefront at 540 Devall St. Suite 102, a new building at the Research Park in Auburn. This gives customers yet another way to enjoy their favorite Amsterdam cuisine in a different spot in town.

Amsterdam is located at 410 S. Gay St. in Auburn. Customers can dine in the dining room or patio from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, brunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with normal operation hours from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

To contact the Amsterdam Café, call 334826-8181, or visit the website at www. amsterdamcafeauburn.com/, where guests can make reservations, order online, book a party or access the social media links.

Thompson said that Amsterdam has more exciting things planned for the future and is so grateful for the support of the community during these difficult times.

“We love the Auburn-Opelika community so much,” he said. “We are ever so grateful for anyone who has chosen to dine with us in the past, but especially this year. Thank you so much.”

With its classic Southern dishes and hospitality, The Amsterdam Café is a true Auburn favorite. This community would not be the same without this restaurant.

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Story by Hannah Lester Photos By Hannah Lester and Contributed By The Collegiate Hotel

What was once Wittel Dormitory, an all female dorm, is now a boutique hotel, complete with rooftop bar.

The Collegiate Hotel is truly an allAuburn kind of place. When you check in at the front desk, you do so on a stand of Auburn Glomerata’s (the school’s yearbook).

When you have a drink on the rooftop bar, you do so with a view of Samford Hall. And just by staying in one of the hotel’s rooms, you’re surrounded by history.

“When plans to convert the hotel were made public, there was a lot of initial anxiety from the community about the plans for a hotel,” said Kim Wirth, one of the owners of The Collegiate. “We knew our vision was to create a charming space to gather with family and friends. A place that blended style with history, not a cookie cutter chain. We wanted a place we could be proud of and the entire community could be proud of, creating a new Auburn tradition.”

Kim and her husband, Brian Wirth, opened the hotel in 2018 — but that had not always been their plan.

“It was serendipitous that on a work trip to Auburn I saw the former Wittel dorm for women was for sale,” Kim said. “It was still operational, and I toured the dorm the same day and called Brian with this crazy idea that we should buy the property. Almost

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immediately this crazy idea started to form; transform the dorm into a hotel and retire from our current jobs in Memphis [Tennessee,] and relocate the family to Auburn to start this small business.”

And so, they did. The hotel accommodates 40 rooms and a rooftop bar. "No visit is complete without a trip to our rooftop bar for one of our signature cocktails, the ToomerTini or the AUBee's margarita, the later that is made with local honey and every sale supports the Auburn University Bee Lab,” Kim said.

The lobby has a sequenced mural, a piano, original art and a lot of seating — perfect for a community like Auburn that enjoys gathering together.

Unfortunately, gathering became out of the question last March.

“When COVID hit it was truly heartbreaking to have to let our entire staff of 30 plus people go,” Kim said. “Knowing how you run your business impacts them, but when you have no guests arriving and you can't make payroll and you are scared. "… That feeling of helplessness and hopelessness was the hardest thing we encountered and never expected. Luckily, with the support of local programs we were able to bring our team back, and we were proud that everyone stuck it out and came back.”

It is not only the staff that makes The Collegiate (fondly called The COHO) special, Kim said, it is the guests.

As Auburn alumni, Kim and Brian have been able to not only enjoy the city they graduated in, but see old friends return from time to time.

“Every week we see people we haven't see in 20 plus years and those great memories together come flooding back and for a fleeting moment we laugh and think 'yeah we could be back in college,’” she said.

Of course, there are those new to the area, and all of Auburn’s charms.

“Our downtown location across from campus is ideal for people visiting Auburn University,” Kim said. “ … For us, Auburn is the perfect combination of smalltown life, where you know your neighbors and can connect as part of a community, with the benefits of ongoing education and diversity that a college town inherently brings.”

Like Kim said, the community was a little uneasy about the possibility of The COHO when it first began.

But Kim and Brian kept the history of the building in place. So, instead of creating a marked difference in Auburn’s landscape, The COHO is simply a repurposing of Wittel Dormitory.

“We love to see in such a short amount of time that The Collegiate has become a source of pride for the community and a destination for visitors and the

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community,” Kim said. “It is so rewarding to have already celebrated many wonderful milestones with our guests: wedding proposals (so far we have a 100% acceptance rate,) wedding ceremonies on the rooftop overlooking Samford, bachelorette parties, sweet 16's birthday celebrations and the list goes on and on. We love to feel so connected to our community in such a short amount of time."

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