Keeps It Simple When the former owner of the Club Car, an ice-cream parlor in Ashland, decided to retire, Bartlett Shaw added coffee and gourmet hot dogs to the menu and renamed it the Station Café (113 S. Railroad Ave., 368-8605), which opened in November.
"No one could grasp the idea of having hot dogs sold out of the same place as lattes and cappuccinos," says Shaw, an Ashland native. "But when you go to a train station in a major city, you can easily walk out with an ice- cream cone, a hot dog and coffee."
Shaw kept the train theme because of the nearby railroad station, but he added an emphasis on coffee, drawing from his experience working across the street at Ashland Coffee & Tea. The café pairs a variety of blends from Williamsburg Coffee & Tea with eight regular ice-cream flavors, including four seasonal tastes such as pumpkin.
Although there are various toppings such as sauerkraut, coleslaw and chili for the 100-percent Angus beef hot dogs, Shaw plans to keep the menu small. "People ask for a takeout menu, but you won't need one here," he says. "It's pretty easy to memorize."
