No Secret: Pookie's Newest Family-Run Township Eatery

Who is Pookie?

Better not ask Kent Boyer, even though the question is on his T shirt.

"If I tell you I'll have to kill you. It's a company secret," he says with a smile barely wide enough to assure you he's kidding.

What is ?

Better question.

It's Bensalem's newest family-owned restaurant.

Located in the Village Center on Bristol Road, the breakfast and lunch eatery opened Nov. 21, with seven-day- a-week service from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Boyer is at the helm along with son Nick, daughter Jennifer and their mom, Evelyn.

"It's really for the kids," said Boyer, who gestured to his ex-wife at the counter and explained that he and she get along well.

Boyer, 56, grew up in Levittown, lived in Bensalem for a while and now resides in Newtown. He has owned the laundromat in the same shopping center for eight years. That business, he said, is often complimented with the same adjectives his nearby restaurant deserves: "clean, neat and friendly."

"I know how busy this shopping center is," he said. "Setting up a restaurant has got to be one of the toughest things but I think it turned out well. ...This area needed a breakfast/lunch place, and the location I know is triple A."

Boyer gutted the former bagel shop and added pine wainscoting, a granite counter top, a glass and stone tile backdrop behind the counter, recessed nonfluorescent lighting and a large kitchen purposely in plain view through a window cutout.

"I spent a ton of dough," said Boyer alluding to another company secret.

That window opening is bordered by Christmas stockings with the names of the 16 folks who work at Pookie's. As a Patch reporter sat with Boyer, several of those employees were getting trained in customer service by a rep from food supplier Sysco.

"I want customers greeted. I want employees to be friendly. I want the customer seated quickly," said Boyer.

He says Sysco and a good friend of his familiar with the restaurant business have helped him a lot in the new endeavor.

Laundromats are a lot different than restaurants, and the latter offer more obstacles to success. Boyer said he's always loved to cook but it was his own experience as a consumer that prompted him to become a restaurant owner.

"I'd go out to breakfast and order eggs, potatoes, toast and maybe bacon and it was over $10. I thought there's got to be a better way," he said.

A glance at Pookie's varied menu shows the aforementioned order costs about $8. And that includes a homemade blueberry muffin, homemade honey butter and sliced fruit with yogurt sauce.

The menu has many unique offerings including eggs Norwegian; lemon buttermilk pancakes; crabmeat and asparagus salad; Italian pit beef sandwich; and Tyler's Tiawana dog, a hot dog wrapped in bacon and deep-fried.

And there are the burgers with Pookie's secret sauce.

You probably shouldn't ask.