I have driven by Rosemont Crafts and Grill so many times wanting to try it, curious about what the interior must look like because it always seemed like an odd combination, but never stopped, for whatever reason (usually running late for something), until last week. I had heard "great burgers" and "like my mom's soup beans," but what really clinched it for me was "live Bluegrass on Tuesday and Saturday nights".

Roseanna's Grill, as it is known today (or will be, when the new signs are finished) began life as a Rexall Drug Store near the corner of Harrodsburg Road and Rosemont Garden/Lane Allen. After the store was a casualty of a gas main explosion in 1950, it reopened in its present location, in 1952, a few doors down. It has changed hands a few times and is now a grill, retro soda fountain, bakery, and coffee shop delivering to Lexington a unique venue for listening to 20 to 30 or more pickers sitting in a circle delving out old Kentucky tunes.

Anna Cimato, who owned the Crafts and Grill for many years, has resumed the reins with the help of old friends and colleagues, Debbie Bellis who is co-owner and manager of the coffee shop, and Brenda Stadnyk, who is setting up a bakery in the back kitchen. Their friendship and easy-going manner with each other are reflected by the relationships each of them has with the many loyal and regular customers; although to call the people who make the Grill a part of their week as customers, is to simplify and in some way lessen the power of this symbiotic association.

If you stop by more than once, don't be surprised to be called by name, asked about your day, and then Frances "Frannie" Kirby, who has worked behind the counter there for 37 years, will be happy to take your order.

The breakfast menu has the old favorites such as french toast, grits, home fries, pancakes, and specials like the "1-1-1." One egg, one order of bacon or sausage, and one piece of toast for $1.85.

For lunch, the grill offers burgers and dogs, dressed many different ways with cheese and chili and such, and deep-fried sides that accompany American grilled food so perfectly. Homemade sandwich salads (from chicken to olive nut), soups, stuffed tomatoes, and cottage cheese with fruit are served on a 1950's laminate and chrome counter with bar stools. It is the type of food that was served when it was built and the kind that can be enjoyed now as chewable nostalgia.

The soda fountain is great and a step back into time. They are still able to use many of the original appliances to make malts, milkshakes, phosphates, and root beer floats. Ice cream has four flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate chip mint) and are gooey delicious in one of Anna's banana splits or sundaes.

The grill is open serving breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., then shuts down and the coffee shop begins. Cold salad sandwiches and a few grilled sandwiches are available along with nightly special soups (chili, minestrone, white bean), and desserts that have those beautiful imperfections that let you know that it is homemade, all natural, and real. Mile high meringue pies alongside peanut butter, derby-type , and sugar-free (for diabetics) pies, cheesecakes, turtle brownies, fried apple pies, and when I was there, Debbie had just taken a pineapple blueberry cobbler out of the oven.

This grill/coffee house/soda fountain/bakery, although very difficult to properly describe, is very comfortable and has a large space that is excellent for the evening entertainment. Live music, often Bluegrass, is played in the middle of a room surrounded by couches, tables, chairs, and a couple of televisions. There is no cover, it is from 6 until 9:00, all pickers are welcome for most shows, bring the kids, stand up and sing along, and do not expect an alcoholic beverage.

The night that we went to see the Firehouse Pickers at Roseanna's Grill, it was pouring rain outside, but inside was packed with people playing and listening and having a great time. There were children running around, teenagers actually sitting with adults, neighbors chatting, and in the center was a large group of musicians entertaining the onlookers and themselves.

I asked Dave Kiser, one of the men playing that evening, about being in this atmosphere and he said that it always feels really good because everyone has this common interest in the music and is willing to help out others, "such as showing you a chord you may be missing in a song, or showing you a run that they saw you eyeballing. All in all, a great bunch of people, that are willing to share."

Sitting in Roseanna's Grill that night felt like a community gathering, a small-town, summer-night get-together where a diverse group of people sit, sing, play, and talk while sipping decaf and eating pie. Very wholesome and calm, not an ounce of showiness or ego, just everyone enjoying, simultaneously.

I will certainly be visiting Roseanna's Grill again; meeting more Lexington townsfolk, tapping my foot to the music whether Bluegrass or a 17 piece swing band who arrives on June 28th, and eating. Lots of eating, at the 1950's soda counter.

Please email your culinary heads-ups to Karen at kworkman@aceweekly.com.