Kenny's Corner brings community together

HAMBURG — “Everybody knows your name,” at Kenny's Corner in Hamburg on Quarry Road. The regulars in the area like to sit, relax, talk, enjoy good food, good company, and a sense of community.
After a March snowstorm, Steve Schels, one of the Sparta High School Vice Principals, said, “I'm a regular.” He visits Kenny's almost every day for a cup of coffee and something to eat, which he added, “is hard to choose, because so much is good.” He said, his favorite is the meatloaf, but Kenny “has fantastic hot food here everyday.”
Josh Mackerley, St. Clare's paramedic, Franklin EMT and Fire Department volunteer, flashed a big smile, when talking about his favorites: the baked ziti and hamburgers.
Proprietor Kenny Devoe said, he uses Black Angus Fresh Ground Beef for his half-pound burgers He said he does not have a freezer because everything is fresh and homemade.
Quality and freshness are important at Kenny's. Devoe said all their bread is from “down below,” [the Lodi, Garfield area] delivered fresh daily from Fagale Bakery and pastries from Orlando Bread, on Saturday and Sunday.
Devoe, of Italian, German, and Irish descent, learned to cook from his mother, when he was small. He then completed culinary studies at Bergen Tech.
After Bergen Tech and a union carpenter job, Devoe traveled the world for 12 – to – 15 years as the Misfits' personal chef and merchandise seller. The Misfits, a well known punk band, are also his childhood friends from Lodi.
Devoe said Kenny's all started in August 2016, after he stopped traveling the previous month. He said he used to love to travel, but it's time to stay home.
Some of the group's favorites were Italian: meatballs, sausage, and eggplant.
However, Devoe specializes in all kinds of food. On St. Patrick's Day, Friday, March 17, from 12–7:30 p.m., he will serve corn beef and cabbage dinners, plus sandwiches.
Devoe's personal favorite is his meatballs.
His meatballs are an Italian food lover's treat. The texture is perfect, in a flavorful, traditional, steaming hot tomato sauce, with mozzarella cheese melding into the crispy, soft semolina bread, with crumbs falling down one's front after the first bite. Once finishing the generous portion, customers feel well satisfied.
Devoe's sausage, onions, and peppers has a perfectly cooked Italian flavor, with the moist mixture also soaking richly into the fresh semolina bread.
“In addition to the food being fantastic, Kenny works to make it just the way you want it,” Schels said.
He emphasized how rare it is to find good service, along with good food.
Another regular, Charlie Munroe of Sparta Township Parks Department, stopped by to say, “Hi.” He said, the eggplant is his favorite.
Devoe explained, usually he makes eggplant on Wednesday, but the eggplants have to be heavy and hard. He hand picks them the way his mother taught and uses his mom's recipe.
Wifi is also available for students to study and businesses to work in a comfortable setting. On top of that, he continued, as the weather gets better, customers can enjoy sitting outside on the terrace.
As Schels left Kenny's, he told Devoe, “The Chicken Parm was good, my friend. See you.”
Breakfasts, appetizers, salads, specialty subs, sandwiches, burgers, sides, plus steam table lunch and dinner specials are available daily at Kenny's. For more information call, (973) 823-8171.