Sixth installation of LDN's "Let's Eat" series
Big tables, big food   
Carlin’s Country Kitchen in Chestnut  a Friday night delight

[MAY 27, 2000]  You can get a good country breakfast at Carlin’s Country Kitchen in Chestnut any day but Sunday, beginning at 6 a.m.  You can grab a fine lunch here Monday through Friday.  But if you want a butterfly pork chop as thick as your wrist, or a catfish that laps over both ends of your plate, or broasted chicken that your mother wishes she could make, try Carlin’s from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday.

Mark Carlin, a Chestnut native who has owned the restaurant for four years, cooks Friday dinner for 75 to 100 happy diners every week.  “Four years ago, the restaurant, which had been here for about 30 years, was about to be shut down.  Every town needs a restaurant, so I bought it.”

 


[Mark Carlin, owner and Friday-night 
cook at Carlin's Country Kitchen]

 

Carlin had worked part-time for the previous owner and sharpened his cooking skills when he assumed ownership for the business.   “My mom was a pretty good cook,” he says, “and I learned from her.”  Mark also holds a day job with the state of Illinois in Springfield, so Sheri Trimby manages the restaurant.

 

 

Three years ago, Sheri asked her best friend, Charlie Brown, to help out on Friday nights—temporarily until she could get a permanent staff in place.  Charlie has served tables at Carlin’s ever since, and Sheri shows no signs of replacing her with someone more permanent. 

 

The first thing you notice about Carlin’s is the size of the tables.  The typical café booths line the walls, but in the center of the room are oversized tables that hold oversized plates of food. 

 

(To top of second column)

Last night, several tables were strung together so that Tom Jordan Jr.’s family could celebrate the young man’s graduation from Mount Pulaski High School.  The family placed a huge cake on a table in the corner of the restaurant and invited everyone in the place to join them for dessert.  You get the impression that this is a pretty friendly place.

 

 

When Charlie Brown isn’t waiting tables at Carlin’s, she is working at Ben Franklin School in Decatur, where her programs have successfully engaged parents with their children’s learning and lowered the absentee rate to next to nothing.  Charlie brings to Carlin’s the same care and enthusiasm that she extends to students at Ben Franklin.   Serving good food to 100 diners in a couple hours is a demanding task.  But Charlie and Sheri manage to handle it with attentiveness, good humor and an unobtrusive graciousness that allows their customers to relax, enjoy one another’s company and eat their hearty portions.

 


["If you want a pork chop two inches thick, go to 
Carlin's in Chestnut," these Mount Pulaskians advised.]

 

Carlin’s is the place in Chestnut where Lutherans and Methodists can be seen eating at the same table.  For the locals, this is an institution as much as a business.  For visitors to Chestnut, the home folks are welcoming and proud to share the big tables, big food and big hearts at Carlin’s Country Kitchen.