Main Street News

Late in the afternoon between serving lunch and dinner, the Culver team sat down at a table for an interview with Main Street about Round III, their family-owned and operated restaurant. Located on Route 22 about four miles south of the village of Millerton, with bucolic views of former cow pastures, Round III is that increasingly rare family-run, sit-down restaurant. It also is the oldest continually operating restaurant in the largely rural Town of North East.

Locals remember when the Perotti dairy cows next door stopped traffic on Route 22 on their twice-daily path crossing the road to pasture graze and ambling back to the dairy barn, with vehicles patiently waiting for the last cow to cross.

The restaurant offers “simple food,” according to senior family member Dale Culver and homemade cakes, muffins, cookies, and blueberry scones. Breakfast is served all day long. Round III is open from 7:30am to 8:30pm every day of the week. It’s a place for the people who have always lived here and also welcomes everyone from celebrities to truckers and travelers just passing by.

Why did the Round Tuit become Round III?

My mother purchased our family restaurant over 40 years ago from its second owner, the Sands family. She developed her cooking skills feeding the hands on our family farm. Originally named “The Gateway,” the restaurant was started by Jake Shofeit, the former mayor of Millerton, in the 1950s. Eventually, my mom needed my help, and now the third Culver generation has a lot to do with things. We wanted to change the name to reflect their importance. My son Dave Fletcher is here and his wife and their two kids, ages 9 and 14, help out as well.

Do you have a philosophy about your food?

We make simple food at affordable prices. If done right, people enjoy it and don’t have to pay $50 a plate. We watch our prices. A classic cheeseburger with fries is only $10.99. We use fresh ground beef for our burgers, and the fries are hand cut Idaho russets. Since Skyla joined the family, we have added homemade scones, cookies, and cakes. She’s always trying new things and often sends the first versions to her Nana and family in Kentucky to get feedback.

Most restaurants make their money on alcoholic beverages, but you don’t serve alcohol. How come?

This is a family restaurant, and we’ve never had a liquor license. The insurance cost and the liability are just too great. We do have 55 different hot sauces for a change of pace.

You have a giant ice cream cone and take-out window. I’ve never heard of Gifford’s Ice Cream.

We are one of the few restaurants around here to carry it. It started on a holiday weekend about ten years ago, when we had trouble getting deliveries from our regular ice cream suppliers. I read in a trade magazine that Gifford’s Ice Cream had won awards in four ice cream competitions, and I dialed their 1-800 number after hours. A pleasant man who was cleaning the office answered the phone and said he would relay a message. I asked whether it would be possible to get a delivery. He said if you don’t get a call back by 9:15 tomorrow, then call them and tell them that JC said to take your order. When they called they said they couldn’t help me, but when I mentioned JC they took my name and address and, in short order, a freezer was on its way from Maine: “Please have a fork lift ready to unload it.” 

Four days later the ice cream arrived. JC Gifford, the guy cleaning the office, is the fifth-generation president of Gifford’s ice cream company which is located in Skowhegan, Maine.

What’s the most popular flavor? 

We currently offer 21 flavors as well as 15 flavors of milkshakes. Everyone loves peanut butter caramel, cookie dough and, of course, vanilla.

Who are your customers?

Any day you’ll find people just passing through on their way back to the city or to catch an early Metro-North train at Wassaic. Local regulars, including members at Silo Ridge in Amenia, are really the key to our business. Some of our regulars are over 100 years old. My mother always advised me not to ask if one part of an older couple doesn’t come in: “Wait for them to tell you.” Sometimes we have celebrities, and they thank us for treating them like normal people. No, I won’t tell you their names. We don’t label our customers as people from “the city” or “weekenders,” which creates division. We treat everyone the same.

What has been the biggest change to affect your business?

Recently? Seth Churchill, one of northwest Connecticut’s preeminent fine home builders, purchased the Perotti farm house and dairy barn next door. What a transformation! Grass has overcome weeds, the old dairy barn has a beautiful new roof and paint, and the dilapidated historic house has been renovated. He has made our location more visible and made it look much nicer by cutting down overgrown trees and clearing brush. And you couldn’t ask for a more generous and kind man than Seth.

Millerton has a lot of restaurants. How do you handle the competition?

Restaurants should want everyone to do well and work together, not do well at the expense of anybody else. We enjoy knowing Four Brothers and the Harneys for example. We never advertise. We hope our work speaks for itself.

You’ve been involved with the Town of North East as the respected chair of the planning board for over 15 years.

The chairperson is just another member of the seven-member board. We’re all volunteers who contribute our time to the community. Our purpose is to help guide applicants through the approval process as established by our zoning regulations.

What is your goal in life?

I just want to get up every day and be a useful person. I share a common view with many of the residents of Silo Ridge community that encouraging kids to read, learn history, and just be kind is important. If people can read and learn, they can help themselves. I want everyone to do better.

How have you overcome difficult moments?

In 1998 on Veteran’s Day, November 11, our building caught fire and the community helped us get back in business 29 days later. Fire trucks from Millerton, Amenia, and Sharon all got here quickly. Food inventory was taken from our freezers and stored at McEnroe’s farm market without even asking. Everyone came to help and stayed to help.

In 1993 our father was killed in an automobile accident just down the road, and we had to regroup. Growing up on a farm you learn to make do with what you have and figure things out.

Last June 16, we got hit with a microburst or mini twister that tore the electrical wiring off the building and dropped trees all over the driveway. Total disaster, yet in 15 minutes our neighbor Seth came with his machine and started clearing trees and debris. Next Ginnochio Electric immediately responded with several men, machines, and a generator and went to work. In less than three hours between Seth and Ginnochio’s crew it was like it never happened. These are the people that make small towns shine.

The Silo Ridge community and Lee and Gail helped save our business during COVID. They all wanted to know how they could help us survive, and they helped immensely. We are forever grateful. They help us help many who need help in the community. I wish everyone could realize what good people they are. They never look for credit and are some of the nicest people you’d ever meet. We’re so lucky.

What changes have you observed in our community?

There are fewer young people and a lot fewer local jobs since the K&E Factory and the Wassaic DDSO closed. Also there used to be more late-night activity and music events like the Grey Fox festival.

It used to be that people could be friends and agree to disagree. People need to get along and find out what connects them, not what divides them. I remember Mr. Hedges, my Ag teacher, who said that if we students knew his religion or his politics, that meant that he had failed us as a teacher. This would help greatly in today’s environment. He wanted us to learn how to think, not tell us what to think.

What’s the best part of running a restaurant?

It’s all the relationships you make over a lifetime. We have changed tires, jumped dead batteries, driven stranded motorists to get help, and mailed lost items to their owners in many states and at least five different countries so far. My mom always believed we should help in any way we could. All of these little things we hope help make the world a little better, a little brighter and keep that small town, big community feel alive. And the added support of the Silo community would make my mom very happy. •

Visit Dale and his Round III family at 5523 NY-22 in Millerton, NY.