Food means community for 57-year-old chef Sean Connelly. As the owner of LilJumbo Cafe, a farm-to-table restaurant based in Maysville, he slings out New York-style pizza with a Brooklyn attitude.
“I’m trying to get my community together, because that’s what it’s about,” Sean said. “Nobody knows how to do good pizza, and I’ve been doing it for years.”
But LilJumbo patrons come for more than just food; Sean is repeatedly described as “entertainment” by his guests. When he’s not overseeing the line during meal services, he runs back and forth from the kitchen to dining floor, interacting with each guest or employee along the way.
“It’s like watching a top that never stops spinning,” line cook Cody Canutt said. “It’s his show. It’s his stage.”
Sean is proud of his locally sourced food, and he’s unafraid to let customers know. As guests mull over his weekly menu, he will walk past the coffee bar to review their order with them, even berating guests for food alterations. But rather than turning customers away, his boisterousness seems to bring them back. “It shouldn’t work, but it does,” Cody said. “It brews fierce loyalty.”
Sean has been trying to create a “local’s local” for more than two decades. At age 25, he moved to New York City to pursue his cooking dreams. After working in a local brewery, he realized there wasn’t a space for food industry workers themselves since most bars or restaurants were closed by the end of their shifts. Seeing a need for such a space, he founded the Brooklyn Ale House in 1997. For 17 years, Sean served the Williamsburg community, staying open until 4:30 a.m. so that anyone could visit. But when his wife’s father became ill, he sold the bar and moved to be closer to her family.
At first, Sean worried that the Maysville community wouldn’t accept his unique menu or abrasive personality, so he opened a 14-foot mobile coffee trailer to test the market. Finding success, he was offered a space in the century-old Washington Hall. As a designated historical site, the space isn’t zoned for a commercial kitchen. Instead, Sean uses two small pizza ovens and a gas stovetop to serve homestyle meals for his guests.
“This is all a combination of the experiences I have,” he said. “It’s love on a plate for me.”
