NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Other than a stint with a famous rock 'n' roll band, food service has been a

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Other than a stint with a famous rock 'n' roll band, food service has been a consistent theme in Rusty Smith's life. For the past four years, one of the area's last original Isaly's restaurants has been his.
After he finished college, and for the short time he was away from the restaurant industry, Smith was on tour with Huey Lewis and the News, helping prepare the stage for the band, among other things. However, long hours and a tight work schedule followed him.
& quot;We traveled the Northeast United States. I think I got two days off in two months with Huey Lewis, & quot; he said.
Smith first got his hands wet in the food industry by washing pots and pans at the Blue Knob Ski Resort in Bedford, Pa. Since the mid-1970s, he has developed a travel itinerary of sorts, locating to Washington, D.C., to work for the Marriott Corp., where he received training to prepare him for restaurant work. In 1987, Smith moved to the Mahoning Valley and worked 10 years at Sniderman Bros., a local food distributor.
Ready to own
After working at an area Perkins restaurant for a year and getting married, Smith set his sights on owning a local eatery. When his mother told him about a small deli for sale, Smith purchased and ran the Diamond Street Deli in Mercer, Pa.
Eventually, he got word that Isaly's previous owner was looking to sell that restaurant and, until Smith sold his deli last year, regularly commuting back and forth between Mercer and New Wilmington was part of his itinerary.
& quot;I went in with blinders on when I looked in the Mercer area, & quot; he said. & quot;Here, I can concentrate on one restaurant. & quot;
Smith's restaurant, which has been at the same location for more than 70 years, is a partial throwback to the days when Isaly's and homemade dairy ice cream meant the same thing in the minds of many. At least three of the 16 flavors customers see when the enter are Isaly's originals: Maricopa, Rainbow and Whitehouse.
& quot;Whitehouse was [former President] Eisenhower's favorite ice cream, & quot; and he used to have it delivered to the White House, Smith explained.
The menu also brings Isaly's early days to life in terms of food selections and 1940s-style caricatures printed on it. Smith's wide array of customers -- which includes a group of retirees who meet each morning, as well as construction workers, teachers and other staff from nearby Westminster College -- can still order a barbecue chipped-chopped ham sandwich to go with their cappuccino.
& quot;Isaly's barbecue ham is [still] a favorite lunch special, & quot; he said.