Cancer forcing closure of Coitsville's popular Cozy eatery
COITSVILLE
Susan Fette recalled the rather unconventional reaction of her mother, Barbara Svetlak, to a customer who one day complained about her eggs having been overdone.
“She put raw eggs, a raw slice of bacon and a slice of Italian bread on [the customer’s] plate and gave it to her,” Fette said with laughter. “She’s a pistol.”
Svetlak’s humorous response to the customer she knew was one of many fond memories Svetlak shared regarding running Barb’s Cozy Corner Family Restaurant, 3671 McCartney Road (U.S. Route 422), which is to close Wednesday, nearly 25 years to the day since its Jan. 1, 1990, opening.
About three years ago, the 70-year-old Svetlak, of New Bedford, Pa., was diagnosed with cancer. She doesn’t want to quit, but the illness has made it too difficult for her to continue, she explained.
Restaurant work is nothing new to the 1962 Hubbard High School graduate, who wasted no time finding work after having received her diploma.
“My dad told me, ‘When you get home, I want you to get a job.’ Two days later, I was working at Isaly’s,” she recalled, referring to the former eatery in Hubbard.
After many years raising her two daughters and son, her restaurant work resumed in 1986 when she was hired as a cook at the former Pat’s Place on Route 422 in Coitsville.
Nearly four years later, after having bought out Pat Jewell, Pat’s Place’s owner, Svetlak opened the 75-seat, family-friendly Barb’s Cozy Corner, she noted.
Read more about the popular eatery and its unconventional owner in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.