A veteran of the D.C. restaurant industry, co-owner Erin Edwards took a big step four years ago when she decided to start Pennyroyal Station.

Located in Mount Rainier, the restaurant is not in one of D.C.’s already hot dining areas, but Edwards envisioned a neighborhood spot that would be supported by the community where she’s lived since 2017.

In the end, the D.C. dining scene came to Mount Rainier, with everyone from the Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema to local and national news sites praising it.

Edwards talked with the Hyattsville Wire about the restaurant’s success, and what it’s like to be a woman in the restaurant industry.

Have you faced discrimination as a woman in the restaurant business? 

Yes, of course, I have. Like every other industry, restaurants have a lot of work to do when it comes to addressing discrimination against women and BIPOC employees, and building an equitable environment. We’re proud of the diversity of our team at Pennyroyal, particularly in leadership/ownership roles, and we want to be a place that is part of the change that is much-needed.

The restaurant business really is a team sport, which will only truly succeed when every employee feels valued, rewarded for their contributions, and able to show up to work as their full selves. Taking those steps creates a positive work environment that translates to the guest.

What was the inspiration behind starting Pennyroyal Station in Mount Rainier?  

We wanted to get back to being part of a neighborhood. When I first started looking at homes in Mount Rainier, I fell in love with the area instantly. My first thought besides buying a home in the area was this would be a great place for a neighborhood restaurant.  We are so close to Washington, D.C. and Hyattsville neighborhoods that it just seemed like we could take part in filling a void. We do have some wonderful fast casual places in Mount Rainier, but we didn’t have a full-service restaurant with a bar and dining room. Restaurants can really act as glue to a community, and that is our goal at Pennyroyal.

What has been the biggest surprise since you opened?

The biggest (very welcome) surprise is the continued support from our community.  We really do feel the love along with our neighbors’ desire to make sure that we become a staple in the community.  We are working 12-hour days with no days off  to make sure we deliver something the community can be proud of.  When we see their support and genuine excitement that we are here, it really keeps us going.

How would you describe opening a restaurant during a pandemic? 

The honest answer is pretty horrible (said while laughing!). We put so much blood, sweat, and tears into the project before even opening the doors that, when it is time to open, you want to be able to flourish in order to make sure employees, bills, and debts are paid so that the restaurant can evolve. Instead, we opened for two weeks and then had to close our doors and adjust to take out only.  We are adapting and taking the positive from the situation, which is if we can make it through this then we will hopefully make it through anything.  I am sure most people can relate.

What dish has turned out to be the most popular?

Honestly, Jesse Miller created such a great menu that everything sells really well. I do think that the family meals have been a particularly big hit. Jesse keeps increasing the amount he makes, and it keeps selling out.

What do you think of the wine bar moving in next door?

We love it!  We want this town to grow. The more businesses that succeed means the town succeeds, which means we succeed. Mount Rainier is so diverse and beautiful, we should be able to walk down the street to eat and enjoy our own town.

What could the Route 1 corridor do better to help new restaurants?

Mount Rainier was a huge help with financial assistance. We wouldn’t have been able to open our doors without them. However, being a new restaurant during the pandemic, we’re in a pretty tough gray area. We don’t qualify for much of the federal and state assistance, because we aren’t established and don’t have financial records from previous years. However, we are still suffering the same losses due to COVID-19 as restaurants that have been open for years.

Being a restaurant that opened right around the start or in the middle of the pandemic, you spend all this time and money trying to get open, but once you are,  you’ve already blown through your budget because you expected to have a certain number of seats that you no longer have. Just because we are open and appear to be doing relatively well doesn’t mean we don’t need the same help, so allowing new businesses to qualify for any existing or new financial assistance at all government levels would be a huge help.

In addition to that, I think beautifying the area is a step in the right direction. Mount Rainier is working on that as we speak. For example, they are planning to invest money to renovate the memorial park. These types of improvements draw interest not only for our own community, but neighboring communities. I think grants for helping businesses to invest in the facades of their buildings is wonderful and serves two purposes: it allows businesses to create a first great impression when pedestrians are passing by, as well as giving some love to the town’s overall appearance.

We were lucky to get support from Mount Rainier’s art commission with an amazing mural, our landlords restoring the building, and our amazing chef who is also an artist who painted and built our signage. Not every business has that available to them, so it would be great if they were able to access resources to do that.

Mount Rainier and Prince George’s County are taking steps to support their businesses and community. I think we are moving in the right direction

What do you love most about Mount Rainier? 

Besides walking through the sidewalks filled with flowers and trees in the spring and summer, the diversity and creativity that lives here is what makes this community so great.