VERONA ISLAND — A Swanville couple have opened the Island Rise & Shine Restaurant, offering breakfast and lunch daily.

Al and Katherine George had been operating the Rise & Shine Café in Winterport the past two years but decided to move the eatery to Route 1 on Verona Island.

Katherine George said the couple wanted “a little bigger market,” which the Verona Island location offers.

The restaurant opened in the former Seabreeze restaurant location.

Al George has worked at the Verso mill in Bucksport doing maintenance for 30 years.

Katherine has always worked in the food industry but decided she was ready to work for herself, which is how the couple came to open the café in Winterport.

The Georges still own the Winterport property but are leasing it.

The Verona Island incarnation of Rise & Shine has “all things breakfast and pretty much all things lunch,” Al George said.

Katherine says the most popular menu items are corned beef hash and sausage gravy.

“She’s been told she makes the best french toast in the state, too,” Al added.

The Island Rise & Shine serves up homemade cooking.

“We bake bread every day,” Al said. “We boil a lot of potatoes,” for the home fries.

The breakfast menu includes eggs, omelets, toast, pancakes, waffles and the aforementioned french toast as well as muffins and bacon, sausage, ham and home fries. An egg and toast is $2.

Lunch includes fish chowder, soup, chili, salad, sandwiches and burgers.

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