Elle's Restaurant and Bar opens

Danielle Yarrington recently opened her new restaurant Elle’s Restaurant and Bar in the former location of Thermopolis Cafe. Her journey to get to this place has been full of hard work and perseverance.

When Yarrington graduated high school in 2015, she left Thermopolis and went to school in Casper for three years and graduated with two associate degrees.

Yarrington has been working in restaurants since her sophomore year of high school.  

She came back to Thermopolis and began the process to buy Thermopolis Cafe from Marty Oravec.

The building needed a lot of renovation. Most of the work has been cosmetic. The kitchen received the most work.

After this, the COVID-19 situation hit. This caused further delays and things became much slower.

Yarrington then used the time to her advantage and was able to focus and continue working. They sanded all the floors and refinished them. They redid all the booths and finished them. Danielle and her team spent a lot of late nights doing the renovation.

Elle’s Restaurant and Bar opened on Friday, July 10. Yarrington said, “It’s been kind of a rollercoaster. We’ve had a lot of great support from the community and tourists coming through. That’s been awesome and all things considered that even though half our tables have been open, we’ve been doing really well.” Due to health regulations, they cannot have all tables occupied. 

Regarding the remodeling, the biggest feedback Yarrington has heard is, “It’s so much brighter in here, the light fixtures are awesome and we’re so glad you got rid of those hippie paintings.”

The paintings she referred to were ones with cattle and ranching subjects with bright colors and saturated solid designs. Yarrington laughed at how consistently these three subjects are brought up by the customers. 

Her current challenges are having to be the main manager making the decisions for the business. She has never been in this role before even though she was a manager previously.

She said, “It’s definitely an adjustment. It’s a good adjustment. I love the job opportunity and getting involved to make my choices.” 

Yarrington’s long-term goals are about opening for dinner and for when the bar opens. She said, “Those are the ones I am set on the most right now. Getting those put into place.” 

As she takes a deep breath, her eyes show optimism on her journey ahead.