It doesn’t take long after arriving in Shawville to find one’s way to Café 349. This, either because there’s really only one business street or, more likely, because someone has recommended the café as a place to go or perhaps, even, you’re on a return trip to the café, already well aware that it is a great place to go.

The credit for that falls squarely on one person, although she will not hear of such things and so we will quietly have this chat while she isn’t in the room. Shhhhhhh – let’s keep this between ourselves, shall we?

I am, of course, speaking of Ruth Hahn, who opened . . .

the café on October 7, 2002. In fact, she has just celebrated 20 years of being in business and in the most unique of ways: undergoing knee replacement surgery. No champagne. No balloons. No cake and no glitzy sparkles.

Anyone who knows Ruth would almost assume that she planned it this way – to have the surgery on the exact day when she would otherwise have been celebrated for her achievements, successes, sense of community, humanity and friendship.

This is quintessential Ruth. Modest and shy; hers is not to speak of herself and she balks and blushes at the mere prospect of doing so or of having others do the same. And so, gaining her perspective on things requires some of the same skills she employs as chef at the café: one does not, after all, make a panini loved by an entire community simply by slathering condiments and meat onto Italian bread. There is craft involved.

Ruth’s backstory is known and yet not; common and yet forged. She grew up all things Smiley, five miles west of Shawville and has thus that collective community connection that all persons share when they grow up in a small town. From there, her story takes on an identity all of its own.

A brief stint in the city working as a receptionist for an investment firm “to see for myself if I liked it” led her back home. “I hated, hated, hated it. I was the backup wire operator for transactions to buy and sell commodities and stocks. I would get it done and then go to the bathroom and throw up – it was so stressful.”

Once back home, she married her love, Brian Hahn. “I had already found this fella before I left.” They settled into life in their home on Killoran Lake, where they remain to this day, and just down the road from where Brian was raised on Thorne Lake Road. It is here where they have raised their own family.

Ruth worked cleaning homes and in various restaurants including The River View Inn in Norway Bay, Country Cookin’ (now Cartrites) in Shawville and The Shawville Village Inn (now The Shawville Hotel) on Highway 148, just past the caution light. It was at this latest where she laid the groundwork for the skills she would later require running her own café. “When they asked me to work there I said as long as the chef teaches me everything he knows.” And he did, albeit somewhat reluctantly. But Ruth was a persistent understudy and, although she didn’t yet know it, hungry for an adventure of her own.

This is a good juncture to point out that Ruth is not competitive or comparative or quantitative. She is full on about quality. And this isn’t meant to sound smarmy or trite, but rather to more clearly speak of how her desire to learn how to be a chef was all about just that: being a chef. Not the best chef. Not a better chef. And certainly not the only chef. Just a really, really good chef. This same desire for quality permeates her every fibre, whether professional or personal, and she gives of it as equally as she is warmed by it.

Ok, back to our story: what better way to embrace her new chef talents than to open a café; a café at 349 Main Street, Shawville?

And so, on October 7, 2002, Café 349 opened doors for the first time and, over the course of the intervening 20 years, has grown both physically and operationally, and has become ensconced in the community in more ways than Ruth ever could have imagined at the outset. Right from the get-to, it has always been about quality and this has seemingly resonated in the community.

Starting with a mere 15 seats and a light selection, the café now offers seating for 45, sees a great deal of take-out, has a robust menu and enjoys a diverse and large clientele.

There have been changes to the structure of things over the years. Gone are the Friday night musical events and, so too, Thursday and Saturday. Catering plays a larger role and so does lunch at the Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School. Staffing has evolved and her daughter, Brandi, now plays a key role as Catering Manager. Art is everywhere at the café thanks to an association with artPontiac and the shelves are lined with goods from local entrepreneurs.

The effort hasn’t been small and Ruth admits that there have been times when she felt she “could just slip out that back door and be halfway home before anyone realized it.” In no small way, however, her joy of being at the heart of it all persists. This is her space, she loves it and she loves that you do too.

Her healing knee will set the timeline for re-opening the café, and Ruth is listening attentively. At this early stage, mark your calendars for around November 26 or so.

And we never had this conversation. Right? Carry on.

Staff Alana Larocque and Julianne Dooks preparing to make a special birthday entrance, a common activity at the café.

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