Restaurant owner back where he started

Rich Plier has come full circle in his culinary career, and now he’s ready to share that with the world.

Plier, who started his culinary career at Nisleit’s Country Inn in 1981, and his wife Debbie will open Plier’s Full Circle in the building that once housed Nisleit’s and more recently was home to Hundred Mile House in the Town of Port Washington.

“It’s exciting,” Plier said. “(Building owner) Bob Nisleit made me an offer to run this and I took it.”

Plier has worked for John Weinrich at Newport Shores restaurant in Port for the past 30 years, and that experience will be reflected in the Full Circle.

For example, there will be some familiar faces at the Full Circle. Plier said “a few of” the Newport Shores employees who found themselves without a job when the restaurant closed in September will be joining him in his new venture, noting five or six have already signed on.

That includes his wife, who will work part-time doing everything from bartending to office work.

The menu, too, will be similar to that at Newport Shores, with a lot of fish, steaks and sandwiches as well as a few specialty items he’s working on, Plier said, adding he’s still finalizing the menu.

Plier’s Full Circle will have a more casual atmosphere and menu than Hundred Mile House, Plier said, with televisions and sports events at the bar.

He plans to hold a cornhole league on Wednesdays as well as concerts in the summer.

Eventually, Plier said, he will open the banquet hall, which can seat about 70 people, but first he wants to get the restaurant and bar up and running.

He’s hoping to open the bar in March and the restaurant around April 1.

The Town Board was expected to meet at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, to approve a liquor license for the Full Circle.

While the pandemic has made it difficult for hospitality businesses to survive, Plier said he’s not too concerned about that.

“This area’s pretty cool,” he said. “We want people to feel comfortable. We’re willing to space it out. You have to do what you have to do.

“Hopefully it’ll go away soon and we’ll get back to normal.”

Plier noted that the logo for the restaurant, which features a circle and a slotted spoon, reflects not only his return to the restaurant where he began his career but the return of another culinary staple.

When he began work at Nisleit’s, Plier said, he made soups with a slotted spoon. Two years after he left, his brother-in-law Joe Wheaton, who also worked at Nisleit’s, followed Plier to Newport Shores, where he presented Plier with that spoon, which he used to make soup at Newport Shores for 30 years.

“It’s now found its way back home,” Plier said.