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One glance around the restaurant is enough to notice home at
3801 W. Sixth St. to safeguard housed survival tools that ranged from wood
burning heat capacities to a radiation-proof air filtration system.
Living on Lawrence’s west side, owner David Clemente said the
building’s hard lines and metal awnings often caught his eye. “For years I
used to drive by this building,” he said, “and I always remember thinking it
was kind of like a cool ugly duckling.” Clemente, a
Lawrence homebuilder,
eventually bought the house and began renovations.
Instead of omitting the building’s “ugly duckling” traits, Clemente worked
to blend the old, hard-lined, bunker-style architecture with a new rich,
rustic décor. “Every time we used something industrial, we mixed something
natural with it to tone it down,” he said. Now, hand-hewn logs imported from
North Dakota cover the interior walls and colorful, custom hand-blown light
fixtures cast a warm glow over both the upstairs and downstairs bars.
Original oil paintings by nationally collected impressionist painter
Debra Clemente,
David’s wife, accent the walls. As all of Debra’s paintings displayed at
Stone Creek are available for purchase, the colorful art exhibit is ever
changing.
Outside, galvanized metal elements and timber strand lumber enclose the most
spacious patio dining in town. Just beyond the railing, the walkway to the
restaurant’s front entrance zigzags through an elaborately landscaped oasis,
 where
brightly-colored goldfish swim in a bubbling stream, banked by an array of
trees and flowers.
There’s a sense of being in a comfortable abode. Clemente said even without
knowing just why, guests often remark, “this place just feels so warm and
like home.”
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