by Vickie Holt

American Pie Restaurant is one of Floyd’s newest eateries, taking up residence in a building recently vacated by one of its oldest.  After thirty years, Ray’s Restaurant had become a legendary fixture in the Floyd community, located at 1041 Floyd Highway, North.
The structure itself was built in 1910.  In the 1940’s, Ray’s father, Donald Hatcher, owned it, running the location as a grocery store and gas station.  Its eventual evolution to becoming a restaurant, however, is thanks in part to Ray’s mother, who started cooking for some of the local workers in the 1940’s.  After some time, Ray took the reigns of the business and it operated as his restaurant from around 1990.  In 2020, however, Ray Hatcher decided to retire.
Even while Ray was thinking about retirement, Bill Taylor was sitting in Palm Beach, Florida, already bored with his retirement from the medical industry.  “I didn’t enjoy it,” says Bill.  “All that sitting around.”  To make matters worse, the hurricane season in Florida was getting more and more serious, year after year.  Bill didn’t want to wait around for a storm to destroy his home.

Though he was originally from New Jersey, Bill had lived in Floyd during the 1990’s.   He felt a connection to the area because his grandfather had originally come from Floyd.  As Bill explains, his grandfather was among the community of people who were workers in area, not really owning anything.  Before WWI, many of the poor folks working on the farms in Floyd for less than twenty-five cents a day began migrating out to the cities.  Bill’s grandfather was among those people, leaving Floyd around 1914.
When adverse conditions in Florida made Bill want to migrate, he thought once again of Floyd.  When he arrived, he admits he wasn’t particularly looking for anything to do.  Still, retirement rankled him.  With more boredom on the horizon ahead, Bill called his friend, Guillermo Mateo-Castaneda, from Florida to join him.
Originally from Guatemala, Guillermo had worked for several restaurants in Florida, becoming a very talented cook along the way.  He’d even managed to open his own small restaurant in North Palm Beach.  It was Bill’s idea that with Guillermo’s culinary capacity and Bill’s clerical skills, the two should open a restaurant in the meteorologically calm community of Floyd.  Guillermo agreed, closed his restaurant, and headed north.
Bill and Guillermo looked at several restaurants and locations in Floyd before ultimately deciding on Ray’s.  They bought the business in April of 2020 and closed it down the same week.  After all, the building was over a hundred years old.  They wanted to fix things that needed fixing.  They also wanted to replace equipment and incorporate some cosmetic upgrades.  Though it was a global crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic also provided a timely interval for the new owners to renovate without the loss of customers.
Over the next ten months, the old Ray’s slowly evolved into the new American Pie Restaurant.  Bill says that the place was dark and closed-in, with a New Orleans theme before.  He wanted to make it brighter and better lit inside.  More lights were added, and more windows were installed.  There was one aspect of the operation, however, that was not a problem.  “No matter who we called for service” says Bill, “nobody needed directions.  Everyone knew Ray’s restaurant.”
Once all the renovations were complete and the new atmosphere was set, it was time to get ready to open.  Like many other restaurants since March of 2020, however, American Pie had a hard time finding employees.  Eventually, however, Bill hired five servers and an additional cook from the Floyd community.
On February 22, 2021, American Pie Restaurant opened to the public.  With Bill taking care of the business side and Guillermo taking care of the kitchen and menu, the co-owners kept many of the same menu items that folks had already come to expect from Ray’s.  Guillermo, however, couldn’t resist adding a few new specialties, such as the ribeye steak and the Philly cheese steak sandwich.
Mostly standard, American fare, the new restaurant offers a lunch menu that includes burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, pizza, chicken tenders, soups, salads, and sides.  For dinner, American Pie also serves pork chop, lamb chop, ribeye steak, BBQ ribs, and grilled salmon.
Though most of the menu is a hold-over from Ray’s, it is Guillermo’s hand that sets those dishes apart from their predecessors.  The first weekend they were open, a happy customer posted this review to Facebook: “The atmosphere is clean and bright. The wait staff were very nice. This was the first weekend since they opened and I was glad to see it busy.”
Four months later, and the customers were still raving.  “I have lots of great things to say about this place…The very best Ruben sandwich that I have ever had, the very best steamed broccoli that I’ve ever had, the very best Philly cheese steak that I’ve ever had, the very best mashed potatoes that I’ve ever had, the very best onion rings that I’ve ever had!  I have ate here for lunch about fifteen times so far and they always have your food out to you in less than eight minutes”.
Bill says that folks in Floyd have actually come to surprise him.  Occasionally, Guillermo will run a special item that isn’t on the main menu.  A gyro, for instance.  Where he would expect folks to be leery of food he’d consider unusual for Floyd, he found that the locals would snap it up!
American Pie restaurant is solidly a success story.  Customers are happy with the food, Bill is happy to come out of retirement, and Guillermo is enjoying his new surroundings.  Though Floyd Virginia may have lost a legendary local icon, it has gained an exciting new restaurant that will surely be a highlight for many locals and visitors, alike!
American Pie Restaurant is closed on Wednesdays but open every other day of the week from 11:00am to 8:00pm, with the bar staying open later.  For more information about American Pie, or to view the menu, follow American Pie Restaurant on Facebook.

American Pie Restaurant
William “Bill” Taylor & Guillermo Mateo-Castaneda
1041 Floyd Hwy, Floyd, VA • 540-745-2501
www.AmericanPieRestaurant.com
AmericanPieRestaurant@gmail.com