In 1952 Leonard Rebarchick and his mother-in-law, Ruby McMillan built a house and sandwich shop on what used to be a dark, quiet stretch of Route 235. They named the sandwich shop Knotty Pine.

When in 1963 McMillan passed away, Lenny continued to run the business, but renamed it Lenny’s so his customers would know he was still there. He kept the original Knotty Pine logo which is still on the Lenny’s sign today.

Over the years, Lenny survived when many area businesses did not after the demise of slot machines. They survived because the establishment had an excellent reputation for serving great food.

In 1981 Lenny Rebarchick retired and sold the business to his son Daniel and his wife Robyn. At the time, Daniel Rebarchick had been through culinary school and was a chef in search of a restaurant to call his own in the Washington, DC area where he had been a chef for years for a number of restaurants.

Daniel Rebarchick

“I was looking at a site in Northern Virginia, but when dad offered to sell me Lenny’s it seemed perfect and we moved back to St. Mary’s County and here we are today, still going strong,” said Rebarchick in a recent interview with TheBAYNET.com.

The restaurant that exists today has just gone through a major renovation which includes the addition of a spacious meeting room where Lenny’s caters for weddings, receptions, birthday parties and more. “We even have a waterfall and fish pond to add to the experience,” smiled Rebarchick.

Lenny’s closed for almost five months during the restoration project of the main restaurant where Rebarchick added a brand new state-of-the-art kitchen facility and moved the bar into an area once home to the original kitchen.

“I wanted to have a chef’s kitchen,” said Rebarchick. He now has one that would make the master chef’s of the world envious. Rebarchick is proud of the fact that Lenny’s creates everything the serve from scratch. “We make our own soups and sauces and have our own breading recipes. We do everything right here,” said Rebarchick.

In 2005 the Rebarchick family decided that it was time to grow and purchased a property in Wildewood for a second restaurant which would be run by is daughter Dana and Petruzzi’s was opened. That restaurant closed in 2009, but the Rebarchicks are poised to open DB McMillans in that location very soon. ”We named it after my grandfather and it will be a true Irish pub.”

“With all of growth and changes we have stayed family owned and operated and independent while our competition grows with franchises,” said Rebarchick. ”We are part of the community that we serve and the franchises can not be as involved in helping as we can.”

Rebarchick believes that those that live and work in St. Mary’s County owe it to the community to be involved and to give back when possible. To that end, Rebarchick serves on the board for the Greenwell Foundation and has served on the board for the Center for Family Advocacy and other organizations dedicated to helping those in need on the county.