Horizons Online Edition

Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Diversions

Susie Sulivan and her staff serve up some delicious food.

Susie's Skyway Restaurant at Ernest A. Love Field in Prescott is a haven for pilots near and far. Prescott Airport may bring the aviators into the area but Susie's tasty Skyway Burgers keeps them coming back. Gracious wait staff and good old-fashioned service are on the menu everyday at the aeronautical café. The Skyway's walls and ceiling are filled with photos and models of all makes and sizes of aircraft. Go early just so you can look at all the fascinating memorabilia in the dining room donated to the restaurant by the frequent fliers.

From most any seat in the joint the diners can view takeoffs, landings and touch-and-go action from private, professional and student flyboys and gals. Lots of pilots from the far reaches of Arizona and other states fly in just for lunch at Skyway and then go back home again. Susie's is an especially popular and inviting corner of town to enjoy good meals and good friends.

Susan Sullivan, an Arizona native, has owned and operated the Skyway Restaurant for nearly ten years. Sullivan and her husband George, long time residents of Prescott, have seen many changes to the small community. Luckily for the rest of us, her restaurant remains a sanctuary for the hungry to gather together and a place to drop by and visit with companions.

Sullivan has become more than a local business woman; she is a good friend to many of the fliers. The pilots will check in with Sullivan before they leave for a flight and let her know when she can expect their return. She keeps tabs on folks who haven't been in the restaurant for awhile and checks up on their health and welfare. If a regular has forgotten their wallet, no problem, she will catch up with them next time.

Sullivan arrived at work one dark morning and greeted some early bird diners who had found their way into the restaurant before her and started brewing their own coffee. A couple of senior flyboys have their favorite table up front and will out set their "old geezer" reserved sitting sign to keep it available for them upon their daily arrival at Susie's. Susie's Skyway is more than a restaurant - it is everyone's home kitchen to the regular clientele.

While Sullivan and her Skyway Restaurant has been featured on Good Morning Arizona and in various flying magazines she still gets Embry-Riddle students coming in to the cafe so she can help them get their ties adjusted and on correctly so they look just right for their flight exams. She has had many grad students bring their parents in to meet her before they leave ERAU for the last time. Sullivan knows her customers favorite foods and how they liked it served. She loves hearing all the pilot's stories and is a great listener with genuine concern and interest.

Sullivan describes her Skyway Restaurant, "It's like family. I don't think any other establishment is as fortunate as we are to have the great customers and friends like we do. We are unique and different from other places. I have really good employees and I know they work hard and do their very best. I have loyal customers and loyal help. We all take care of each other and I feel incredibly blessed."

The folks at the airport eatery speak fluent aviation but plenty of local office staff, retirees, and business people show up for java, jive and pie. One of Sullivan's customers has recognized the evident and told her, "Susie, your place is the best kept secret in town." Don't wait until east of tomorrow, come soon and visit Susie's Skyway Restaurant, hospitality served daily from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

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