I have eaten a lot of food. Most of the time I eat at home. That is good food at a good price. Sadly, I have to say that I have eaten out at a lot of restaurants, and too often it is of the fast food variety. Lately my wife and I have endeavored to find little locally owned cafes instead of frequenting fast food facilitators. How is that for alliteration!
So forget the paper wrapped meals. Get out on the road, find a little cafe, and support real people. You will find good food, nostalgia, and an atmosphere that will help you relax in this crazy old world. Comment below with a little restaurant you want to give a shout out too.
This past Sunday we went to a little pizza shop in Coldwater, Kansas. Coldwater Kansas is the county seat for Comanche County, and the whole county's population is around 4000. There are few dining options in the county on Sunday's, which makes Dave's Pizza Oven a bustling place for a Sunday lunch. It was a neat old restaurant that I learned had formerly been a furniture store and before that a hotel. The pizza ovens are out in the open so you can watch your pizza being cooked. There was a salad bar and surprisingly quick service seeing how busy it was. We ordered a taco pizza and were quite pleased. Dave's is actually considered a bucket list pizza stop in Kansas.
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A slice of heaven in Southwest Kansas |
Another place that we visited recently was the Copeland Cafe. This little diner in Copeland, Kansas, takes you back to the 1970's with their decor and setup. The food was delicious, the pie was amazing, and the price was right. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the old press in letter sign. That brought back the memories. All the tables were full when we got there so we saddled up to the bar and had our lunch there. Definitely worth the trip!
I reckon one would be the only one in Diagonal, Iowa, though I've forgotten its name (Maybe the Diagonal Cafe?) and seriously doubt its still open as it's been, oh, forty-nine years or so since I frequented the quaint little place. It had no waitress to serve you coffee or take your order, nor silverware on the tables. And very very seldom at that time in the morning (around 6 am) was there another person in its stark high-ceiling, large front windowed space save for the cook (and presumably the dish-washer), for like Oz, he or she was only seen (or not seen) behind the narrow rectangular-shaped window where you placed your order on a nail and above where you got your silverware and poured your coffee from a thermos. Amazingly I always got my favorite table in the back near the west window, below the gallery of old photographs of someone who was a surveyor for the Alaskan Highway and had used a donkey (or two) in his explorations, and had camped in a low-walled log cabin (or two) and quite a few tents and had visited several Indigenous people out walking about, and used dogs on occasion; some places had trees and rivers and lakes. I liked those pictures, they reminded me of Minnesota. I liked that cafe.
ReplyDeleteWW must have been hauling milk down there on the Missouri line back in the day. There is a restaurant/lounge in Diagonal, but it doesn't open till 5:00 pm. It has old photos so maybe it's a successor to the one he visited.
ReplyDeleteComing home along US 2 in northern Montana from our recent trip out West, Teresa said, "I have a craving for a caramel roll." The little towns along our route only offered bars with bashed in looking doors. I used my binoculars (my cell phone) to look ahead. The Hitchin' Post in Malta sounded promising, but it was fifty miles further down the road. Teresa said she could make it. The sign out front said, "Eat here or we'll both starve." The jolly waiter warmed up a gigantic home made caramel roll for us and poured us Roseau strength coffee. Perfect.
Oh, they called WW's town "Diagonal" because two railroads intersected near the town.
I have food-envy reading this all the way in Falls Church, VA. I'll have to wait til Friday for our pizza, but I might just go and make caramel rolls right now.
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