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09/21/2003 Archived Entry: "SMALL TOWN CAFES HAVE WINNING RECIPE"

SMALL TOWN CAFES HAVE WINNING RECIPE

Today in the Salina Journal there was an excellent article on small town cafes and what makes "slow" food preferable over fast food. It was written by Carol Crupper who did a great job with it. The right person who knows as a certainty about those things was quoted.

That is what Marci Penner, director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, has been crowing about for years, and she was often and well-quoted in the article. She says that good home cooking served in a clean, inviting environment can pull visitors to rural towns. Marci is co-chair of the Governor's task force on rural development.

She suggests we should do more to tout such places that we have in our area. "If you have a place like this, sing about it from the rooftops in your brochures," she says. "Don't just tell them you have a restaurant but tell about the entrees that make it famous or desirable." An example is the famous chicken-fried steaks, cooked from scratch, and served at KC's Cafe and Paden's Restaurant. You can't get that just everywhere as most restaurants use frozen prepared steaks and throw them in a French fryer. Anything thrown into a French fryer is off my list. And I like it when the mashed potatoes still have some of the skins in evidence and some lumps here and there. That’s a dead give-away they started with a real potato and a peeler.

That is true with Jesse Orozco who makes everything he serves from scratch at his restaurant, down to the tortillas and hot tamales. We appreciate knowing we’re being served the same good food that he serves his own family and friends.

Marci suggested we consider the following criteria:

Does your cafe serve "real" mashed potatoes?
Does the meat come from a local locker?
Is the food actually made from scratch?
Is the chicken or chicken fried steak pan-fried?
Is the homemade crust made with lard?
Are the apples peeled on the site?
Is the tea brewed?
Is the cafe clean and does it offer friendly service?

If the answers are "yes", Penner says, your community has a winner.

If the answer isn't “yes” in each case, then I think we should encourage our restaurant owners to try to comply so as to make the dining experience more personal and enjoyable. What do you think?