KANSAS! Magazine | No. 2 2023

2023 | vol 79 | issue 2 | kansasmag.com

The White Linen’s

Adam VanDonge And other award-nominated chefs and great restaurants across the state

A L S O I N T H I S I S S U E // The Elephant and Renaissance for Destination Dining // Longford’s Coachlight and Other Small-Town Restaurants // The Art of Bread at 1900 Barker // Brookville Hotel Reopens as Kansas Legacy // The Rye: Pies and Midwest Flavor // Beaumont’s Fly-In Dining Ladybird and Servaes Create New Brews // Meet the State’s New Poet Laureate ... and more!

GREAT BEND

Explore

CHEYENNE BOTTOMS & KANSAS WETLANDS EDUCATION CENTER

HIKE & BIKE PATH

SRCA DRAGSTRIP

THE FREE GREAT BEND BRIT SPAUGH ZOO

BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN

FAMILY FUN

ENTERTAINING FESTIVALS

And So Much More!!

www.exploregreatbend.com FOR MORE INFO ON EVENTS!

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Features

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Dishing Up Delicious Nostalgia

Award-winning chefs reflect on how passion for food led them back home

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Two small-town Kansas restaurants provide food and atmosphere worth the drive

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PHOTOGRAPH Jason Dailey

Destination Dining

• Howard’s Toys for Big Boys Automotive Museum Cardinal Drug Store Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain

Live the Adventure

21 N. Lincoln 620-431-3350 information@chanutechamber.com www.chanutechamber.com

Located in

thethe heart Located in heart of Southeast of Southeast Kansas

in Chanute, KS

Kansas

Come celebrate our 150th birthday this year with several community-wide events!

150th Anniversary Celebration - Chanute

Saturday,

Saturday,

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Safari Family Fun Day

Downtown Block Party

APRIL 29, 2023 July 1, 2023 Located around the historic Santa Fe Depot •Petting Zoo •Safari Sidewalk Sale •Welding Rodeo •Historic Downtown Walk •Games & Food Booths •City-Wide Garage Sale & More

•Stilt Walkers •Bubble Machine •Food Booths •Games & More •Fireworks at Santa Fe Park

21 N. Lincoln • 620-431-3350 • chanutechamber.com • information@chanutechamber.com

VisitLeavenworthKS.com

March 17 Saint Patrick's Day Parade March 23-26 First City Film Festival April 28-29 First City History Festival April 23 Stay Fired up Gravel Grinder

Leavenworth Kansas

Event dates subject to change, call ahead 913.758.2948

CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU

SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! With a variety of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, including the annual parade downtown and the new Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood exhibit at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, there’s something for every member of the family this spring in #TopCity.

VisitTopeka.com

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Departments KANSAS DETAILS

WIDE OPEN SPACES

10 Cuisine Fine Food and Good Eats

26 Creating Legacy Abilene’s new Legacy Kansas restaurant builds on centuryold Kansas hospitality and ranching traditions from two families

14 Culture Arts and Experiences 16 Heartland People and Places that Define Us

PHOTOGRAPHS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Abbey Lind, Aaron Patton, Jason Dailey, Nick Krug

19 Kansas Air The Freshness of Outdoor Life 20 Behind the Lens A Conversation with KANSAS! Photographers 22 Kansas Captured Authentic Life in the Sunflower State 24 Reasons We Love Kansas Celebrating Unique Attractions

30 The White Linen Topeka restaurant owner brings fine-dining experience back to home state 34 Kansas Food Truck Festival An inside look at Kansas’ iconic food truck festival after two-year hiatus

IN EVERY ISSUE 7

It’s All in the Extra Details 8 A Hello From Our Editor 58 KANSAS! Gallery 64 From the Poet Laureate

ON THE COVER Chef Adam VanDonge sits in his Topeka restaurant, The White Linen. VanDonge was recently named a Best Chef semifinalist in the Midwest regional category of the prestigious 2023 James Beard Foundation awards. Photograph by Nick Krug.

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Kansas Tourism, a division of the Kansas Department of Commerce

Andrea Etzel

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Laura Kelly GOVERNOR

David Toland

LT. GOVERNOR & SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

Bridgette Jobe

WHERE ART

MEETS AG

25 Murals in the County

Zoo • Museums • Rodeos • Festivals • Milford Lake • Water Parks Hunting • Kansas Landscape • Arboretum

claycokansas.com

TOURISM DIRECTOR

SUNFLOWERPUB.COM | LAWRENCE, KANSAS KSMAGAZINE@SUNFLOWERPUB.COM

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Bill Uhler

Bob Cucciniello

Shelly Bryant

Nathan Pettengill

PUBLISHER

DIRECTOR

DESIGNER/ART DIRECTOR

Joanne Morgan

785.632.5674

claim I am f rom

Abilene.”

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er . Eisenhow Dwight D

Kalli Jo Smith

MARKETING, 785.832.7264

MANAGING EDITOR

Alex Tatro

Leslie Andres

ADVERTISING DESIGNER

st “ The proguI dcaen thin is that

MANAGING EDITOR

COPY EDITOR

WWW.SHERIDAN.COM | LAWRENCE, KANSAS

PRINTER

Kathy Lafferty

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Lisa Mayhew

ACCOUNT MANAGER

KANSAS! (ISSN 0022-8435) is published five (5) times per year

by Kansas Tourism 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612; 785.296.3479; TTY Hearing Impaired: 785.296.3487.

Periodical postage paid at Topeka, KS, and at additional mailing offices.

Newsstand price $5 per issue; subscription price $20 per year; $36 for two years.

All prices include all applicable sales tax.

Please address subscription inquiries to: Toll-free: 800.678.6424 KANSAS!, 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612 Email: kansas.mag@ks.gov | Website: www.KansasMag.com POSTMASTER: Send address change to: KANSAS!, P.O. Box 146, Topeka, KS 66601-0146.

Please mail all editorial inquiries to: KANSAS!, 1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66612 email: kansas.mag@ks.gov The articles and photographs that appear in KANSAS! magazine may not be broadcast, published or otherwise reproduced without the express written consent of Kansas Tourism or the appropriate copyright owner.

Unauthorized use is prohibited. Additional restrictions may apply.

#1 Favorite and #1 Friendliest U.S. Small Town TravelAwaits (2022)

Destination of the Year Midwest Travel Network (2022)

Best Historic Small Town USA Today (2022)

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GRAND OPENING FOR THE AMELIA EARHART HANGAR MUSEUM

PHOTOGRAPH (Clockwise, from upper right) courtesy Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, Kansas Tourism, and See Kansas / Lisa Grossman “Kansas River Trail”

On April 14, the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum opens in Atchison, the birthplace of the world-famous aviator. The museum will feature Muriel, the world’s last-remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft, the model that Earhart chose for her fatal round-the-world flight in 1937. For more information on other attractions, hours, and admission costs, visit ameliaearharthangarmuseum.org.

SEE KANSAS

KANSAS! MERCHANDISE

A special exhibition of original artwork celebrating the natural landmarks of Kansas begins a tour of cities across the state this spring.

The “See Kansas” exhibition taps the talents of noted Kansas artists such as Lisa Grossman to create images in the style of the 1930s WPA National Parks posters. You can see the images at the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan from March 1–31, at the Cultural Center for the Arts in Atchison from March 2–August 23, at CityArts in Wichita from April 21–June 4, and at the Lee Dam Center for Fine Art in Marysville from September 1–30.

For more information, go online at parksandgreenspaces.org/events.

There’s other outdoor-inspired art available through the Kansas Tourism merchandise page at travelks.com/gear.

Here, you can find Kansas-themed shirts, sweaters, tote bags, and a collection of Kansas State Park stickers, each of which is unique to the particular state park and costs only $3. They are great reminders of Kansas outings and an incentive to visit as many of our state’s natural treasures as possible.

A R O U N D page 51 Hoxie page 25 Kanorado page 26 Abilene page 25 Sun City

SEE KANSAS

KANSAS RIVER NATIONAL WATER

T H E

TRAIL

S T A T E page 25 Home

page 40 Leawood

page 22 Hodgeman County page 16 Beaumont

Above The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum opens in April with the centerpiece exhibit of the Muriel, the world’s last-remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E, the plane that Earhart took on her attempt to fly around the world.

KANSAS! EVENTS Whether you are planning a vacation, looking for a place to take guests, or seeking ideas for a fun weekend getaway, the online KANSAS! events calendar contains opportunities to enjoy places and events across the state. There is a separate section for year-round attractions. Go online at travelks.com/events and travelks. com/things-to-do to begin exploring the possibilities.

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Cheers to Destination Dining Have you ever had a meal so good that you were willing to drive hours for it?

Planned a weekend trip just to try a restaurant your friend couldn’t stop raving about? Let KANSAS! be that friend.

I’ve been to all the restaurants featured in this edition, and, let me tell you, they’re worth the drive. They’re more than the food; they’re a whole experience.

This issue is packed with restaurants and chefs who are raising the bar when it comes to dining in Kansas. They are challenging the status quo and making a name for themselves. When we were in production of this issue, the prestigious James Beard Foundation announced its annual semifinalist selections for Best Chef in the Midwest. It’s an honor that several individuals and locations in this issue have received in the past, and this year that distinction went to Chef Adam VanDonge from The White Linen in Topeka. You can read more about his restaurant and life story on page 30.

As a roaming foodie, I know you cannot judge a community’s dining scene based on its size. Traveling around Kansas, I see more and more creative eateries popping up in our smaller communities. In “Destination Dining” (page 50) you’ll visit The Elephant Bistro & Bar in Hoxie and the Renaissance Café of Assaria. I also must mention HoneyBee Bruncherie in Humboldt and Luciano’s in Mulvane.

Honestly, the list could go on.

Where was your best dining experience? We’d love to hear about it. If you’d like to share, you can email us at kansas.mag@ks.gov.

Cheers to good eats and good memories,

ANDREA ETZEL facebook.com/KansasMagazine @KANSASMag KansasMagazine (get spotted; use #kansasmag to tag us)

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PHOTOGRAPH Andrea Etzel

EDITOR, KANSAS! MAGAZINE

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or the most part, the brewmaster profession in the United States is dominated by men, even though there is a rich history of female brewers going back to the medieval period. But in Kansas, a new generation of women brewmasters is perfecting the craft.

Women Brewmasters These Kansas venues feature on-site beers created by a new generation of female brewmasters

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Ladybird Brewing “It’s interesting that brewing was originally the work of women, and society kind of migrated away from that,” says Kaydee Riggs-Johnson, who owns Ladybird Brewing in Winfield along with her wife, Laura Riggs-Johnson. “If you look back into ale wives, women in Europe would ferment beer in their homes, and it would become popular with the neighbors on their street, and they would start selling it. Women deserve a lot of credit for beer.”

As homebrewers, the Riggs-Johnsons tested their creations in 2018 at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield where they quickly sold out. That led to talk about opening a brewery, and what type of brewery they would want to create.

“We wanted to build a space where people could connect, create shared experiences that were meaningful and have good conversations because we wanted that in our community,” Kaydee says. “The beer is just a good excuse to get together. Of course, it’s important to us to make really high-quality beer, and we work really hard at that, but it’s almost equally important that we created a space that was inviting and conducive to wanting to hang out and make new friends.”

In 2019, they purchased a building constructed as a gas station in 1953, refurbished it, and opened for business in late 2021; the venue includes a taproom and outdoor seating as well as production space.

“I think when they come to our space they might feel like this environment, this approach, may be slightly different from a lot of breweries, and I think it’s just because of … who we are, our attention to various details in the business is different from others. I think women have a lot to contribute to the beer industry, and it’s exciting for us to be a part of that.”

Ladybird Brewing predominately features different types of ales, and one of the most popular beers is Cool Mom Pom, a hibiscus, pomegranate saison.

“It’s a beautiful beer,” Kaydee says. “It’s kind of pink in color, and it has a floral note from the hibiscus and then sort of a spicy note from the saison yeast and then the pomegranate brings in a really nice tart fruitiness. It’s a layered beer, but it drinks really easy, so for someone who is really into craft beer, it is fun to pull out all the different nuances of it, but then for those who just want to enjoy a beer, it is super enjoyable. It’s not crazy challenging for your palate, so a lot of people like it.”

Other favorites include Winfield Pale Ale and Moon Dial, a dry stout.

Kaydee says the work is meaningful, fulfilling, challenging and fun.

“There’s no time better than now for women to move back to our roots and for women to have a place in the industry and to be creating in this way,” she adds. “Making beer is an incredibly creative outlet.”

Above Ladybird Brewing has been pouring craft beers in Winfield since its opening in late 2021.

Opposite Kaydee Riggs-Johnson (left) and Laura Riggs-Johnson say they are renewing a long tradition of women brewers.

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Servaes Brewing Company (not pictured) Whole pumpkin pies. Entire boxes of cake mix. Sweet potatoes. Courtney Servaes creatively adds unusual ingredients like these when crafting beer at Servaes Brewing Company in Shawnee.

Servaes’ initial interest in brewing beer began by casually listening to podcasts, reading books, and buying some home-brewing equipment.

Thoughts of opening her own brewery led to a small business loan and a successful crowd-funding campaign that resulted in Servaes becoming the first female brewer in the Kansas City area and one of the few women in Kansas to own and operate a brewery when she opened in 2018.

The brewery offers five to six beers on tap at any time, but in contrast to standard brewery practice, Servaes Brewing Company always rotates its entire selection of beers and does not keep even one signature brew constantly on tap.

“We don’t have what people call flagship beers, but we do have some flagship-base styles,” Servaes explains. “One of the beers we brew a lot of, the base is a Berliner Weisse, which is a sour beer. We have that beer on tap all the time; it’s just different every time, so one time it is a cranberry of that beer and another time it’s a strawberry rhubarb version.”

Her most popular beer, and the one most often on tap, is Purple Pineapple, a sour beer featuring pineapple and vanilla; a pea flower tea “We created it in a creates the beer’s purple color. way that allowed “I started putting odd things in beer for a lot of familybecause not a lot of people were doing it when I first started,” Servaes says of her related activities. unusual ingredients. “It’s all about figuring I wanted it to be out how to complement the beer. I try all kinds of things … but we still have some a place where you more traditional beers. I try to balance it can take your kids.” out so there is some sort of easy-drinker on tap for people who aren’t adventurous.”

—COURTNEY SERVAES Also unusual is the brewery’s colorful taproom filled with children’s toys and games.

“We created it in a way that allowed for a lot of family-related activities. I wanted it to be a place where you can take your kids.”

While adults try different beers, the children can try different sodas. As Servaes was fine-tuning her craft beers, her son, Aaron, became inspired to create craft sodas.

“He wanted to be involved when I was first learning how to brew, and so he wanted to learn how to make root beer, and that evolved into cream soda and butterscotch cream soda,” she says.

Typically, six different flavors of soda are kept on tap, with root beer always available. Lemon-lime, fruit punch, bubble gum, orange and seasonal peppermint and candy cane are some of the flavors.

WINFIELD Ladybird.beer / 620.222.7558 SHAWNEE Servaesbrewco.com / 913.608.5220

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Above Ladybird Brewing is located in a refurbished gas station. The brewery features different types of ales and beers. In just three years, the Riggs-Johnsons went from testing their craft beers at the Walnut Valley Festival to opening their own brewery.

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For more information on Parsons, KS contact, the Labette Co. CVB at 620.421.6500

222 W. 6th Street • Junction City 785-238-2885

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Axe-Throwing It’s a family outing, date-night fun, stress-reliever and more … even if you don’t always throw like a lumberjack.

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xe-throwing is scoring big points across Kansas as a fun or competitive event.

Historically, lumberjacks in logging camps competed by throwing full-size axes at targets. Today’s axethrowing venues recreate that atmosphere in safe, supervised indoor lanes, allowing first-timers and more experienced hurlers to throw hatchets at wooden bull’s-eyes.

Manhatchet thrives on bringing people together for a good time, whether at their downtown Manhattan location or by taking axe-throwing on the road to backyard parties, corporate events, and festivals as one of the larger mobile axe-throwing companies in the nation.

After all, their motto is Manhatchet Axe Throwing, The Most Fun You’ll Have and Not Go to Jail, according to James Bond, who owns Manhatchet with his wife, Karen.

“Life is really, really hard nowadays, and we don’t seem to have much fun,” Bond says. “We seem to be worried about our jobs and our kids and politics and the world, and this is an opportunity to escape that for a few minutes and do something that is exhilarating. It’s about the opportunity to come together to do something unique and different in a social environment that is fun.”

Staff members teach required safety procedures and match a player with one of several hatchets of different weights, balances and styles. Then, the staff members instruct participants on how to hold and throw the axe.

“We are always going to coach somebody to success,” Bond says. “It is empowering to some people who maybe don’t have confidence; it’s cathartic to some people who need a little therapy; and it’s a competition for others. It’s a lot of different things to a lot of different people.”

To score well, good technique and accuracy are more important than brawn, so anyone of any physique can play. If a group is keeping score, then they can play variants such as Ten Rounds, similar to bowling where you throw 10 rounds for a combined high score, or Blackjack, where the first one to score 21 points wins—and if you go over that number, you must go back to 13 points.

“It is kind of a combination between archery and darts for some of the games,” Bond explains. “You take a lot of the same principles from those two sports and throw them together.”

The hatchets are neither razor sharp nor dull, Bond says, adding his lanes are built to absorb a bad throw so an axe doesn’t bounce back, as often seen in early viral YouTube videos. Targets are made of locally milled cottonwood, which is a softwood resistant to splitting and cracking.

“It’s actually incredibly safe,” Bond says. “We’ve had over 45,000 customers, and we haven’t had an incident that a pair of tweezers or a band-aid couldn’t fix. It’s because our staff is highly trained, we have a very safe setup, and we know what we’re doing.

We built a culture of safety, because it’s about families and friends getting together and the axe-throwing is the excuse to have fun.”

MANHATTAN Manhatchet.com / 785.775.0101

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Viking Variation In Topeka, Buddy Haynes operates Odin’s Lair, an axe-throwing venue whose theme is more Nordic than lumberjack.

Haynes was introduced to axe-throwing in the summer of 2019 and “absolutely fell in love with it” after that first encounter.

“It’s something you don’t normally think you are going to do; you never once thought about throwing an axe at a board before,” says Haynes, who opened his venue in the winter of 2019. “It’s just fun if you can get comfortable with standing in a lane with an axe in your hand and throwing it at a target. I’ve seen people extremely nervous, and then the first time they throw it, you just see all the jitters go away and then they are ready to do it after that.”

But any experience with axe-throwing begins with instruction from trained staff.

“We make sure you are more than comfortable holding the axe and throwing the axe,” Haynes says of the initial staff instruction to customers. “And no matter where we stand, we can see all nine lanes. We keep a close eye on our guests and make sure they are doing good and having fun.”

Haynes encourages families to try axe-throwing, as children age 10 and older can throw if accompanied by a parent or guardian who signs the child’s waiver. For younger kids, Odin’s Lair provides a safe (soft-tip) axe and target set as well as various table games. During the evenings after 9 p.m., Odin’s Lair switches to black-light “glow and throw” mode. The venue can also be reserved for business events and parties.

But whatever brings people to the sport, Haynes describes axe-throwing as a benefit for the mind and the body: it releases pent-up emotions and provides a physical workout.

“It’s actually exercise and you don’t even know it,” Haynes says. “You have fun exercising.”

TOPEKA Odinslairllc.com / 785.214.3798

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The Beaumont A historic fly-in hotel and restaurant serves ranchers, bikers, and the occasional celebrity

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he town of Beaumont, population 46, can be easily reached by car as it lies just two dozen miles east of Augusta on Kansas Highway 400. But many visitors arrive by plane and use the 2,600-foot native-grass runway as a landing strip and the city streets as taxiways to stop in at the Beaumont Hotel Restaurant & Café.

Built around 1880 as a stagecoach and railroad stop when the town was a thriving cattle center and railway overhaul station between St. Louis and Wichita, the Beaumont Hotel Restaurant & Café hosts numerous visitors for different occasions.

“We have a Saturday Fly-In each week and will have upwards of 25 aircraft pilots and passengers visit us for meals,” says Jeanne Squier, the facility manager and airstrip operator. “We have bike runs and other events that bring visitors to our town,” she adds.

During the warm months, those events include street dances and outdoor karaoke. The large dining hall is also a popular place for wedding receptions and reunions.

Squier’s grandfather ran the hotel for 40 years. At that time, the town’s population was close to 1,200, and developers would bring potential ranchers and cattlemen to Beaumont to show them what the town had to offer. The population has fallen, but the ranching tradition continues. The hotel adjoins a 10,000-acre working cattle ranch and is near the Tall Grass Prairie National Park.

The restaurant and café, open from spring to fall, serve full meals of ribs, steaks, chicken fried steak and more. Popular breakfast dishes include The Pilot and The Rancher (both eggs and bacon, but with different sides). The restaurant’s dining room offers views of the Flint Hills while the more casual café typically fills with pilots and ranchers sharing lively conversations.

The hotel has had its share of celebrities, including Kirstie Alley, Robert Redford and Harrison Ford.

“I’ve been doing this for so long that if I see a plane taxi in, I know the pilot and what he or she will order. I will know before they hit the front door that they will want their eggs over hard or will want hash browns with onions,” Squier says. “If it’s not the way they have come to expect, they will be upset! I do what I can to make sure that does not happen.” beaumonthotelks.com / 620.843.2422

Above Many Beaumont Hotel customers arrive by plane, landing on the 2,600-foot grass airstrip a halfmile east of the Main Street hotel. They are able to taxi their planes through the city streets and park them across from the hotel.

V I S I T D O D G E C I T Y . O R G / L O C A L

DODGE CITY OFFERS SOME OF THE BEST DESTINATION DINING AROUND Dodge City offers unique dining experiences from mouthwatering steaks made from locally sourced beef to brick oven pizza on hand-stretched dough. Pair these delicious meals with spirits from our local distillery or a hand-crafted, locally brewed beer.

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KANSAS

NATURE & COMMUNITY A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms Sherry Kay, Benjamin Sikes, and Caleb Morse Sherry Kay, Benjamin Sikes, and Caleb Morse have revised A Guide to Kansas Mushrooms, published in 1993, to account for the variety of ways mycology has changed in the last thirty years, while holding to its original purpose as a guide for active mushroomers. A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms incorporates new understanding of fungal taxonomy that has been largely unearthed by genetic tools over the past three decades, highlights key taxa, and includes a life list of the more than 1,200 species now cataloged from Kansas—nearly twice the number known at the time of the first edition.

“A mycological masterpiece! This delightful and practical guidebook is an invaluable companion to anyone interested in experiencing the fascinating world of wild mushrooms.”—Jonathan Conard, professor of biology at Sterling College and author of Kansas Trail Guide 408 pages, 209 photographs, 1 map, 9 figures, Paper $25.95

Nothing but the Dirt

Stories from an American Farm Town

Kate Benz “Kate Benz shares the simplicity and complexity, the challenges and rewards, the highs and lows of a rural town and agricultural community. The way she has connected the personal story and local culture is informative and endearing. You’ll want to go visit Courtland. I love this book so much—it’s one of the most enticing farming stories I’ve read.”—Marci Penner, director of Kansas Sampler Foundation 256 pages, 29 photographs, Paper $24.95

When a Dream Dies

Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s

Pamela Riney-Kehrberg “While most historians see the Farm Crisis as primarily an economic story, Riney-Kehrberg demonstrates unequivocally that it was a family story first and foremost. Her attention to the enormous role played by women, not only in working on and off the farm but in managing the emotional and social life of the family within the community, is firstrate. Anyone interested in the strengths and tragic flaws of rural life in America needs to read this book.”—Deborah Fitzgerald, Leverett Howell and William King Cutten Professor of the History of Technology and department head, Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT 304 pages, 20 photographs, Cloth $39.95 Ebook editions available from your favorite ebook retailer.

University Press of Kansas Phone (785) 864-4155 • www.kansaspress.ku.edu

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Black-Footed Ferrets A new exhibit at the Sedgwick County Zoo is the latest development in the comeback story of this endangered prairie mammal S T O R Y

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n December 2022, the Sedgwick County Zoo in of the species’ preservation plan. Zoo staff worked Wichita opened a new habitat for black-footed extensively with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ferrets, celebrating a significant development for this and the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program to prepare population of carnivorous mammals native to Kansas. the exhibit and the arrival of the ferrets from a breeding Related to animals such as the badger and the mink, facility in western Kansas. these solitary burrow-dwellers once thrived in the central Both Will Ferret and Tannerite, the names given to United States. Fossil records document black-footed ferrets the ferrets before they arrived to the zoo, have aged out as living in the central plains region as long as 100,000 of active breeding. Jennica King, the zoo’s communication years ago; it is believed that as little as 105 years ago, the director, describes the bachelors as animal ambassadors species’ population could have reached 1 million animals who are now living a comfortable retirement along with ranging from western Arizona to the zoo’s approximately 3,000 other the Iowa border, and from northern animals representing 400 species, most Texas to the Canadian border. This of whom are endangered or represent W H E R E I N K A N S A S ? changed in the early- and mid-20th vulnerable populations. century with the loss of the ferrets’ Like all black-footed ferrets, Will habitats and the declining population Ferret and Tannerite are solitary of prairie dogs (a black-footed ferret’s creatures, so the zoo rotates the pair primary food source). Black-footed with one ferret living in the habitat area, ferrets were believed extinct until and the other being cared for behind an isolated colony was identified in the scenes. Visitors can see whichever South Dakota in 1964. The federal ferret is in the habitat or watch the government protected the remaining ferret through the zoo’s 24-hour animal Wichita animals as an endangered species in camera channel, which includes live1967 and grandfathered them into SEDGWICK COUNTY ZOO feed cameras of the zoo’s penguin and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. elephant habitats. scz.org / 316.660.9453 But initial preservation efforts failed, But the best time to see one of the Will Ferret’s and Tannerite’s camera: and the species was thought to be zoo’s ferrets, either in person or online, is scz.org/animal-cams extinct again until a new colony was during the daily 9–9:30 a.m. feeding when discovered in 1981. The government the ferrets receive the zoo’s standard renewed recovery and reintroduction programs, which have carnivore meat diet with occasional additions of frozen resulted in a population of approximately 350 black-footed mice as treats and enrichment. ferrets living at monitored wild sites and facilities.

“After they eat, they like to snuggle in for the day,” King The two male black-footed ferrets now in residence at says. “They like their routine; they eat and they sleep and the Sedgwick County Zoo represent an integral component that is kind of what they do.”

Opposite Tannerite looks up from his burrow at the Sedgwick County Zoo’s new black-footed ferret habitat.

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Abbey Lind A conversation with KANSAS! photographers about their lives in photography

@abbeylindphotography abbeylindphotography.com

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If you had to describe your photography in terms of a color wheel, where would you fall on it? I would

describe my images as a late autumn palette. They can be a mix of slightly warm tones with a hint of green and blue.

What is your favorite Kansas landmark to photograph? I don’t know if I have a favorite landmark per se, but give me a flat, open field at sunset, and I’m a happy photographer. Kansas is truly a beautiful state.

What have you learned from being a photographer that you wouldn’t have learned otherwise? I’ve

learned how to interact with strangers and immediately form connections with them by either reading their body language or facial expressions.

What is the most common photography advice you share with amateur photographers? There are two things

I always share with photographers: number one is to keep shooting. You can’t grow if you stop shooting. Take bad pictures, learn from it and keep on shooting. The second is: lighting is everything. Learn how light works and how it affects nearly every aspect of your photography.

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orn in Atlanta, Georgia, photographer Abbey Lind moved to Wichita in 2015 for a new beginning in the Midwest. Since childhood, Lind has enjoyed shooting on cheap cameras, but she began seriously pursuing her passion for photography in 2015. Lind’s focus has become photographing families and children; however, her real love is capturing candid images of her two children doing what they do best—being children.

What was the moment you wanted to become a photographer? I knew I wanted to become a photographer,

even if in a small aspect, when I became a mother. My husband purchased an updated camera for me after the birth of our daughter. Today, I am so happy to be able to give my children the gift of capturing their childhood. I love the thought of them looking at these photos time and time again, long after I’m gone.

What are some objects you like to photograph that are not common in other works? I wouldn’t say it’s not

common, but I use my Instagram page to share both client work and my personal pictures simultaneously. A lot of people choose to keep those two subjects separate (and that’s 100% OK), but my photos of my kids are a reflection of me, and I love for my prospective clients to see that.

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“I took this photo during wheat harvest the year my grandfather died. This wheat was taken from his field, which he inherited from my late great-grandmother. This was one of the best yielding years on this field. Dad was inspecting the wheat before we cut it and showing me how big and full the heads were.

All the connections to family and our farming heritage, shown in the hardworking yet gentle hands of my dad, have made this one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. I turned it black and white to make the dirt under his nails not quite as obvious but didn’t want to edit the photo and remove the dirt as it is so symbolic of what Dad and other farmers do. I will treasure this photo always.”

— S A R A H H O LT, P H O T O G R A P H E R

Social Media: facebook.com/SHDesignsandPhotography

Holt captured this image in Hodgeman County on her grandfather’s wheat field. The image is titled “Dad’s Hands” and highlights the hands of her hardworking father. Holt captured the image with a Canon Rebel XSI using a EFS 18-55mm lens.

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PHOTOGRAPH Sarah Holt

Location: Hodgeman County

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IN THIS ISSUE

Amazing Tiny-Town Restaurants

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Cecilia Harris

COACHLIGHT RESTAURANT Longford (Population 73)

Living up to its motto, “Good Food— Friendly People,” the Coachlight Restaurant in Longford pampers its customers with old-style home cooking served by gracious, attentive staff. In existence nearly five decades, the café is especially known for its fried chicken and made-from-scratch pies, with coconut cream and chocolate peanut butter being the most popular. Customers also favor the steak, chicken fried steak, and daily specials such as liver and onions.

785.388.2437

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Above Amy Wayman bought the Coachlight Restaurant after working at it as a teenager and recent graduate. Years later, she continues to run it, welcoming locals and frequent visitors from a 90-mile radius and beyond.

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BUSTER’S SALOON Sun City (Population 37)

Beers are served in frosted fishbowls at Sun City’s iconic Buster’s Saloon. Founded in 1946, and deeply connected to the farmers and ranchers around the Gyp Hills, the venue offers pasture-to-plate specialties such as barbecue ribs and pork butts from free-range heritage hogs raised by owner Harry Dawson, who also raises the grass-fed beef featured in the flavorful burgers and steaks. Located in a former dry goods store built in the 1870s, the saloon portion boasts a brass footrail and photos of Sun City’s younger and wilder days, including when it hosted world-renowned rodeos from 1922 to 1938. Musicians often entertain audiences on weekends.

Facebook.com/Busters.Saloon 620.248.3215

PHOTOGRAPH Bill Stephens

KING’S CAFÉ Kanorado (Population 157) Located off Interstate 70 Exit 1, a mile east of the Colorado/ Kansas border, King’s Café serves fresh, homemade meals in large portions. Breakfast and lunch are available four days a week, including Saturday when dinner also is served. The café is known for its breakfast burritos, chicken fried steaks and homemade desserts; a trained pastry chef whips up cheesecakes, pies, cookies and more. Rocky Mountain oysters and Mexican foods are two of the favorite allyou-can-eat specials offered on Saturday nights.

Facebook: KingsCafeKS 785.821.2519

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SOMMERSET CAFÉ Dover (Population 1,400)

Winner of “Best Pie in America” in a contest on ABC television’s Good Morning America, Sommerset Hall Café is housed in a historic 1893 building. In addition to pie (coconut cream was the winning flavor), the restaurant is known for its Friday nights of fried chicken—but has also branched out with Thursdaynight hand-tossed pizzas.

During the lunch hour, the café’s signature open-faced roast beef is a favorite among other menu items such as Philly cheesesteak, hamburgers and grilled chicken salad. To start their day, most customers prefer the breakfast burrito or Sommerset’s “power breakfast” of two eggs, hash browns, meat (sausage, bacon or ham) and toast.

Facebook: Sommerset Café 785.256.6223

LITTLE HAP’S BAR & GRILL Home (Population 171) Voted as having the best burgers in Marshall County by a recent customer vote sponsored through the U.S. Highway 36 Association, Little Hap’s Bar & Grill in Home also features a homemade pork tenderloin sandwich and daily lunch specials, such as a hot roast beef sandwich. True to its theme, “There’s No Place Like Home,” the small-town restaurant welcomes customers as if they are family.

Facebook: Little Hap’s Bar & Grill 785.799.9920

According to the 2020 census, Kansas has approximately

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communities that have a population under 1,000 residents.

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Creating Legacy Abilene’s new Legacy Kansas restaurant builds on century-old Kansas hospitality and ranching traditions from two families

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hen Deanna and Chuck Munson opened Legacy Kansas in the summer of 2022, they were combining the best traditions of two iconic restaurants—Brookville Hotel and Munson’s Prime.

Brookville Hotel began serving chicken dinners in the 1870s and continued to do so when the restaurant moved to its Abilene location in 1999. For over a century, the Martin family owned and ran the restaurant. They made famous their heaping platters of original-recipe pan-fried chicken, made from scratch with all the fixings. It was the quality of this food, as well as the ambience of the restaurant, that earned Brookville a James Beard Foundation “What I have Award in 2007. enjoyed the most The Junction City restaurant about opening Munson’s Prime grew from the ranch operations of the Munson family. the restaurant is Chuck’s great-grandfather, who owned the diversity of the first livery stable in Junction City, began buying land and cattle in the what we must do late 1800s. By 1924, his son, Chuck’s every day and grandfather, bought his first purebred that we have an Angus herd from Andy Schuler Sr. and walked the cattle from Schuler’s opportunity to ranch in the eastern part of Dickinson showcase two County (on the Geary County line) to the Munson’s ranch in western Geary great family County. Since then, the family has traditions.” continued to raise purebred Angus, and the meat they produce today is directly —DEANNA MUNSON descended from the original herd.

In 2013, Munson Premium Angus Beef ’s rib eye steak was named grand champion for grain-fed categories at the American Royal. The judges told a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that the steak could be described as “buttery, having roast notes and possessing a nice juicy finish.”

Deanna says the win gave their ranch national recognition and led to numerous restaurants contacting them to place orders for steaks.

The success of their steaks also inspired the Munsons to open Munson’s Prime in Junction City, where they offered a range of dishes featuring meat from their herd. In 2021, the Munsons lost their restaurant to a fire; when they looked at reopening, they realized they now had the experience and confidence to take over the Brookville Hotel, which had closed in 2020.

But taking over the Brookville meant becoming the curators of the award-winning restaurant’s famous dishes.

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Top Deanna and Chuck (seated) Munson revived a Kansas culinary tradition when they reopened the Brookville Hotel as Legacy Kansas: Munson’s Prime & Brookville Hotel.

Above Local groups such as the Rotary Club and the Red Hat Society are frequent lunch guests.

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“We began with a soft opening, testing out recipes and training our staff,” Deanna says, adding that the signature pan-fried chicken is a direct continuation of Brookville’s recipe, “exactly the same, cooked in lard, and with the same secrets” of the traditional method that made Brookville famous.

The Munsons have brought their own expertise to the business—which they named Legacy Kansas— including steak and beef dishes. But all meals begin with an assortment of relishes and made-from-scratch sides, including creamy coleslaw, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, biscuits and gravy, and ice cream served in oldfashioned tulip glasses. Family-style dinners are served in one of four spacious and lavishly decorated dining rooms.

Renovations are ongoing, and eventually the establishment will have 17,000 square feet of space with a separate dining area and bar seating for a total capacity of 225 guests.

Currently, one of the most popular dining attractions is the ice cream room where diners can watch an oldstyle four-bucket churn crank out rich, creamy ice cream.

Each White Mountain bucket can freeze five gallons of ice cream in about 18 minutes with buckets geared to run independently or as a unit.

The Munsons are also planning an on-site soda shop where guests can order ice cream, sodas and floats.

Back of the house consists of large, well-planned spaces for prep work, cooking and storage, and a walk-in refrigerator and freezer. The kitchen also includes Abilene what Deanna calls another new “toy”—a Hours are seasonal and expanding.

Convotherm oven Contact the restaurant or go online that steams, roasts for the latest information. and smokes. legacykansasabilene.com The Munsons 785.200.3973 continue adding details, finishing renovations, and hiring more staff to run at full capacity, but they are already serving guests and hosting reunions, groups and gatherings.

For the Munsons, giving new life to the Brookville offered the chance to revive a Kansas legacy and introduce even more people to steaks and other beef dishes from their ranch.

“I was up for a challenge,” Deanna says. “What I have enjoyed the most about opening the restaurant is the diversity of what we must do every day and that we have an opportunity to showcase two great family traditions.”

Legacy Kansas: Munson’s Prime & Brookville Hotel

While updating the restaurant’s kitchen, the Munsons were careful to retain the historic location’s atmosphere.

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MUNSON DUTCH MEATLOAF

This meatloaf recipe features the natural flavors of Munson’s premium ground beef, available at Legacy Kansas. With just enough fat to add a buttery taste, their prime ground beef ups the ante for meatloaf. Deanna adapted this recipe from a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch meatloaf recipe and originally prepared it for church potlucks. For that reason, the recipe is baked in 9x13-inch casserole dishes to serve a crowd, but it could easily be cut in half. Yield: 24 to 30 servings

In 2013, Munson Premium Angus Beef’s rib eye steak was named grand champion for grain-fed categories at the American Royal. The judges told a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that the steak could be described as “buttery, having roast notes and possessing a nice juicy finish.”

INGREDIENTS • 4 cups fresh bread crumbs • 2 large onions, chopped • 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato paste • 4 eggs • 2 tablespoons salt • 1 teaspoon black pepper • 7 to 8 pounds Munson premium ground beef INSTRUCTIONS 1.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Pulverize all ingredients but ground beef; hand-fold pulverized ingredients into ground beef.

3. Press meat mixture into two greased or sprayed 9x13-inch baking dishes. Using fingertips or a wooden spoon, press many holes into meat mixture.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS • 3 cups water • 6 tablespoons prepared mustard • 6 tablespoons white vinegar • 6 tablespoons packed brown sugar INSTRUCTIONS 1.

Mix water, mustard, vinegar, and brown sugar. Pour 3/4 of the sauce over the meat.

2. Cover and bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour 50 minutes, adding more sauce as needed. Remove cover last 10 minutes of baking.

3. Cut in squares; serve with a spatula tucked fully under one piece for easy removal.

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White Linen Topeka restaurant owner brings fine-dining experience back to home state

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ith a new locally inspired menu each month, chef Adam VanDonge of The White Linen in Topeka brings contemporary French and American cuisine straight into the hands (and stomachs) of Kansans.

VanDonge, a 2023 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef in the Midwest, has an appreciation for hospitality.

“Hospitality is the best part,” VanDonge says. “It’s my true love.

I want to give people an unforgettable experience.”

Working out of one of Topeka’s oldest downtown buildings at 112 Southwest Sixth Avenue, also known as the Columbian Building, VanDonge and his wife, Kasie, partner with staff to deliver the best experiences.

“I jumped on the opportunity, and it’s taken off,” VanDonge says. “The pandemic threw a wrench in things for a while, but we’re now busier than ever.”

Six months ago, the VanDonges also opened a high-end cocktail bar for patrons with an expansion called The Knox Cocktail Lounge.

“The name came from our building, the Columbian [Building], built in 1888 as the old Knox Bank,” VanDonge says. “Our logo “We want to came from the knockers on the be the best in doors. It blows my mind to think that Carry Nation was in this Kansas, and it building back in the day.” all starts with my Carry A. Nation, a women’s staff, who are rights activist and devout supporter of Prohibition, arrived the face of the in Topeka on January 26, 1901, restaurant, and according to the Kansas State Historical Society. Nation folks remember was known for her strong them. They bring and controversial stance on prohibition and sought to destroy the customers saloons across Kansas. During her back.” visit to the capital (another stop on her anti-saloon crusade), it is —ADAM VANDONGE believed that Nation held a secret meeting with an attorney at the Columbian Building, but was forced to flee out the back door to avoid an angry mob.

Despite all of the building’s history, VanDonge struggled to choose a name that encapsulated the fine-dining restaurant.

“The name of our restaurant was one of the hardest things. I knew the chairs, table cloths and all—but the name was the last thing I could think of,” VanDonge says. “My wife coined it, and as soon as she said it, I knew it was what I wanted: a clean and nice, well-known restaurant.”

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Topeka Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. www.thewhitelinen.com 785.350.2500

The Knox Cocktail Lounge

Hours are Tuesday through Thursday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. www.thewhitelinen.com/knox 785.350.2500

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Chef VanDonge prepares frisée with medjool dates, whipped feta and spiced nuts in a cinnamon vinaigrette.

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Surrounding themselves with an excellent staff, the VanDonges were easily able to convey their goals and standards.

“We want to be the best in Kansas, and it all starts with my staff, who are the face of the restaurant, and folks remember them,” VanDonge says. “They bring the customers back.”

Gwendolynne Colgrove serves as the pastry chef on the The White Linen team.

“I came to know Adam through friends,” says Colgrove, a self-taught artist.

“I had my own business with wedding cakes and more, but now I’m inside a real restaurant, and it legitimized everything I worked so hard for.”

Chef VanDonge and his team create monthly menus with entrees like roasted quail, creamed fennel, saffron and vanilla cream or blackened bistro filet, duck fat mashed potatoes and bone marrow au jus.

“Collaborating with Chef Adam, I’ve learned new things [in order] to understand fine dining,” Colgrove says. “This week, I’m making actual marshmallows. I continually get to add more to my wheelhouse.”

The dessert of the week I visited was warm cocoa soup with sweet croissant croutons, cinnamon whipped cream, housemade marshmallows and edible gold.

“We continue to grow together as we collaborate with input on the menus and to be part of the family,” Colgrove says. “We all feel like we’re a valid and important part of the team.”

Chef VanDonge looks forward to coming up with new menu items.

“After a month, I’m excited to flip through magazines or come up with new flavors to refresh my memories on creating the best [food for guests],” he says.

Scott Bean Photography K A N S A S L A N D S CA P E A N D N AT U R E P H OTO G R A P H S

7 8 5 - 3 4 1 - 1 0 4 7 | S C OT T @ S C OT T B E A N P H OTO. C O M

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www.VisitWamego.com www.VisitWamego.com

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The White Linen Time in the kitchen has always been part of Adam VanDonge’s life.

“I grew up in Soldier [Kansas], on a farm, and always [worked] gardens out on the farm,” VanDonge says. “[When I was] growing up, my dad always said that I’d pull up a chair to help bake, cook and can in the kitchen with my grandmother while the others went out for chores. It was embedded at a young age.”

With old singers like Nat King Cole on a record player, VanDonge emerged with a vision to share food with others.

He graduated from Onaga High School in 2002, Allen County Community College in 2004 and Emporia University in general studies in 2006.

“All this time [spent in] school, I played around with food, but I had never heard about culinary school,” he says.

While working at Security Benefit in Topeka, seated in his cubicle, VanDonge learned about the Art Institutes International of Kansas City in Lenexa.

“Four minutes after submitting my online application, I got a call to take a tour,” VanDonge says. “It was a really cool school with a powerful national reputation.”

He commuted to Kansas City for two years to complete the program in 2010.

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“It was a long two years, but it was awesome,” he says.

“It was like growing up on a farm with so much hard work from the strict discipline of the instructors.”

VanDonge remembers teachers locking the door at 7:01 a.m.—a minute after class had started.

“It’s one of the hardest industries out there, and the teachers taught us to have things prepped and show up on time,” VanDonge says. “We got to cook everything with all sorts of [ingredients] and try new things.”

Young and eager, VanDonge initially sought a high-end job in Chicago.

“I drove to Chicago to work with one of the best restaurants for the last 20 years called Alinea,” VanDonge says. “I worked for them for two days, and they offered me a job, but I declined it due to being too much like a boot camp and hardcore. I come from a small farm town, and I didn’t need that every day, but I got that experience to see fine dining up close for a few nights.”

He found a better fit with his first culinary job at the Oklahoma City Quail Ridge Country Club in Oklahoma City.

“I worked as the daytime sous chef for two years,” VanDonge says. “It was common to have weddings for a thousand people and daily private events.”

However, VanDonge’s dad became ill, and he felt it was finally time to return closer to home. He moved to Holton, Kansas, between his parents, who lived in Soldier and Topeka.

“Family is the most important, so I moved back. I told myself that this was the time to start up my own thing,” he says. “I opened 5th Street Sandwich Shoppe with five new sandwiches each month and new soups each week for five years.”

During that time, he started doing private dinners with ten seats in the back of the sandwich shop, one weekend a month, for $55 a person.

“I was nervous to do fine dining in a steak-and-potatoes farm town,” VanDonge says. “They started to sell out faster and faster to people from Kansas City, Topeka, Lawrence and Manhattan.”

His wife, Kasie, served as the waitress at the time. He cooked and they both did the dishes.

“For two years, it was a little extra money and made me go back to my culinary roots,” VanDonge says. “People loved it. Then, my wife applied for law school at Washburn, and I really wanted to have fine dining with French cuisine in Topeka.”

At the same time, he got a call from the leader of Visit Topeka.

“Apparently, I was the talk of Topeka, and I was like, ‘Yeah!,” he jokes. “Over a whole sequence of events, I found a deal on a building and started something with The White Linen.”

When it opened five years ago, the downtown scene was scarce.

“My dad pointed out the risk of the downtown location without a lot going on in Topeka,” VanDonge says. “But I told him that farmers go to sales barns to buy livestock from total strangers all the time, and they make it work. This is my whole mentality to try something in life and to know that I succeed with hard work. I have no regrets.”

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Kansas Food Truck Festival An inside look at Kansas’ iconic food truck festival after two-year hiatus

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Jay Musick, co-owner of Barbwire Barbecue, looks forward to joining the food truck lineup each year in the fight against hunger.

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caravan of two dozen food trucks lines the brick streets, green spaces and parking lots of Lawrence’s trendy Warehouse Arts District. For foodies, a smorgasbord of world cuisine is just steps away at this Kansas Food Truck Festival. At one stop, the Torched Goodness crew perfectly flames its famous crème brûlée, and a few windows down, The Mad Greek dishes up all things gyro.

Best of all, attendees can indulge with purpose—while helping fight hometown hunger. Proceeds benefit Just Food, the food bank of Douglas County.

“If you go to the event to have fun and try new trucks, that’s great,” says Jason Musick, who owns Barbwire Barbecue with his brother, Jay. “But to have it benefit a great organization like Just Food is crucial, especially in a time like this. So it’s a win-win for everyone!”

After a two-year Covid-19 hiatus, Kansas Food Truck Festival marked its seventh year in May 2022. Renovated and repurposed over the past 10 years, the historic brick and limestone buildings of the Warehouse Arts District in east Lawrence set the scene for the crowd of 3,700 people. Along two blocks of Pennsylvania and Delaware streets, folks graze, order cocktails, listen to live music, shop the arts market and marvel at fire juggling and roaming unicycling buskers.

Event-goers sit at tables scattered around the lots and grassy areas, or nosh on the go.

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“Where else in the area can you enjoy beautiful older buildings and cool architecture, food, local artists’ work and so much more? It just creates a fun and chill vibe,” says Musick.

Lines form nonstop from 4 to 10 p.m. at the 24 food vendors, busily cooking up specialties in their wheeled kitchens—everything from barbecue, Cajun, and Asian noodles to smoothies and kombucha tea. New in 2022, KC Corn Dog Co. drew a curious (and now hooked) crowd with its epic foot-long dogs. Returnee The Mad Greek, whose restaurant is a staple on downtown’s Massachusetts Street, attracted its usual long line of loyal Lawrence fans.

“We’re proud to be one of the festival originals,” says The Mad Greek owner Deb Tagtalianidis. “It’s a really great festival in our own backyard.”

Tagtalianidis takes orders at the truck’s window. Gyro sandwiches are the big seller, but also popular are gyro fries topped with gyro meat and sauces, and a dish sold only at The Mad Greek Traveling Taverna: Greek nachos (deep-fried pita bread topped with gyro meat, feta cheese, Greek spices and tzatziki sauce).

Lawrence resident Donna Hrenchir nibbles along the way but heads to The Mad Greek for her main meal.

“I just love their pita-wrapped gyros, and that everything is authentic Greek.”

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Deb Tagtalianidis (right), owner of The Mad Greek, takes orders at the truck’s window.

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The Musicks’ family-owned Barbwire Barbecue restaurant in nearby Eudora wheels in with its crowd-pleasing Barnyard Bash, fries topped with smoked queso and pulled pork.

“Since we’ve been around for a few years, people know what we offer and we are constantly busy,” Musick says about the line out front.

For dessert, top off the culinary adventure with Torched Goodness’ crème brûlée. Vanilla and hands-down favorite sea-salt caramel are always on the menu, along with a few other tempting flavors, such as fresh lavender and chai.

“Torched Goodness has been at every single festival, so people always look for them,” says festival organizer Jennifer Burkhead.

“It’s so unique—no one else does a crème brûlée food truck. Besides, there’s always room for dessert.”

Burkhead is executive director of the Cider Gallery, a Warehouse Arts District venue that started the festival. Besides coordinating the fleet of food trucks, Burkhead, along with a planning committee and more than a hundred volunteers, oversees the full entertainment menu, too. Three stages rock nonstop with bluegrass, funk, reggae, rock and DJ music.

Magicians, jugglers and other busker acts stroll through the crowd, and local artisans sell their paintings, jewelry and prints at the arts market.

For families, a kids’ zone and mini golf take up parts of the street.

“One of my favorite parts is that I get a lot of exercise and steps,” Burkhead laughs about her hectic festival day. “When I’m busy moving through the festival, I always like pausing at the music stations, where the energy is.” And if she has time to eat: “You can’t beat a really melty grilled cheese sandwich at Cheesy Street.”

Just Food staff and volunteers While the Kansas Food Truck pitch in, too.

Jacki Becker, president of the Just Festival is not scheduled in Food board, has served as the festival 2023, Just Food plans to stage site coordinator for six years. She’s alternative events to boost spent hundreds of volunteer hours visibility and funding for helping put the event together, doing the organization. Watch for set up, site building, tear down and announcements at The Washington County State working with neighbors. www.justfoodks.org.

Editor’s Note:

Fishing Lake is located 12 miles NW of Washington.

Fishing and Public Hunting.

KANSAS KALEIDOSCOPE “An absorbing coming-of-age tale set against a realistic American backdrop” – KIRKUS

Available now at

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Marky is only 11 years old and desires to live his boyhood without family interferences, but he cannot free himself from the upsets of his family members. Each chapter recounts an interesting story of a piece of Marky’s life. His family life disintegrates with a suddenness that shakes Marky to the core of his being. Read this wonderful coming of age book by author Mark G. Wentling.

WASHINGTON

COUNTY TOURISM

785.325.2116 | washingtoncountyks.gov FISHING AND PUBLIC HUNTING

The Washington County State Fishing Lake is located 12 miles NW of Washington

W I D E

O P E N

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CAR SHOW • FOOD TRUCKS • LIVE ENTERTAINMENT CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT • BEER GARDEN • CRAFT VENDORS

Proud Past – Brilliant Future Smoke in the Spring April 7-8, 2023 Like us on Facebook 785-528-3714 (Osage City Hall) www.OsageCity.com

April 22, 2023 3p.m. - 9p.m.

Riggs Park, Haysville, KS FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS EVENT hellohaysville.com/ partyinthe060

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W I D E

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households in a single day recently) and the price of food.

“Being able to raise money to feed our community is The organization feeds the hungry through its pantries my entire motivation,” Becker says. and also helps residents live healthy lives with a Just Grow Julia Ireland, owner of Torched Goodness, echoes community garden, Just Basics distribution of diapers, Becker’s sentiment. formula and dental products, and a Pots & Pantry program “I do a lot of annual festivals, but this is the only one that supplies kitchen that raises funds for a supplies for healthy local nonprofit, so that’s cooking. very special,” she says.

Like many Visitors pay an attendees, Donna admission fee and, in Hrenchir is well addition, purchase aware of the food their food and drink, bank’s many food benefiting the mission insecurity initiatives of Just Food and in her community. supporting small local “The main reason we businesses. Burkhead go to the festival is adds, “These fundto support Just Food. raising events couldn’t We love being able to be held for two years, so help out their cause, it makes a big difference —JENNIFER BURKHEAD and we get an extra in the food bank’s benefit of eating some great food,” Hrenchir says. operating budget that this event could happen.”

For those in need, the Just Food pantry is located at 1000 East 11th Street in Lawrence. The pantry is open Just Food Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as The need is greater than ever, with a dramatic increase Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the number of individuals Just Food serves (600

Discover

“When I’m busy moving through the festival, I always like pausing at the music stations, where the energy is.”

Kansas’ bigge st barn at the Prairie Museum of Art & History

tic park

Refreshing aqua

Scenic walking

ins Pickin’ on the Pla July Third weekend in

OasisOnThePlains.com

trails

Just 53 miles east of the Colorado border on I-70

Facebook.com/OasisOnThePlains

A

ANATOMY W I D E

S P A C E S

K A N S A S !

of a Food Truck

T

enu he M

Orde r

Her e

It’s the end of the line—time to order that corn dog you’ve been admiring from afar. Step up to the window and ask for the food you’ve been fancying.

It’s time to treat yourself! Swipe that credit card you swore you were going to cut up or hide in the kitchen’s junk drawer—it’s now or never.

On

e H er

the

Pa y

Go

Fueled up and situated in their favorite parking spot for the day, food truck owners open up their windows and get ready for day of noshing on the go.

Find that long line and stand in it—that’s the best way to ensure you get that corn dog and fries you’ve been eying on the menu.

(No cutsies!)

O P E N

t

ime

Spa ce

T ow h C

oC r e at e

’s Up Listen up, your order’s up! Make your way to the window and grab your favorite summer grub.

der Or

The moment has finally come—find a shady spot, dump your condiments on the table and begin chowing down on your favorite food truck dishes.

With a small but functional space to create, each nook and cranny is used to its fullest degree by food truck cooks and employees in order to get your order out in a timely manner.

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Delicious Nostalgia Award-winning chefs reflect on how passion for food led them back home PHOTOGRAPHY BY Sarah Reeves and Jason Dailey

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Rye Leawood is known for serving up classic Midwestern meals— made from scratch using local ingredients—with a twist. After one bite, foodies are transported back in time and find themselves sitting right at Grandma’s kitchen table—aromas and all.

While all pies are baked fresh, the strawberry rhubarb pie is a bestseller in the springtime.

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Rye, named after the Midwestern staple ingredient, began a decade ago with husband-wife duo, Colby and Megan Garrelts. Colby, a fifth-generation Kansan, was drawn back to his home state. The fine-dining–trained chefs—Colby, a 2013 James Beard award winner for Best Chef in the Midwest, and Megan, a 2008 and 2017–2020 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef— opened their first restaurant, Bluestem, in 2004. The restaurant, nestled in the Westport neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, was a culinary staple for 17 years before the Garreltses closed its doors, choosing to focus solely on Rye. “Rye was our love note to the Midwest,” says Chef Megan, co-owner of Rye. “It features parallels to foods we both grew up on.”

Keara Masson, pastry chef for Rye, says the restaurant’s charm stems from being family friendly and its ability to unearth treasured memories associated with food.

“Our biggest compliment is when something reminds [a guest] of what their grandma used to make or how their family used to do something,” Masson says. “It really brings them back for how things used to be. That’s what cooking and baking the old-fashioned way can do,” she says.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Rye is known for its fried chicken, dry-aged steaks, and KC-made appetizers such as smoked BBQ burned ends. Farmers, all local to Kansas and Missouri, even get a shout-out on the menu.

“We really wanted to help celebrate Midwestern cuisine,” Megan said. “At the time [Rye opened], it really wasn’t a nationally recognized style of [cooking].”

Other home-cooked favorites, such as macaroni and cheese and chicken and dumplings, are also common menu fare, but the fried chicken, made with a special technique the owners learned during their professional training, is their calling card.

MEET PASTRY CHEF

Keara Masson Even as a child, pastry chef Keara Masson was practicing her future profession.

“I’ve really loved baking my whole life,” she says, recalling that as a kid she would get out white Play-Doh and make little pretend pastries.

In her junior and senior years of high school, she took electives at Broadmoor Technical Center, where she was able to learn the basics of baking in a classroom setting.

“It really was a good starting point.

It gave me basic training as a whole and allowed me to keep learning,” she says.

She also participated in a studentoperated restaurant, where she helped bake desserts.

After graduating, she attended Art Institutes International of Kansas City in Lenexa, where she earned an associate’s degree in baking and pastry.

She then worked as a cake decorator for a year, before starting at Rye. She began at the bottom of the line and, after eight years, now serves as the head pastry chef for both locations.

As for what she loves baking most, she says, “Pie is definitely a favorite around here … but we try to have as much fun with it as possible.”

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WHAT YOU

Didn’t Know

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•

Masson makes wedding cakes. When she’s not creating goodies and supervising at Rye, she creates wedding cakes for customers.

•

She helps teach classes at Rye. Patrons can bake cinnamon rolls, decorate cookies, and create other custom baked goods.

•

Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of her specialties and best-sellers. Expect it in the spring, when ingredients are plentiful and fresh in the Midwest.

Meanwhile, family-style sides can be ordered to the table, allowing everyone to get a taste. Mashed potatoes, spaghetti squash, glazed heirloom carrots, and more are all made with seasonal, local ingredients.

A recap? Rye has cracked the code to home-cooked classics, making your childhood meals into perfection all while dishing up nostalgia with every bite.

“It’s really the good stuff that everyone grew up with around here,” Masson says.

Rye’s first location, in Leawood, opened in 2013 and was followed by a second restaurant five years later. The original Leawood location was chosen for its proximity to the Garreltses’ home, and for the area’s ability to tap into Midwestern family culture, Megan says.

Since then, Megan and Colby have been making waves in Kansas City and beyond. Their above-mentioned fried chicken was featured on the cover of Saveur’s “Best Comfort Food” edition in 2013. The same year Rye also landed as a top-50 nominee for “Best New Restaurant in America.”

However, no comfort meal would be complete without dessert, which they prove by listing “Dessert is nostalgia” directly on the menu.

Offering a variety of cakes, cookies, and breads, Rye is most known for homemade pies. Classics like lemon meringue and banana cream are menu mainstays, Masson says, with rotations of other fruit and chocolate pies, depending on the time of year and availability of fresh ingredients.

Even ice cream and sorbet options are made completely in-house.

Meanwhile, Rye offers a variety of cooking and baking classes. For example, visitors can learn how to bake cinnamon rolls or Chef Megan’s famous lemon meringue pie. Upcoming events and classes are posted on their Facebook page or visitors can stay in the know by signing up for their newsletter.

Rounding out Rye’s menu base is weekend brunch fare, with classics like quiche, biscuits and gravy, and cinnamon rolls that are as big as the plate.

“People are usually shocked when they see them,” Masson says.

With teams to manage at both Rye locations, Masson says they are never short on tasks. However, they are tasks she and the team enjoy.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s good work,” she says.

“We’re making good food, and we’re using local goods— and that matters.”

For more information regarding menus, private dining and more, visit www.ryekc.com. To make a reservation, visit www.exploretock.com/ryeleawood.

–Bethaney Phillips

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s good work,” she says. “We’re making good food, and we’re using local goods—and that matters.”

–Keara Masson 45

Raising the Ancient Art of Bread at1900 Barker Bakery and Café

Bread and coffee lovers (right) find their favorite treat to start the day at 1900 Barker Bakery and Café.

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Taylor Petrehn grew up a homeschooled kid in Paola, who was passionate about food from an early age. When he turned 15, he began taking culinary classes at Johnson County Community College, with a focus on savory cooking. After graduation, he worked in several upscale restaurants in Kansas City, until his job with Dean & Deluca sent him to Napa Valley, California.

There, he was just 19 years old and working under renowned head chef Raphael Boeri, a baking master.

“He was the first person to give me encouragement that baking was something I could be really good at,” Petrehn recalls.

Eventually, Petrehn moved back to Kansas, and it was while working as a pizza chef at the now-defunct Trezo Vino in Kansas City that he had an epiphany.

“Pizza is kind of like a bridge between food and baking in the sense that the food goes on top and the bread is below. That kind of got the wheels turning as to how I could make the crust as delicious as possible.”

Petrehn is drawn to both the simplicity and the nearly unlimited potential of bread.

“Bread is foundationally only three ingredients— flour, salt and water,” Petrehn says. “How do I use these three ingredients to create something that’s so intrinsically delicious?”

With this in mind, he launched 1900 Barker Bakery and Café in 2015 at just 23 years old, with his brother Reagan Petrehn, who has since moved on to New York City, by his side.

The brothers started the bakery modestly, with lots of hard work and long hours. In the beginning, the bakery was open only two days per week. Soon, though, the bakery became so popular they were able to hire help and to open five days a week by the end of their first year.

Today, the bakery is open seven days a week and employs around 30 people.

What makes 1900 Barker’s breads so unique is they are naturally leavened. Petrehn explains making bread from a starter is a two- to three-day commitment.

“Bread making is really fermentation, and in order to get flavor from fermentation, you have to put time into it,” he explains. The bakery maintains a bread starter by feeding it twice a day so that it maintains a healthy culture of bacteria and yeast, with enough lifting ability to leaven bread.

Petrehn decided to open the specialty bakery in Lawrence because he was tired of commuting to Kansas City, and he wanted to be true to the ancient method of bread baking. “It’s the healthiest [method of making bread] in that the fermentation process starts to break down hard proteins in the wheat berry, which are difficult

TAYLOR’S

Donuts

Taylor Petrehn, owner and chef of 1900 Barker, sits at his recently opened donut shop known as Taylor’s Donuts.

As if he weren’t busy enough, Petrehn launched Taylor’s Donuts, at 1827 Louisiana Street in Lawrence, in September of 2022. This allowed 1900 Barker Bakery and Café to move all its pastry-making to the doughnut shop, where Petrehn is head of the pastries.

“We made doughnuts at 1900 Barker a few times for fun, but we could never have done them permanently in our space there,” Petrehn says, describing the doughnut shop as a “passion project.”

“We make great pastries because we use great materials and high-quality products, and we know how to bake.”

That, says Petrehn, is also the formula for great doughnuts, which are made by a combination of natural leavening and added yeast, a process that takes three days.

Taylor’s Donuts offers an original vanilla glazed, local apple fritters, espresso cream-filled, passion fruit cream-filled, and more, all served with craft coffee.

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Jake Sloan, chef and manager for 1900 Barker, moves about the bakery while prepping pastries for the day.

for our digestive system to process,” Petrehn explains. “It also adds a depth of flavor and aroma not found in quick-rising breads.”

In addition, the bakery doesn’t use white flour. Instead, they use a high-extraction wheat dough, which means some bran is sifted off, but much remains.

“Our most basic loaf would be what we call our utility loaf—it’s a country sourdough,” Petrehn says.

The bakery also offers a multigrain sourdough bread they call the seeded utility loaf and an apple raisin walnut loaf, for which the nuts and fruit are fermented overnight.

“It creates a rich, intense, dark fruit bread,” Petrehn says.

Beyond that, the bakery offers rye bread, baguettes and several rotating specialty breads with inclusions such as cheese, olives, nuts, seeds and fruit. The café serves craft coffees, soups, sandwiches and paninis made on 1900 Barker bread, as well as pizza. Pastries include cookies, croissants, pain au chocolat, Danishes, cinnamon rolls, and more. The bakery has become so successful it’s outgrown its location, prompting Petrehn to open a second location focusing on doughnuts and pastries.

Petrehn has been a semifinalist in the Outstanding Baker category of the James Beard Awards four years running, 2017–2020. Though he hasn’t yet won the award, Petrehn says the honor of being nominated has elevated the visibility of the bakery to another level.

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“Bread is foundationally only three ingredients— flour, salt and water.

How do I use these three ingredients to create something that’s so intrinsically delicious?”

–Taylor Petrehn “It was an important thing for us. It put our name in a group of people that are, in my opinion, the best bakers in the country.”

Jake Sloan, chef and general manager for 1900 Barker, paid his cooking dues in restaurants in Kansas, the San Francisco Bay area, Las Vegas and Alaska. Like many in the food industry, he found himself out of work during the pandemic when Petrehn tapped him to help run 1900 Barker.

“As general manager and chef, I oversee the breadbaking team and the coffee program,” Sloan explains. “I also manage most aspects of our savory food program between the two current cafés and the ones that are in the works. I’ve been with Barker for over two years now.”

Sloan says baking with a living starter means having to adjust the bake to everything from atmosphere, humidity and flour vintage.

“We have to constantly be intuitive to what the dough that is living and breathing wants to do that day.”

Petrehn has plans to open a third location in downtown Lawrence at 8th and Massachusetts streets early in 2023.

–Amber Fraley

Destination

Dining Two small-town Kansas restaurants provide food and atmosphere worth the drive

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FOR SEVERAL YEARS, the concept of “destination restaurants” has been touted as an honored designation for venues offering a combination of food and atmosphere of such quality that they stand on their own as being worth a trip—you don’t need a ballgame, a museum, a concert, or a special occasion with the relatives to justify being in the area and stopping by for dinner. You go to sit down and eat, with no excuses or regrets.

But here’s a secret about destination dining … the best destination restaurants should also be the best local restaurants. While some customers might drive 5 hours to enjoy a meal at this restaurant, others can simply cross the county line or walk down Main Street to sample the venue’s weekly specials or to celebrate a special occasion.

For high-profile restaurants in small towns of Kansas, such as The Elephant Bistro & Bar in Hoxie and the Renaissance Café in Assaria, being a destination goes hand in hand with being a strong local kitchen—in terms of establishing relationships with suppliers and customers, and in terms of creating a menu offering tried-andtrue favorites as well as in-house innovations.

The

Elephant

on the High Plains The Elephant Bistro & Bar in Hoxie serves locals and visitors a high-end casual mix of Kansas farm-to-table and Pacific coast delights Story by Nathan Pettengill

Opposite The Elephant Bistro & Bar has a spacious dining area that was formerly a jewelry store and second-floor apartment. Above: The Maple Bourbon-Bacon Brussel Sprouts and the Hibiscus-Ginger Spritzer.

Photography by Bill Stephens

It’s just past 3 o’clock on a warm winter Wednesday in downtown Hoxie, the capital of Sheridan County in the northwest section of the state, 18 miles above Interstate-70, before the highway makes a sharp rise to the north to swing through Colby as it enters Colorado.

A few cars and a few more trucks—most with Sheridan County plate stickers—are parked along Hoxie’s central Main Street. A cluster of vehicles are on the east side of the 700 block, right in front of The Elephant Bistro & Bar. What sunlight the winter allows is setting and flooding through The Elephant’s two-story entry windows. The light pours onto a family seated in the front section next to the stacked growlight shelves of the in-house herb garden. At the other end of the long, front-house bar, a trio of customers takes late lunch specials. Three staff members are moving back and forth between the kitchen and the two floors of seating, but more are arriving in their black uniforms ahead of the switchover to the evening menu and the rush of dinner customers, many or most arriving from out of town.

“Being a destination-dining restaurant is crucial to our success and was part of our original business plan,” explains owner and executive chef Emily Campbell. “Our locals support us, but if it was only locals we would not be able survive, just because of numbers alone.

So, we need to attract people from outside of Hoxie, and I would say the average radius for our customer is 90 miles.”

For Campbell, getting The Elephant on customers’ destination-dining road maps came as result of her personal journey both in the kitchen and at the table, beginning as a 2002 graduate of Hoxie High School who wasn’t adventurous about the food she ate.

“I would go to a restaurant and order the same hamburger or the same chicken dish every time,” Campbell says. “I did not venture out of my way because I didn’t know better; I was never introduced to other food.”

That approach changed gradually, first as Campbell went to school in Manhattan, Kansas, where she explored restaurants and remained to work as an accountant, and then fundamentally, when she and her husband moved to the Seattle region. He had accepted a two-year work appointment in construction, and she took a leap of faith by enrolling in a Seattle (Tukwila) Le Cordon Bleu–affiliate culinary school. She then took a position as an event chef at Local 360, then a slow-food restaurant led by executive chef Brian Cartenuto (now head chef at Bird Dog in New York City).

Campbell says the school taught her essentials and Cartenuto taught her the art and the reality of the industry.

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The Poyntz Smoked Gouda Chicken Pasta is a tribute to Harry’s restaurant.

KANSAS INSPIRATIONS

In creating The Elephant Bistro & Bar, Emily Campbell was inspired by three Kansas restaurants she frequented while living in Manhattan • Bourbon and Baker With its blend of style and soul, this downtown Manhattan restaurant has brought comfort food in an elegant atmosphere since 2013. “I very much modeled my restaurant after them,” says Campbell.

“They do phenomenal work.”

• Taco Lucha This taqueria in Manhattan’s Aggieville inspired the tacos on Campbell’s menu. “I just love their food!” Campbell notes.

• Harry’s Now closed, this restaurant defined high-end dining in Manhattan for many years. If you ate there, you know why countless customers mourned its closing. But at least one of its dishes lives on—The Elephant’s Poyntz Smoked Gouda Pasta Chicken is an homage to Harry’s original recipe.

THE ELEPHANT BISTRO & BAR 785.677.3977 theelephantbistrobar.com

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LOCAL CONNECTIONS

“Working under Brian, I learned the finesse and technique of what a higher level of cooking takes—flavor, combinations, presentation, speed of service, how to run a business, how to know how much salad, how much dressing or how much meat to order and use,” Campbell says. “And a lot of what I learned from him and the Seattle region in general was the farm-to-table approach … buying all products locally and sourcing fresh produce, breads and so much more.”

Moving back to Hoxie after her stint in the Seattle region gave Campbell an opportunity to put her new profession to the test.

In October 2016, after laying down her own money with some family backing and a lot of talks with the banks, Campbell bought an old jewelry store with its second-floor apartment, refurbished it, and then held the formal opening of The Elephant Bistro & Bar in July 2018.

She describes the restaurant’s concept as “a balance of high-end and casual,” which provides for an eclectic menu with sandwich standards dominating the lunch choices, a range of seafood dishes and items such as Italian pork

chop agrodolce and 100% full-blooded Japanese black Wagyu steaks for evening meals. But for the exception of seafood dishes such as scallops, which Campbell The Elephant’s dishes feature food includes as a personal preference and from numerous local growers and ranchers. Here are 10 of the nod to her Pacific-Coast training, most restaurant’s most frequent and of the items on her menu reflect the consistent local suppliers farm-to-table concept that Campbell has (and their distance from built from gardeners in the immediate The Elephant Bistro & Bar) area, from ranchers within a 90-mile Local suppliers who radius, and from dairy creamery also sell to public operators, within a 300-mile radius of • Hidden Creek Ranch (bison) her kitchen.

Rexford, KS (20 miles) Campbell believes if she dropped • F&R Ranch (beef and bison) seafood, she could easily build a menu Hoxie, KS (less than 5 miles) that drew on local suppliers for 80% of • 4B Farms (hydroponic produce) Grinnell, KS (30 miles) food items. Building this network of local • C-Bar Company suppliers and highlighting them on the (pork chops and bacon) menu, Campbell says, is “important for Selden, KS (20 miles) our region,” both in terms of economy • America’s Best Steak and food culture. (dry-aged steaks) She notes, for example, that she just Bogue, KS (45 miles) • Wiebe Dairy (cheese) took in an order of grits from a local provider Durham, KS (220 miles) who stone-grinds the grits that he grows.

• Plum Creek Wagyu “In Kansas, you really can have a (Wagyu beef and steaks) gourmet, fine-dining meal that is locally Seward, NE (250 miles) sourced,” Campbell says. “We can be self• Several Kansas and Colorado spirits, beers, and wines sustainable if we want to, but we have to support one another. If I can get something Local suppliers who sell locally, like my lettuce or tomatoes from exclusively to The Elephant people’s gardens around here, then I will • Various local gardeners buy seasonally. Or I can get my dry-aged (summer and seasonal produce) beef from 90 miles down the road or my (60-mile radius) • Emily Campbell’s parents’ garden bison from 50 miles down the road. And (seasonal produce) – Hoxie, KS maybe that is a little more expensive than • Mike Neff (locally-grown grits) going through a major food supplier … [but] Hoxie, KS people are intrigued, and this has opened • Jonny Jones (beef) – Hoxie, KS our eyes that we can have our own local ecosystem” in the food industry.

Part of creating a local menu and balancing it with an exotic flair is both chefs and diners being open to new tastes and new combinations. For this reason, Campbell rotates her menu every six months and has weekly specials that often debut a new dish. Those dishes have come from Campbell, who loves seafood, salads and power bowls, as well as from her staff, who have been responsible for customer-favorite additions such as the cinnamon roll hamburger.

Campbell says dining should combine the familiar and the new. Dishes should highlight local foods in “unexpected” and “high-quality” combinations. In that sense, Campbell’s goal for the menu is the same as for the experience of dining in a small town in rural Kansas—a perhaps unexpectedly sophisticated and innovative taste experience surrounded by a familiar landscape and the growers and ranchers on it who made it all possible.

“We try to have a playful aspect and an elegant aspect—and tie it all together,” Campbell says.

Above Top Elephant decorations are found throughout the restaurant. Above Owner/ Executive Chef Emily Campbell opened her restaurant in 2018. Left The Elephant Bistro & Bar is located in the center of Hoxie. Campbell says she is proud to have a base of local and out-of-county customers.

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The

Renaissance Has Your Table

From unlikely origins and in unlikely surroundings, the Renaissance Café serves a range of dishes more than likely to please Story and photography by Susan Kraus

Who knew a gym could be part of a restaurant’s unique charm?

Dining at the Renaissance Café in Assaria begins by being This atmosphere sets a scene that is elegant, but never welcomed at the restaurant foyer and shown to your table. And it intimidating.

There is no dress code. Feel fancy? Go for it. Comfy is your table for as long as you wish, because there is no time-set in jeans and a sweater? Just as good. Bring an appetite and a smile turnover at the Renaissance. My husband and I sipped classically … but do remember to make a reservation. Some walk-ins can be crafted cocktails over an antipasto platter for an hour before we accommodated on slow nights, but a reservation means that your even ordered our meal. We spent another hour slowly eating and table is yours for the entire evening. savoring every bite. There were seared diver And spending time at the table is, after scallops with polenta cakes and a tarragon all, why guests arrive. The seasonally changing cream sauce for me, and shepherd’s pie with made-to-order menu is limited yet tantalizing lamb, mushrooms, carrots and whipped and accommodates requests for special needs, potatoes in a red wine sauce and baked in vegetarian, vegan, or other preferences. pastry for him.

Chef Adrienne Lynn oversees the menu Assaria sits between Salina and Chef Adrienne Lynn says she and has been with the Renaissance for over Lindsborg, a quick exit off of I-135. Since it enjoys stopping by these Kansas restaurants when she is out for 13 years.

Rachel Andres has been by her side, opened in the late 1980s, the restaurant has a drive. along with Doug Jarvis, for much of that journey. been in a former high school building, and Andres and Lynn together honed their culinary floor-to-ceiling bookcases line the foyer entry.

Seraphim Bread in Salina skills, challenging each other to experiment and Several more bookcases are strategically Globe Indian Food in Manhattan grow creatively as chefs. Jarvis welcomes guests, placed among the dining areas and tables.

Bella Luna Café in Wichita explains different menu items and specials, The books are well-worn, many 70 to 100 serves meals, runs the bar and crafts classic years old or more. If you’re a book person, like cocktails. He can ask guests a few questions and then present them me, the temptation to start paging through is hard to resist. with a surprise cocktail they didn’t know they’d love.

The rest of the decor is classic with a blend of studiousness: Because Assaria, with a population just over 400 people, shining wood floors and tables, many with individual wall lamps. is too small to support a full-time, high-end restaurant, the The walls are covered with framed old photos and art, glimpses of Renaissance opens Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, Kansas history. Seating extends on a mezzanine that overlooks the tapping the resources of the community to staff positions of basketball court in the sunken gymnasium of the former school.

KANSAS INSPIRATIONS

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Opposite, from left The Renaissance Cafe is staffed by many local, long-time employees such as Doug Jarvis.

Ricotta toast is one of the appetizers. A former high school and then the headquarters of an agricultural implements company, the restaurant building pays tribute to its eclectic heritage with its decor.

Above The restaurant seats diners on Thursdays– Saturdays, 5–9 p.m.

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baker, small-plates chef, two grill chefs, two sous chefs, wait staff, and more. Most of the staff have full day jobs as well, but the Renaissance has learned to train employees, nurture local talent and rotate individuals through the service so that they find a niche or balance that will allow them to flourish and encourage them to remain.

“When people get to try different things, explore their interests and discover their strengths, they are more committed and creative,” Lynn says. “Over several years, we’ve built a team that really works together.

It’s their collective effort, skills and dedication that made the Renaissance Café into what it is today.”

Walking past the kitchen, you can see the staff working in unison: pans on burners constantly moving, knives softly tapping on chopping boards, everyone coordinating to wrap up meals for entire tables at the same moment. “We make music in the kitchen,” Lynn says, smiling. “It’s organized cacophony, but we can hear all the notes.”

Lynn’s own career began with finding out what she wanted to do in the kitchen.

Antipasti platter

This pork chop dish is one of the restaurant’s rotating specials.

FRESH & LOCAL The Renaissance Café draws on many local sources, including Smoky River Meats in Salina, Blazefork Lamb in Inman, Prairie Land Market in Salina and Grace Hill Winery in Whitewater. In the summer, the chefs cultivate organic gardens for vegetables, produce and herbs; they cultivate relationships with local gardeners and growers as well.

RENAISSANCE CAFE

“When I was a little kid, I started cooking. There was no internet, [we had] few cookbooks, so I had to figure 785.822.6750 out what worked by making mistakes renaissancecafeassaria.com and learning from them,” she explains.

“I had to use whatever ingredients were available, so I learned to adapt and experiment. My mother hated to cook, so, from a very young age, the kitchen became my domain.”

That connection with cooking deepened as she grew older in a military family, where constant moving and redeployment meant that she found her strongest sense of “home” in a series of kitchens.

“I kept learning and growing, building my skills with every experience,” she notes, “and I’ve worked with some exceptionally talented people.”

But, until the Renaissance, which she initially joined as wait staff, nothing had really clicked for her. “I never intended to settle in Kansas,” Lynn says. “But the Renaissance gave me roots.” She lives now in Assaria and grows herbs and produce in the community garden two blocks from the restaurant.

In her quest to expand her skills, Lynn has traveled extensively to discover exceptional food. “I travel to eat,” she explains. “I seek out chefs and restaurants that have something unique that I can learn from.” The Renaissance’s occasional Wednesday night wine-pairing dinners have often been inspired by what she has encountered in recent travels.

After all, traveling is her connection not only to the community of chefs and innovators but also to most of the people they serve.

“We recognize that our guests are intentional. People do not wander in,” Lynn says. “We’re committed to making their trip worthwhile.”

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Seared diver scallops with polenta cakes and tarragon cream sauce

FAMILY FUN!

Theatre Music Golf Murals Sculpture Museums Water Park Festivals Great Eats Shops Zoo Hospitality Cool Spaces and FRIENDLY FACES!

Reaching new HEIGHTS!

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F R O M

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L A U R E A T E

Ad Astra The story we tell the future will have windmills and the quiet clap of cottonwood leaves, annual festivals and old streams elbowing their way into fields that many histories ago were shallow seas.

The story will be what we make of it, with our corn mazes and street corners, dirt roads and art districts, block parties and community gardens. Our chapters will be like our seasons—reliable in their surprises.

The busy plots of star-baked summers and the slow conclusion of winter with its catalog of snowflakes.

In the story we are writing into the future there are kids biking through the neighborhood and a great blue heron at the pond hunting in its own shadow.

The story has the People of the Wind and people of the wandering. The rooted and the transplanted.

What comes next, we can almost see—rain’s

Traci Brimhall, who lives and works in Manhattan, is the newly appointed 2023–2026 poet laureate of Kansas. She is the author of Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod, Saudade, Our Lady of the Ruins, and Rookery.

Her poems have appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, New England Review, Ploughshares, Orion The Believer, The Nation, New Republic and New York Times Magazine. She released this poem at the 2023 inauguration ceremony for the governor of Kansas.

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brief signature on the sidewalk and a chevron of migrating geese breaking up the wide open blue.

A story where wind romances a dandelion, and bees lounge at their favorite goldenrod saloons. The story we are writing to the future has facts, like how a sunflower’s face is a union of individual seeds all leaning toward the sun together. This story grows.

It changes with each day. It’s full of possibilities, like how, before dawn ripens the horizon, the night sky dreams one more story for the library of stars.

Celebrating 45 Years

Grown. Raised. Produced.

Did you know?

For 45 years, From the Land of Kansas has been the state trademark program designed to promote and celebrate agricultural experiences and products grown, raised or produced in Kansas. The From the Land of Kansas brand makes it easier for people to find and support Kansas-made products and Kansas-based businesses. Choose local, choose Kansans.

Connect with Us! Facebook: FromtheLandofKansas Instagram: FromtheLandofKS Website: FromtheLandofKansas.com

From fine arts to fine fare, evenings out to sporting spectacles, however you partake, you’ll feel Wichita’s energy at every turn. Because we’re a little bit fancy, a little bit funky and a whole lot of friendly. Come see the place we love. We have a feeling you’ll love it too.

WICHITA IS A VIBE