They have just three meats: chicken, catfish & brisket. The side are greens, corn sweet tater yams, and green beans. The solids are beans & rice, Macaroni & cheese, or masked potatoes & gravy. The chicken and catfish are both pretty good. I was less impressed with the sides, though the mashed potatoes and beans & rice were both pretty good.

After we had ordered and paid for our food, we learned that cinnamon rolls and corn bread were also available, but they were not offered or listed on the menu. 

The Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale is the largest church bazaar that I have ever seen. It is put on by 70 Mennonite, Brethren in Christ, and Amish congregations and fills 7 large buildings. There are multiple silent and live auctions with items as diverse as candy, old tractors, hand crafted furniture and an all original 1942 Studebaker Coupe. One auction was devoted to over 200 hand made quilts. There is food available in every building, but the biggest feed at the Feeding of the Multitude, serving cafeteria style German food to 7 - 10,000 people.

I limited myself to sampling raisin pie, donut hole like "New Year's cookies" and cherry moos made with cherries, flour, sugar & cream. Good, but not great. They are having to mass produce these items.

Supper was fairly late. It was a revisit of the Airport Steakhouse, which I hadn't been to in about 10 years. As the name implies, the restaurant is in the Hutchinson Municipal Airport, filling more than half of the terminal. The steakhouse is dated, but still in good shape. One wall is lined which huge picture windows looking out at the tarmac. The 26 ounce bone in Cowboy ribeye, could have stood some aging, but was cooked the way I ordered (medium rare) and very reasonable at $24.99 with salad and starch. The skin on fresh cut fries were under done. 

The line for Feeding the Multitude
 
 

Airport Steakhouse

For lunch I dined sparingly at two restaurant which I have already reviewed. Roy's Hickory Pit BBQ and Sacks 5th Avenue. Sacks is a decent burger joint in a neat old building, but Roy's is a real standout, a 25 year BBQ place with great meats. It is only open from 11AM - 3PM, or until the meat runs out.

Before leaving town, I stopped by the Hutchinson Art Association gallery. The last time I had been in Hutchinson, the gallery was closed when it was scheduled to be open, but this time I lucked out and it was open when it was scheduled to be closed. The most interesting part of the gallery was the quarter of the building devoted to art for sale.

After a quick revisit of the small display at the Salt Discovery Well on the south side of town, I drove out to Yoder to fill the styrofoam chest at Yoder Meats. They offer samples of so many items, that you could have a small meal. I kept telling myself that I wouldn't try anymore, but then would discover elk sausage or an unusual cheese.

From Yoder, I drove west and north, stopping to take photos at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and in several small towns. In Stafford, I was surprised to find a snowdrift remaining in the shadow of a building.

In Larned, I toured the Central State Scout Museum, which wasn't much more interesting than I thought it would be. The nice man who runs the museum is also on the board of directors of the restored 1940s State Theatre. He took me there, and I found that building much more interesting. The community can be proud of bringing it back to life.

Supper was at Mom's Bar & Grill in Seward. It had been 5 years since my last visit. Seward has about 4 streets an all of them are dirt. The restaurant isn't much to look at, in a sheet metal building with a poured cement floor, but the food is so good. The chicken fried steak sandwich was one of the best sandwiches that I have ever had.

After checking in to the Best Western in Great Bend, I drove out Cheyenne Bottoms, the largest inland marsh in the United States. Unfortunately, in the second year of a drought, it is all dry land.

Sacks 5th Avenue

Snowdrift

State Theatre

chicken fried steak sandwich

Other than taking a few stock photos in Ellinwood, the only stop on the drive home was at Ad Astra in Strong City. Open only Friday through Sunday, they serve innovative dishes with food from local providers.

I started the meal with Elk Union, a pita pizza topped with fig jam, goat cheese, caramelized onion and a drizzle of garlic oil and fried shallots. It was pretty good, but I would like it better with more garlic and no jam. I finished with the Smoked Trout Plate, house smoked rainbow trout, herb goat cheese, capers, red onion and hard boiled egg served with grilled crostini.

Not necessarily the food you would expect to find in a small, rural community. 

Smoked Trout Plate

Lunch was at The Other Place. The sports bar & grill is part of a small, Iowa based chain. I had chili and hot chicken wings. Both were good, though not outstanding. The food at The Other Place is consistent and the service is very good.

Linda joined me for supper at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. There are now three locations for this Kansas City, Kansas based chain. All of them are in Kansas. We had pork ribs, smoked chicken and onion rings. All three were very good and the servings were generous. I had left over ribs to eat the next day.

Oklahoma Joe's BBQ

The restaurant is still experiencing growing pains. I expect it to get better in a few months.

For supper, Linda and I made a first visit to Ricky's Pit Barbeque in the Quindaro neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. This is the third and smallest location the Mom & Pop restaurant has occupied, with just 5 booths and a counter. Mr. & Mrs. Smith were both working and a delight to get to know. We sampled many of the meats along with beans and chili. Sweet was the theme, with the sauce, beans and chili all being fairly sweet.

The fries were just frozen crinkle cut, but were at least perfectly cooked. The chili was well spiced, but not that hot and meaty with few beans. The chili and fries go well together.

It appears that the meat was cooked early and just heated for serving. This worked very well with the ham and brisket, a little less well with the sausage & burnt ends, and not so well with the ribs.

Ricky's Pit Barbeque