Scenic Country Dining
Most Midwesterners can spot the signs of good home-style cooking: a parking lot with more pick-ups than cars . . . cooks who can watch you eat from the kitchen . . . beets on the menu.
At 9 a.m., parking spaces are already packed in front of The Dakota Diner in the northeastern South Dakota hamlet of Webster (population: 2,500). This is the kind of place where people ask for a cup of gravy to go and call in the morning to reserve their piece of pie for that evening.
The Dakota Diner, Webster, South Dakota (605/345-4710). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Across from the grain elevators in Havana, North Dakota (100 miles southwest of Fargo), the Farmer's Inn, a single-story gold-colored metal building is a community-run establishment, where the locals take turns cooking and serving. Four-fifty gets you a pork chop dinner with mashed potatoes, corn, and cake drizzled with rhubarb sauce.
Farmer's Inn, Havana, North Dakota (701/724-3849). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Right in the middle of the Ozark vacation haven of Osage Beach, Missouri, Tonka Hills Restaurant in the village of Linn Creek has plenty of competition. But the locals eat at at this establishment, with its Native American themed decor. Daily specials include ham and beans with cornbread, plus chicken-fried steak and soups.
Tonka Hills Restaurant, Linn Creek, Missouri (573/346-5759). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Closes at 2 p.m. Mondays.
In Ontonagon on the northeast shore of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, plates at the booths and tables in Syl's cafe overflow with owner Kathy Wardynski's rolling-pin-size omelets, jumbo burgers and fried chicken. Kathy, who's Syl's granddaughter, says she also bakes 20,000 pasties (Cornish-style meat turnovers) a year, including mail orders. Be sure to check out the bakery case at the cash register up front.
Syl's Cafe, Ontonagon, Michigan (906/884-2522). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Got a favorite hideaway cafe of your own? Don't be shy - tell us about it on Midwest Living Talk:
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