October restaurant pick

For our October restaurant pick, we chose to go to Durham.  This small town is 9 miles north of Hillsboro on Highway 15.  When I asked for restaurant ideas for this year (we go to one restaurant a month that we have never been to before), this place was recommended.

"In 1806, Zebulon Pike led the Pike expedition westward from St Louis, Missouri, of which part of their journey followed the Cottonwood River through Marion County near the current towns of Florence, Marion, Durham. In 1855, Marion County, Kansas, where Durham is located, was founded."  As of 2010, the population of Durham was 112.


 Durham is home to the Donahue Corporation, maker of farm implement carriers.

When we got to the downtown (this town is approximately 7 blocks by 8 blocks in size - according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.2 square miles), we noticed that the restaurant seemed pretty busy!  And it really was.  It hopped all night long.  All the tables full all the time.
That speaks good of the place!  (It is a 5 star restaurant!)

They are open Monday-Saturday from 6:30am-2:30pm and on Friday evenings from 5-8pm.  And since Friday evening is the only evening it is open, that is the place to go!

The owners and workers in this restaurant belong to The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite  (Holdemans).

We went through the buffet. 

Delicious German-Russian food - homemade sausage, chicken, verenika (dough wrapped around cottage cheese mix and crimped to form a half circle and served with ham gravy), mashed potatoes and gravy, beef, home-made yeast rolls.

Locally made Grannie's mustard and honey (from Hillsboro)

And homemade pies and other goodies.  Whoopie pies and cookies too.  Too much to choose from.  I would have loved to have tried the different desserts, but was just too full! 

Often we take someone with us and this time we had invited a cousin.  Last minute he was called out of town so we went alone.  At the restaurant we ended up talking with a Mennonite family from California who had come to Durham to help their son move there.  He had gotten a job at the sausage making plant.  What a wonderful visit with this friendly family.  Then when they left, a couple we had known from past years was checking out.  We began to do some catching up and we invited them to sit down and we visited for another half an hour or more.  It was just a delightful evening!