Rural Missouri - July 2018 - 15

Columbia market offers fresh and inviting atmosphere
by Paul Newton | pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

smoker, along with bacon, tomato, blue cheese, Vermont cheddar, egg slices,
red onion, corn and your choice of homemade salad dressing. The balsamic
t started as a ritual for Trish and Jim "Hoss" Koetting of Columbia. Every vinaigrette and sweet onion dressings are the most popular for the salad served
time the native St. Louisans would visit the Gateway City, a pit stop at on a pie plate so customers have a "backboard" to enjoy the garden-fresh ingreSmokehouse Market in Chesterﬁeld wasn't optional. "I would tell Hoss 'you dients.
"It's ﬁlling. It can be an entire meal," Trish says. "But you feel like you're
have 10 minutes, $100 and we're out,' " Trish says. "After about 15 times of
that, we decided we should open a gourmet market in Columbia because there eating a little healthier and it's fresh."
Sandwiches also are a big seller at lunch, and no sandwich is more popuwas nothing like it here."
The Koettings followed through and have been serving delicious barbecue, lar than The Big Hoss. A whole-grain baguette is topped with hickory-smoked
fresh sandwiches, prime rib and more since 2002 at Hoss's Market. The large brisket and turkey, Emmental Swiss, Vermont cheddar, country bacon and
kitchen is a hub of activity as daily specials are made for dine-in and takeout tangy barbecue sauce before toasting in a ﬂashbake oven. Tomatoes are added
orders and catering obligations - large and small - are prepped to be picked and it's served with potato chips or made-from-scratch deli salads. "It's gooey,
meaty deliciousness," Trish says.
up or taken to everything from Tiger
If you're in the mood for a real quick
tailgates to elegant weddings. Cusbite to eat in the restaurant, check out
tomers waiting for their food peruse
the homemade soup offerings. Hoss
the market where they ﬁnd unique
makes all the soup and the seafood
greeting cards, gourmet spices, oils
andouille gumbo is his specialty. Hoss
and more.
tends to the stove, slowly coaxing a
Fresh ingredients and quality
light roux to a dark, rich brown color
products are the backbone of Hoss's
which is the base of the New Orleans
Market. "The vast majority of all our
favorite. The gumbo includes whatdishes are made from scratch," Hoss
ever smoked seafood is available and
says. "That way we can control every
fresh andouille sausage, shrimp, okra,
process that goes into making our
onions and more.
food and we're conﬁdent that when
"I'm a little biased," Trish says with
the customer tastes it, that's the best
a smile. "But we have the best seafood
product we can offer."
andouille gumbo in town, or maybe
The Boone Electric Cooperative
anywhere in Missouri."
members were no novices to the resAbout 80 percent of their lunch
taurant industry when they opened
crowd eats in the restaurant with
the market. Hoss came to the Unithat number ﬂipping to 20 percent at
versity of Missouri as a student and
night, according to Trish. Most of their
in 1984 started working as a cook
hungry customers walk into the marat the landmark Boone Tavern and
ket, order their to-go meal and are out
quickly worked his way up to general
the door - especially on Friday nights.
manager. Trish unpacked her bags in
The smoked prime rib steals the
Columbia two years later and started
show on Fridays at Hoss's, one of the
as a cocktail waitress. They stayed at
few places in the city that sells both
the restaurant until Hoss's opened.
raw and cooked USDA Prime steaks.
Through mutual associates, the
"You can have prime rib here for a
couple met with Thom Sehnert, the
fraction of the price of a steakhouse,"
owner of Smokehouse Market. "We
Trish says. "Most people don't make
knew the restaurant side well, it was
prime rib at home. Customers can
the market side we needed help with,"
come in, we carve it, cut it to order
Trish says. "Thom was instrumental
and serve it with garlic mashed potain teaching us how to do things on
toes and you can be out the door with
the gourmet side of things."
a steak dinner in ﬁve minutes."
Thom tutored the two and took
Daily dinner entrees are where Hoss
them to a speciality food trade show in
gets creative. There are four dinner
New York where they were immersed
specials every night, with one being
in the business. "It was overwhelmTrish and Jim Koetting have served delicious fare at Hoss's Market in Columbia since 2002.
the same every week. In addition to
ing," Trish explains. "We just started
the prime rib on Friday, Monday's mainstay is chicken-fried chicken, chicken
picking different items we liked and went from there."
The market is a trio of businesses under one roof. In addition to the fresh enchiladas are featured on Tuesday, meatloaf on Wednesday and pot roast on
market and restaurant which seats 60, Hoss's Market does some serious cater- Thursday. Hoss adds a trio of other specials that range from something off the
ing that gives Hoss more ﬂexibility when creating the menu for the restaurant. smoker out back to pasta to fresh seafood specials. Dinner and soup specials
The menu is ﬂuid depending on the season or what's readily available. The are posted on the market's website weekly.
The kitchen stays busy around the clock with catering orders as well. Fall
hot sandwiches and fresh salads are made to order and offered every day.
Other menu staples include homemade soups, rotisserie chicken and USDA Saturdays are especially busy. As a preferred caterer for Mizzou tailgates, they
serve anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people every time the Tigers kick off on
Prime steaks.
The Cobb salad is the market's top seller at lunch. "If you would've told me Farout Field.
Whether you're looking for a fresh fast salad for lunch, a gourmet meal to
that would be so when we opened, I would've said you are crazy," says Hoss of
give your oven a break or a feast for 100 of your best friends, Hoss's delicious
the item that's been on the menu for 4 years.
Fresh greens are topped with rotisserie chicken that has spent time on the food will keep you coming back for more.

Hoss's Market & Rotisserie
Specialties: Fresh salads including the Cobb and pan-seared sea scallop. Sandwiches include The Big Hoss, T.B.L.T. and Cuban. Rotisserie chicken
and USDA Prime steak available. Dinner specials include chicken-fried chicken, enchiladas, meatloaf, pot roast, prime rib and seafoood specials.
Price: Salads from $6.25 to $13. Sandwiches from $7.50 to $9.50. Dinner from $10 to $27. Desserts at $4.25.
Details: Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sunday. Cash and credit
cards accepted. Delivery available through OrderUp.
Directions: Located at 1010A Club Village Dr. in Columbia.
Contact: 573-815-9711 or www.hosssmarket.com.

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