Rural Missouri - April 2020 - 15

Delicious eats at a small-town price
by Heather Berry
hberry@ruralmissouri.coop

fried steak Stacker. Steak
is topped with potatoes
and two fried eggs, then
smothered with sauf you've got a hankering
sage gravy and shredded
for a good, home-cooked
cheese. The breakfast skilmeal as you drive
let is the potato version of
through rural Missouri,
nachos. Fried potatoes are
options can sometimes be
topped with your choice of
a bit slim. The countryside
ham or bacon, eggs, chedis often dotted with signs
dar and onions. All of the
touting a place to enjoy a
options come with toast or
meal, only to ﬁnd out the
biscuits with gravy.
eatery closed up shop long
If you're more of a roll
ago. But if you ﬁnd yourself
and coffee person, locals
traveling Highway 245 in
know that Friday is cinDade County in want of a
namon roll day and it's a
hearty meal, look no further
big deal. "They don't ﬁt on
than Dadeville Cafe.
our saucers," Angie notes
Owners Bob and Angie
of the massive $1.99 rolls.
Lovett opened the cafe 14
"It's rare that we don't sell
years ago, but working
out."
there is nothing new for the
Those stopping in for
cafe owner.
lunch or dinner might ﬁnd
"When I was here during
the menu a bit daunting,
high school, it was like a
as there are more than
Dairy Queen and called the
100 various possibiliDadeville Drive-In, with
ties on the restaurant's
walk-up windows and a
lengthy menu, according
couple of bar stools at the
Angie and Bob Lovett, members of Ozark Electric Cooperative, have served
to Angie.
counter," Angie recalls. "In
up comfort food since 2006 at Dadeville Cafe in southwest Missouri.
"We get a lot of repeat peothe '80s they built on and
ple so we want to give them a good variety."
called it Backroads Cafe."
Start your meal with crispy fried okra or zucchini, batThat change turned the drive-in into a cafe-style stop.
tered mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, a stack of battered
Years later, after Bob and Angie married, the couple puronion rings or straws, chips and queso, corn nuggets or a
chased the restaurant. It's now become a community gathbig batch of cheesy bacon fries.
ering spot where they've been cookin' up tasty homemade
Meal offerings range from the usual salads with homeeats ever since.
made dressings to heartier fare, such as Loaded Tater
You'll immediately get the feeling of "home" as you step
Twisters - steak fries topped with house-smoked pulled
through the door. The stained concrete ﬂoors and warm
pork or brisket and all the toppings you could want.
wood features chosen by Angie are accented
by Bob's hobby: bluegrass music. Numerous
The sandwich and burger portion of the menu is
black-and-white photos and posters pay hommind-boggling for a little stop in the country, with
age to the music genre's premier pickers, Lester
nearly 50 ample and delicious options.
"We have 23 burgers listed and we may add
Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
"We have a lot of variety," Angie adds of the dia few more," Angie says of the restaurant's
hand-pattied options.
verse menu offered at the cafe, noting the majority
She says the Smokehouse Cheddar Burger
of the offerings are mostly a version of comfort
Dadeville
is the most popular. A 6-ounce patty is cooked
food.
and topped with cheddar cheese, smoked
Fans of a quick start to the day will deﬁnitely
brisket, barbecue sauce and fried onion tanglers
want to grab a hearty breakfast sandwich. But if you have
served on a brioche bun. Other options include a Bluetime for a lingering breakfast, head to the cafe on Saturday
grass Burger topped with thinly sliced ham and American
mornings to order one of the 11 full breakfasts. A morning
cheese over Texas toast; a Memphis Burger, with pulled
staple is eggs, bacon/sausage, hash browns or home fries.
pork, creamy coleslaw and barbecue sauce on a brioche
Hearty ham and cheese omelets, homemade pancakes,
bun and a Frisco Melt Double Burger, with American and
French toast, ham steak with eggs are a few more opSwiss cheeses and Thousand Island dressing served on
tions. If those aren't big enough, give the popular Sausage
Texas toast.
Scrambler plate a try. It comes with a mound of scramTaste buds feeling adventurous? Try the Philly Cheese
bled eggs, potatoes, sausage, peppers and onions topped
Steak Burger topped with shredded beef steak, Swiss and
with shredded cheese. Another robust dish is the Country

APRIL 2020 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP

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Rural Missouri - April 2020

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