The sign in the window of the building at 109 N. Main Street announced “Rotary meets on Monday night at Scotty’s.” I don’t know why I mention the street address because no one knew what it was nor did they pay any attention. The building is currently the location of Golden Plains Credit Union.
Before I get too far, let me introduce myself. My name is Arnold Kash and I was raised on a farm 12 miles west of Lakin. My first contact with the Davis family was when I entered high school in 1946. There I encountered the eldest Davis daughter, the cute and clever Barbara. I was smitten.
Scotty’s Café opened for business in 1947 as a partnership between Glenn and Della Anschutz and Leon (Scotty) and Leona Davis. The Davis’s were the operating partners and the Anschutz’s, who operated Glenn’s Grocery, obviously had visions of the joint venture consuming large amounts of groceries. The café was conveniently and strategically located directly across the street from Rosel’s Recreation (pool hall). The restaurant building had earlier been occupied by the Nash & Davis Hardware & Furniture Store. (On a personal note, while I was gathering information, I learned that this building had even earlier served as a movie house where my parents, Clarence Kash and Viola Miller, first met during Christmas vacation in 1929).
The restaurant served a lot of what today would be termed “comfort food.” Menu staples were meat loaf with potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, roast beef and trimmings, chicken fried steak, pork chops and, of course, cheeseburgers and fries. Every meal came complete with a salad, dessert and a beverage. Lunch prices were $1.50 or thereabouts. One of the main things that kept customers coming back was Linda McCort’s mastery in the kitchen. Linda could turn out homemade yeast dinner rolls that knew no equal. The rolls were served with most meals, except when Linda wasn’t in the mood to make them, and contributed to many a bloated midsection of the town.
Scotty and Leona were well suited for the rigors of operating the café. Both were in their early 40s at the time and were active contributors to the community. Scotty was a humorous and very likeable man who was the operating partner in the Nash & Davis Funeral Home concurrently while owning the café. Scotty was averse to stressful situations and such matters were routine in the operation of a restaurant. When things got hot at the café, Scotty usually sought the peace and quiet and on occasion, has been known to create it. Leona was an energetic and enthusiastic woman with a talent for organizing and getting things done.
The secret weapon of the restaurant business was four teen-age children – Barbara, Richard, John and Diana, ages 17, 16, 15 and 14 (true Irish quadruplets) and a built-in labor pool. The nubile Barbara waited tables and ran the register. Richard bussed dishes and washed them, later claiming that he washed enough dishes at “Scotty’s” to last a lifetime. John was also pressed into service doing pots and pans, mopping floors and stacking chairs. Diana’s specialty was running the register and chatting up the customers. Another source of conscripted labor was any high school friend of the family who was caught hanging around. You might be there with social matters in mind and soon find yourself with a mop in your hands.
The following is John Davis’s remembrances of the restaurant years. John was around the café longer than any of the others…
“After a year of eating restaurant meals, I really looked forward to the Saturday evening meal. A home cooked meal – regardless of what was placed on the table – to me it was a gastronomical delight! Thanks, Mom, for being such a good homestyle cook.
“One of my staple menu items during the café years was grilled chicken fried steaks. Alas too much of a good thing can have long-term adverse consequences. I apparently used up my lifetime allotment for enjoying chicken fried steaks during the café years. I attempted to eat no more than three chicken fried steaks in the intervening years. As I recall in all three instances, after one or two bites I regretted my entrée selection.
“Saturday mornings were the bane of my week. My chore – a thorough mopping of the restaurant floor. Stack the chairs, move the tables to one end of the floor, soapy water generously applied to floor, clean water rinsing until all the streaks were eliminated, allow to dry, move chairs to other end of floor and repeat the sequence on the still dirty half of the floor. My Dad helped me get started but soon found some other high priority chore to occupy his time.
“My Sunday chore was only slightly better than the Saturday chore because it only took about an hour and one-half each week. First challenge, wrestle the dirty commercial –sized pots and pans without getting the front of my clothes wet. The next challenge was to unload the dirty dish containers, scrape the debris into the garbage disposal, pre-rinse the china, glasses and plate ware. I would place the items in soapy water, dive in and grab an item, give a swipe or two with the dishcloth, place item in hot rinse bath, rescue the item without sustaining a burn injury, then place the item in the drying rack. I would then sort/stack the clean dishes, sort glasses, separate the plate ware into four or five groups, deliver items to their assigned places in the kitchen or serving room and with luck get released from assignment before the next group of dirty pans showed up.
“The one positive aspect to that time of my life involves the café employees. To this day I carry a huge number of pleasant memories regarding those individuals. They must have spoiled me as I cannot recall any one of them I don’t think the world of even to this day.
“Life has its advantages to being restaurant dependent for meals. When I got hungry, I ate, and I was hungry a couple of times during the afternoon. Like most children, I had this thing about cheeseburgers, but I wouldn’t slight hot roast beef sandwiches. I got to eat all the French fries I wanted plus fill up on ice cream – make that pie ala mode. Oh yes – pop was always available. Occasionally a steak would show up that was too small to serve to a customer, so I would be offered the opportunity to taste that steak on my taste buds.”
All in all, the restaurant was a cheerful place that became a community gathering spot during the time it was in operation. There were few Kearny County residents who didn’t enjoy a working day lunch, family supper, or Sunday dinner. And it all came from hard work and good eats.
