Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [223]
Beyond four-star onion-fried burgers, Johnnie’s is a good place to eat El Reno’s own version of a Coney Island hot dog, topped with meaty chili and a strange, soupy slaw that local epicures hold dear. (Some customers get this slaw on their burger, too.)
We also like breakfast at Johnnie’s, when the little place is packed with locals eating Arkansas sandwiches (that’s a pair of pancakes layered with a pair of eggs) and three-dollar all-you-can-eat platters of biscuits and gravy. It was at breakfast one day that we decided we had to stick around El Reno for a midmorning pie break, for as we were finishing our coffee, in walked Everett Adams, Johnnie’s baker, wedging his way through the thirty-seat restaurant toting a battered tray above his head on which were set the coconut meringue pies and Boston cream pies he had made that morning for the lunch crowd.
Kumback Lunch
625 Delaware
580–336–4646
Perry, OK
BLD | $
Kumback Lunch was founded in 1926 in a town created by the Cherokee Strip land run of 1893, when the U.S. government sold property to homesteaders who got there first. So says the very informative menu, which also notes that among the interesting moments in Kumback history is the night in the early 1930s when gangster Pretty Boy Floyd came in brandishing a gun—not to rob the place, but to demand that proprietor Eddie Parker cook him the biggest steak in the house. Mr. Parker is something of a legend in these parts, known for giving free steak dinners to soldiers returning home after World War II as well as to sluggers on the town’s semi-pro baseball team every time one hit a home run.
Fascinating history and beautiful Art Deco façade aside, Kumback Lunch is a swell place to eat. And everyone in the town of Perry (and beyond) seems to know that fact, because when we walked in midmorning one weekday, the place was packed with happy eaters and coffee drinkers having late breakfast or early lunch.
We had some of both: a tall stack of brawny pancakes, a crisp-crusted chicken-fried steak, a swirly warm cinnamon roll, biscuits and sausage gravy, and a couple of pieces of lofty meringue pie—all homemade, all excellent. What a fine town café meal! Highlights of the breakfast menu include egg-stuffed burritos, stacks of pancakes with pecans or blueberries, and daily homemade cinnamon rolls. At lunch and dinner you can choose from among a dozen different hamburgers, barbecued ribs and brisket, and a selection of Mexican meals that includes a baked potato stuffed with seasoned beef, cheese, and salsa.
As we dined, we gazed with wonder at Kumback’s walls, which are covered with pictures and memorabilia of “Perry Heroes,” including local athletes, several governors of the state, and Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer Charlie Hanger, who captured Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and brought him to the county jail in Perry.
The Meers Store
Hwy. 115
580–429–8051
Meers, OK
BLD | $
Tulsa World magazine once declared the hamburger at the Meers Store the best burger in Oklahoma, which is a bold pronouncement indeed. Border to border, Oklahoma is crazy for all kinds of interesting and unusual burgers, including the unique giants—seven full inches across!—known as Meersburgers.
A Meersburger is special not only for its size, but because it is made exclusively from Longhorn cattle that are locally raised. Longhorns are less fatty than usual beef stock and supposedly have less cholesterol than chicken, and yet the meat has a high-flavored succulence for which no excuses need be made. In addition to Meersburgers the Meers Store has a menu of steak, chicken-fried