Stone City Cafe patrons come for folks & food

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN CYNTHIA MARTENS
by Cynthia Martens

Ask Debbie Cook why customers keep coming back to her restaurant, Stone City Cafe, and she suggests two reasons.

“They like my Mom-she’s the best,” Cook said about her mother and business partner, Donna Boone.

“And they come because they like the food, especially the breakfast,” Cook said.

Stone City Cafe is located in downtown Marion among the stone buildings that make up the street’s character and charm. Since the 1940s, a restaurant has occupied the present building owned by the mother-daughter duo. A large antique oak beveled mirror, mounted on the west wall of the restaurant, currently reflects the faces of the satisfied customers who frequent the cafe.

Cook said the actual building, located at 211 E. Main, has a history dating back to about 1860.

Throughout its checkered past, the building housed a motorcycle shop, a watch shop and a barber shop before it finally became a restaurant.

Cook and Boone took over the restaurant in 1988 and renamed it Stone City Cafe, which echoes Marion’s nickname-Stone City-for a community built of rock from the nearby quarry.

The cafe is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and it’s also open additional hours from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday and Thursday.

A variety of items on the menu begin with the Chef’s Suggestion meals such as chicken-fried steak for $5, two pork chops for $5.70 and liver and onions for $5. All meals include a choice of two of the following: salad, potato and vegetable. Coffee or tea comes with the meal and half-order meals are also available for $3.75.

Pasta offerings are spaghetti for $4.90 and chicken parmesan for $7.20. They come with a salad, garlic toast and coffee or tea.

Sandwiches range from a grilled cheese for $1.95 to a club sandwich for $5. Customers also can choose from a variety of hamburgers served with fries or chips.

Soups, salads, a kiddie menu and desserts round out the traditional menu, but the dining possibilities don’t stop there.

The entire back page of Stone City Cafe’s menu is devoted to its most popular fair-the breakfast items, which are served at any time of the day.

“Everybody loves breakfast,” Boone said. “Everybody who comes in on Monday night eats breakfast, and we also serve a lot of breakfasts on Thursday night.”

For the hungry diner, a chicken-fried steak with two eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee is a temptation for $6. Omelettes begin as a plain omelette for $3.15 to a deluxe with ham, cheese, onions, tomatoes, peppers and picante sauce for $5.25. All omelettes include hash browns, toast and coffee.

A pancake lover can try the blueberry variety or opt for a change and try french toast.

Cook started working in restaurants when she was 14 years old and has developed her recipes based on her years of experience in the business.

“Because I’ve always worked in a restaurant, I just picked it up,” Cook said.

Monday evenings are officially declared Breakfast Night and have become popular with the breakfast crowd until the restaurant closes its door at 8 p.m., Cook said.

Thursday’s feature is Mexican food, which includes sanchos with chili and cheese, burritos, tostadas and taco salad-all ranging in price from $1.50 to $4.90. The combination platter is $4.90, and take-home boxes are available for the light eater.

“And Thursdays are also ball-game night so we always get a lot of to-go orders right at 5 p.m,” Boone said.

Cook added: “And then the first Friday of every month, we make Verenika. It’s $4.75 with a salad and the drink’s included.”

Enjoying all the regular and special menu items, customers can read the mother-daughter team’s dedicated philosophy, which is listed on the front of their menu:

“What’s your hurry? We are not fast! We are good. We are cheerful. We are efficient. But we are not fast. For fast, go to Wichita. Here, we are north of the ‘tension line.’

“So relax. Take time to smell the coffee, and give us time to prepare your order with tender loving care.”

In addition to seven full and part-time employees, Cook and Boone drew their respective responsibility lines long ago.

Cook reigns in the kitchen as the cook, and Boone is in front as the self-described public relations liaison and waitress.

“It’s my little corner of the world,” Boone said. “I wait tables and take cash-I’m the main stay.”

A visitor to the restaurant, either regular or stranger, won’t be able to miss Boone’s special collection displayed around the cafe.

Although no official count has been made, at least 250 coffee cups are a distinctive part of the decor.

“They’re mine,” Boone said. “If people have garage sales and have nothing else to do with their cups, they bring them to me.”

Some of the cups originally belonged to Boone’s mother and when she passed away, they found a home at the restaurant.

“The ones with the Sears Catalog on them, we put them in the back,” Boone said. “I have an Elvis cup somewhere around here, too.”

The atmosphere may be relaxed and casual, but two exciting events are on tap in the future for Boone. In about a week, she will be getting married. And she plans to retire in three years and three months, but who’s counting?

“We’re going to ask (granddaughter) Tammy to take over where I leave off,” Boone said.

In the meantime, the two plan to continue offering what they do best at their restaurant.

“We care about our customers,” Cook said.

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