Flint Hills eatery strives for quality local food without high costs

Bryan Williams attended a trendy New England prep school, then a culinary college in the Midwest, and he has since learned from some of the top chefs in America.

Now he’s taking all that knowledge and putting it to use with some of the freshest and best-tasting ingredients imaginable.

It’s served at a place he proudly describes in terms that would irk most fellow chefs.

“This is a dive, but I want it to be the best dive you’ve ever been to,” Williams said, standing outside Keller Feed & Wine Co., which he opened with his wife, Janice, about a year ago.

“I don’t want this to be a restaurant; there are lots of those.”

No matter the description, Kellers is gaining clientele.

“Everything has a real hometown flavor, and some of it’s not what you can get everywhere in (rural) Kansas,” said Bill Hartman, of Emporia, who ate at Kellers on a recent Saturday evening with friends, then stopped for brunch after fishing the next morning.

“You can tell everything is fresh; nothing corporate about it.”

Williams describes his menu as “Midwestern and Southern cuisine.”

Raised in Connecticut, Williams said he spent much of his childhood visiting relatives in Missouri. All had rural roots and raised much of their own food.

He was in the Kansas City area, cooking for places as upscale as Dean & Deluca, when he met Janice, a native of Cottonwood Falls. They eventually moved to Emporia so that Janice and their daughter, Hallie, could be closer to family and friends.

Williams manages a theater in Emporia, and his wife works for Emporia State University. Both wanted more.

“The original plan was to get some property and start a vineyard,” Williams said. “Then the Emma Chase building came up for sale. Some friends encouraged us to look at it.”

The Emma Chase Cafe was a typical small-town eatery, serving the simple food of the Flint Hills. Williams and his wife decided they wanted to use the same building but provide a different style of food.

One of the first things was to tap into the area’s strong agricultural tradition.

“The ‘farm to table’ idea has really gotten big. People care where there food comes from,” he said. “Not only is it a lot more healthy, but it’s so much better-tasting.”

They named the place after Janice’s family, Keller. Her local ties helped them quickly get several local farmers, gardeners and bakers to sell them everything from morning-fresh eggs to most kinds of garden produce and pies.

Williams has leased 8 acres nearby and is hiring local kids, many with an interest in farming, to maintain the garden. Williams said the agriculture teacher at the local high school is helping with that part of the business.

Still, finding good help in such a small community is always going to be a challenge. That’s one reason customers order at a main counter, selecting from chalkboard menus around the room.

People take drinks to a table after they order. Their food is brought to them.

Flatbread pizzas and smoked meats make up much of the offerings.

Friday nights are for traditional Southern shrimp boils, with sausage, corn on the cob, chunks of potatoes and boiled shrimp or crawfish. A barbecue platter, with four kinds of smoked meats, is another offering.

Williams is particularly proud of his assortment of true country-style vegetables like fried okra and collard greens, cooked just enough to maintain some crunch.

Hartman, the customer from Emporia, said he is widely traveled. He said much of the food at Kellers is as good, or better, than what he had in New Orleans and the American South.

He rates the pies as “some of the best I’ve ever tasted, seriously” and has a slice with about every meal, including when he had shrimp and grits for brunch. A friend with him had a quiche with crawfish, shrimp and greens.

Neither high prices nor nice steaks are on the wall-mounted menus. Neither really fit well in a “dive.”

Williams is also trying to fill a niche with entrees that mostly run $9 to $10, and up to $13 for some specials.

Chase County has two restaurants of note.

The Grand Central Hotel, just down the street from Kellers, has been serving high-end steaks for at least 20 years.

In Strong City, which is only a mile or two down the road, Ad Astra offers a trendy menu and nice restaurant atmosphere.

‘Everybody helps everybody’

Kellers has been open for about a year with a widening client base. It usually is open Friday evenings through Sunday afternoon so that the owners can work full weeks in Emporia while taking advantage of key customer demand in Cottonwood Falls.

“We both love our day jobs,” Williams said. “Ideally, I’d like to see us get big enough to where I could hire a full-time chef.”

Williams said he would like to spend more time helping his business, and other local businesses, grow. That could include getting more locals involved in growing fresh foods to sell to Keller and other businesses and to the growing number of visitors to the Flint Hills.

Rich and Denise Uhlrich have local jobs and help furnish Kellers with eggs and fresh garden produce. Rich Uhlrich said having “the dive” across the street helps their Tallgrass Antiques side business, too.

“We send people to them, and they send people to us, that’s the way it works with businesses around here,” he said. “For where we’re at, we need to be a destination, with enough things for people to do to spend at least a half-day to get them to come here.

“Everybody helps everybody.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Flint Hills eatery strives for quality local food without high costs."