Melanie Carrier and Denis Mimeault, vacationing from Canada, check out the menu at the Ozark Café.


Mementos designate the history of the Ozark Café.


staff volunteer. The dinner raises money for an area food pantry and last year, they raised $1,400.


In the second dining room, a building from the late 1800s that has been connected to the original Ozark Café, there’s a canoe on the wall paying homage to this river town. The third room has more tables, a jukebox and photo of Marilyn Monroe. The second room used to be a coffee shop, Junkin Java, and the three buildings were attached in the 1990s to accommodate more customers, said Jerri Todd.


In the middle room, there is a stage where bands play on Saturday night which is when the restaurant is really hopping. Get there early or you won’t get a seat, which is hard to believe because the restaurant seats 140 and the town population is 453.


But Ozark Café is always packed. Regulars love it, as do tourists.


On Sundays, when they have a buffet that Russ describes as “good


country food,” there’s a line out the door.


This restaurant has gained national accolades: New York Magazine’s Grub Street has listed Ozark Café as Arkansas’s entry in their list of the Top 50 foodie destinations; Delish.com named the café’s chocolate gravy as Arkansas’s Must Try Foods from the 50 States; Only in Your State has recognized the restaurant in the state’s top 12 historic eateries; MSN rated it as a top rural restaurant in the Natural State; and the Arkansas Times have more than once praised the breakfast.


Ozark Café has even earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.


But what makes this place comparable to a modern TV show where Guy Fieri, the host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, might stop in for a bite are the portions: the pancakes are 8-10 inches; they serve up a 1


⁄2 and the Excalibur, a 1 18 Living Well i May/June 2017


-pound Ozark Burger; ⁄2


-pound burger nestled between two grilled


cheese sandwiches, is one of the best sellers.


You can thank a climber for that invention, said Brasel.


The restaurant is a favorite among people floating or climbing the Buffalo River and climbers come in with the biggest appetites. One climber asked if they could make a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches and the Excalibur was born.


“We couldn’t figure out how to keep it together, so we stuck a knife through it,” said Brasel, explaining how it is served. “All that because a tourist.”


A family operation


Russ and Jerri Todd own the Ozark Café and they are the 14th set of owners in the past 108 years.


Dill Brasel founded it in 1909, but former owner Tim Ray is credited with really expanding it, said the Todds.


The couple owns the restaurant with Jerri’s daughter and son-in-law, Amanda and Fred Lydick.


This is the first restaurant Amanda ever visited and she was only a couple of hours old.


In 1976, the nursing home in town had a birthing room where midwives or doctors could help locals give birth if they didn’t want to head to a hospital in a big city. Jerri opted to give birth in the nursing home. It was 10 a.m. and the doctor warned she had a float trip planned for noon, so Jerri better hurry up or start heading to Harrison.


After the birth, Jerri wasn’t up for cooking dinner, naturally, so she and her then-husband brought their newborn to Ozark Café for dinner.


Jerri ordered a grilled cheese sandwich.


The Ozark Café was her family’s Sunday dining tradition, but Jerri


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