Small Town Equals Big Eats

World famous pie. Super-size cinnamon rolls. Small-town hospitality.

That is what you get when you travel to Dover, Kansas. An “unincorporated” town just southwest of the capitol city of Topeka, it is a tiny, quiet village famous for having amazing pie.

Small town equals big eats.

Dover, Kansas has amazing food. It’s comfort food. Like what Pioneer Woman makes on TV.

Hey, Dover has been on TV! The Sommerset Hall cafe holds the title of the World’s Best Pie. You can read about the Sommerset Hall Cafe’s pie story HERE. It is pretty awesome.

Most small towns have a watering hole. A place where the community can get together for meals or meetings. In Dover, that place is the Sommerset Hall Cafe. You can read the history of the Sommerset Hall Cafe HERE.

If you read about the cafe history, you know the quiet town of Dover and the Sommerset Hall Cafe attracts people from all over the eastern parts of Kansas. It truly is Shawnee County’s best kept secret.

I travel to Dover a few times per year for a farm management meeting. Or is it for the food?

When the small group of us arrived and filled the tiny parking lot, we climbed the creaky steps to the meeting room. These lovelies were waiting for us.

Fresh. Warm. Buttery.

Irresistable.

The cinnamon rolls are definitely worth going for seconds. HOWEVER, I refrained from a second cinnamon roll. The first cinnamon roll certainly did not help my caloric intake for the day. But, you only live once (YOLO), right?

The rest of the morning was spent in the meeting room learning. What did I learn? I have no idea.

I was dreaming about lunch.

Finally, it was lunch time and there was roast beef. I was so excited, there was no time for a photo.

Along with the roast beef, we ate homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and a dinner roll. Talk about hometown country cooking.

World Famous Pie

Before we received lunch, we had to give one of the waitresses our pie order. There were about 10-12 choices for pie. I chose the Lemon Meringue.

That is not the Lemon Meringue. That is my friend Jody’s Coconut Cream she couldn’t finish.

I was so excited about lunch and the pie, I completely forgot to take a picture of my pie for you all. Sorry about that. It was a beautiful piece of pie.

If you would have asked anyone if they had enough to eat, the answer would have been the same. We were all so stuffed and happy from the comfort food that it felt like nap time.

For a few guys it was. Later on in the meeting, those few guys did snooze off. Of course, the rest of us pointed and snickered.

Down stairs, the locals had gathered for lunch as well. It’s always a full house for lunch at the Sommerset Hall Cafe. Everyone who can will come in to eat and socialize in the town’s watering hole.