Road trips inevitably in my life lead to eating in a random location. Mrs. Ed W. will with concern…read moreask "Why are we stopping here?" My friend TJ3 experienced a similar showing on a recent road trip to Oklahoma City to watch an NBA playoff game between the Grizz and Thunder.
It was the morning after the game, and after a few hours of sleep, we hit the road. Our voices were hurting from 48 minutes of cheering. We had to get home. We passed on the overpriced breakfast in the overpriced Renaissance hotel.
After an hour on the road, I was starved. TJ3 had a conference call he had to take. He was hungry, too. The sign on the exit said "Biscuit Hill" something or another. Yelp showed nothing. Sounded perfect to me. So we stopped, pulled past a truck stop, and parked next to the only other car in the "area" for parking. I say that because the parking lot is basically an extension of the truck stop, although the restaurant is not connected to the truck stop. It's a dive. It's run down. It's dirty. I was starving.
The sign says Biscuit Hill, but a sign in the half-broken front door says "Kay's Country Diner." Ahh, we have new ownership! I sat down at a table of 6 even though there were only two of us. I figured that was not a problem because there were 4 people in the entire restaurant: Ed W., TJ3, the friendly employee and a man drinking coffee by himself at a table that sat 10. I figured party size to table capacity ratio was not a real big deal for this place.
I asked who I learned was Danielle what was good on the menu, and she said the breakfast burrito and the omelets. So that was easy. I had the burrito, TJ3 had an omelet. Danielle turned, walked in the kitchen, and within seconds started cooking. Yes, she was the hostess, cashier, waitress, bus boy and cook. I heard lard and/or something hit the griddle and the sizzling sounds began. Nice.
And with that, TJ3 was outside pacing the parking lot for his conference call while I had nothing to do but soak in this soon-to-be Yelp first review. I needed some story. So who better to ask than the man sitting by himself, aka Gary. Gary explained that the restaurant had been around since the 60's. It looked like it. The walls were dirty, the furniture was a mish mash. There was a small television behind some counter stools that I believe may have been used on the television show Alice in Mel's Diner. Gary talked about different names of the spot, including The Hoe Down, but now it was Kay's.
Danielle later filled in the blanks. Kay had owned it twice, one in the 90's, and now 3 months ago she bought it again. She brought back the old menu, and specializes in good ole home country cooking. "Hamburger patty, hand breaded chicken fries, homemade biscuits and gravy, homemade mashed potatoes" she said when asked what she enjoyed serving. I think I'll be stopping here again soon.
TJ3 inhaled his omelet. My breakfast burrito was gigantic, and was heavy on the meat, light on the eggs. It included chunks of potatoes, jalapeno and other peppers, onion and cheese to go along with the voluminous portion of sausage and scrambled eggs.
I like this spot and give it 4 stars because it's not trying to hide what it is. It's a hole in the wall. It's limited on beauty but makes up for it in kindness and food taste. So if you're in the area and starving, make a stop to this dive outside of Shawnee. If you can look beyond the grit and grime, I think you'll like what you find. Four stars.
