Steere's Country Cafe features home cooking, fresh produce
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/02/2012 9:12 AM
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GREENE, Iowa —Bit by bit things are getting back to the way they were before the 2008 flood for Steere's Country Cafe in Greene.
Owner Karla Steere will take another step in the coming weeks, when pizza reappears on the menu.
Steere said that as far as anyone knows, the side-by-side, 100-year-old buildings that house her restaurant never flooded before 2008. She has one customer who is 89 and he doesn't remember it happening before.
When she came to work the morning it flooded in June 2008, everyone said she'd be fine. By early afternoon, the town was sandbagging the Shell Rock River.
"By 9 p.m. that night, it was gone," Steere said. "The water came around the corner, down the street and in the front door."
Steere moved the frozen food and dry goods to her home. She hauled out much of the equipment and tried to put up the rest so that it would be out of the water. Her booths, a refrigerator and a freezer were destroyed.
"I lost everything," Steere said. "I didn't know what to do first with all the mud and dirt. But I did have a place to live. There were people who lost their homes."
The cafe was closed for two months. She replaced the wiring, carpeting, paneling and cabinets. She put in new furnaces and a new water heater. Her family was a big help. There are still little things left to do, which she gets to as she can.
Steere was born in Greene, left for a while, came back and opened the cafe in September 1998.
"I'd always cooked a lot, but I'd never waitressed before," she said with a grin. "Now I do a little bit of everything. I always wanted to own a restaurant."
She has a party room for meetings and special events, and she also caters.
Demand for breakfast is light during the week but is strong on weekends. Steere does have her regulars for 10 a.m. coffee or tea each day. On a recent snowy morning, the crew consisted of Ralph Behnke, Harold Kock, Greene mayor Bill Christensen, Bill Worley and Jim O'Brien. Steere promised treats the next day because it was her birthday.
Steere serves all-you-can-eat fish and chicken on Friday nights. A full buffet is served on Sundays. Each day there is a special, but it rotates. Pork chops, pan-fried chicken, chicken and biscuits, hamburger steak, broasted chicken or soup and a cheese burger are some of the dishes featured.
"We do home food, nothing fancy," Steere said. "It's all made from scratch, and we try to use as much fresh produce as possible."
During summer produce comes from the garden or her brother buys fresh fruits and vegetables from the Cedar Valley Produce Auction near Elma. She buys peaches, strawberries, cabbage, potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and pumpkins.
"We get everything we can fresh, and we can and do freeze," she said.
If customers request it, she'll make homemade French fries. She peels and boils potatoes for mashing and breads her own tenderloins and chicken strips. Pies are made with her great-grandmother's pie crust recipe. If people call a day in advance, they can buy a whole pie. Favorites are coconut cream and sour cream raisin.
Steere's mother, Darlyce Steere, does much of the cooking and baking.
"I raised seven children so I'm used to cooking," Darlyce said.
Steere also has several part-time employees.