Comfort food in a comfortable place

Themed-restaurants have tried virtually everything under the sun. Every so often, a place has its own theme and you know it’s not forced or was made up in some corporate board room.

The Spring Store in Sharspsburg is just that.

While watching the Lenox Rodeo this summer, a friend of mine from Clarinda who was also at the rodeo, invited me for lunch at the Spring Store the following Wednesday. He was very intentional about that day since it’s his favorite daily special. That would be beef and noodles.

I had heard of Sharpsburg but never gave it a second thought the place would have a place to eat. My friend said he’d been there before and wanted me to have the same experience. My curiosity was greater than my appetite at that point. I told him I’d meet him there.

Owned by Harold and Linda Spring, their store is like one of those general stores you’d see on “Little House on the Prairie” or a John Wayne western in the 1950s. And I describe it that way with great respect. There are a wide variety of things on the shelves from canned foods, household goods, pots, pants, dishes and salt-and-pepper shakers. I could go on, but I hope you get the idea.

The restaurant portion of the store is in the back of the building. You can set at those metal tables which were in houses decades ago. My great-grandfather had one. The weekly specials are written on an A-frame chalkboard. It was Wednesday so beef and noodles was suggested. I had mine served over mashed potatoes, like I was at my grandmother’s house. I had a side of coleslaw which is made to my preference; sweet and creamy. The plate it was served on was not your typical restaurant plate as it had a colored pattern around the perimeter.

While we were there, others arrived for lunch. Easy guess to say they were regulars.

And that is the only thing that is regular at Spring Store. Everything else is in a class of its own.

Thank you to all who attended our candidate forums the last couple of weeks. We had one for the Creston City Council candidates running for contested seats on Oct. 21 and one for the Creston School Board candidates on Oct. 28.

I enjoy doing those things as it makes like small-town Creston feel a bit bigger.

During my career, I have done candidate forums and I think constituents appreciate them as they see the candidates in a candid, public setting. Over the years knowing people who have been elected to seats tell me it’s expected to be unexpectedly stopped in a store and asked a question or 10 about a certain issue. The key is having a valid answer at that moment. I have respect for those who can think on their feet and have an accepted answer.

I have even more respect for the elected officials who have the same answer in a setting like that, with no one else around really paying attention, and during a meeting with the other elected members and an audience.

I can’t thank Sarah from the CNA newsroom, Raquel at KSIB Radio and Ellen from the chamber enough for all their contributions to both forums.

Don’t forget to change your clocks Saturday night one hour back before you go to bed. Or maybe you can be one of those odd people who actually gets up at 2 a.m. and changes the time.

The time change is also a good reminder to check or replace batteries in smoke detectors and carbon-monoxide detectors.