Scott City's Berghoff's Cafe fills tables with county cooking

Locals are never alarmed to see two or three police cars outside Bergoff's Cafe in Scott City.

Crime doesn't bring them there, the food does.

"There's nothing here that isn't good," said Mary Beth Long, who has been a server at the Main Street restaurant since October.

Berghoff's Cafe was opened in January 2007 by Eric Berghoff and his aunt, Betty Calhoun. Neither one of them are strangers to the restaurant business. Calhoun owns the Pancake House in Cape Girardeau. Berghoff, a Kelso, Mo., native, owned a bar and grill in Delta for a while.

Berghoff's Cafe offers traditional country cooking in a small-town setting. The police station is down the street, and an auction site and the local beauty shop are neighbors.

There's a pig clock on the wall, checkered tablecloths on all the tables, and plenty of coffee and soft drinks on tap. By noon the place starts filling up with people from every corner of Scott City and the surrounding area.

On any given day police officers, construction workers and local business people fill up the restaurant's diner tables. The customers mingle with each other and chat up the staff.

It's the type of Main Street Cafe they put in movies. People come in for a meal, a piece of pie and to talk.

Berghoff's Cafe is open from 5 am. to 2 p.m. Monday to Sunday, and breakfast is served all day. Other down-home offerings include the hog platter, a fried chicken breast sandwich and the ever popular BLT.

On Sundays the parking lot is full and cars line the street. Both Berghoff and Long said Sundays are the most popular days at the cafe because of the menu. Sunday is chicken and dumplings day. Homemade dumplings pack the house like no other food on the menu.

Berghoff's Cafe

1306 Main St., Scott City

573-264-2221