A great place to eat

I'm always looking for new places to eat that offer something besides fast food. Several faculty members from the college have been eating every Wednesday at El Puerto since it opened and we are never disappointed. The service is almost always friendly, although our waiter was a little grumpy this past week; the food is served quickly and is always hot and tasty. There are no surprises at El Puerto and that's the way we like it. Quality food served at a reasonable price amid pleasing appointments by a courteous wait staff is what most restaurants strive for and El Puerto generally hits the mark.

Another favorite place is the new Chinese buffet, housed in the old Video Kingdom building on west 10th street. The owners and operators of the buffet are friendly also and showcase enough different food to satisfy most people's palate. I've always been a fool for sweet and sour chicken and the sweet and sour chicken served on the buffet is tender enough to cut with a fork which is a delight in itself because I've eaten at other Chinese restaurants where that couldn't be accomplished. Dessert is included in the one-price-fits-all that allows you to make as many trips through the buffet as you desire which insures that no one leaves hungry!

But my new favorite place to eat eluded me for some time before I finally managed to go there. I used to eat lunch at the Bear Cave in Culbertson from time to time because my good friend, Scott Kasch, was the cook there. I had heard about a new place to eat that had opened up on the highway but because I'm loyal to my friends, I continued to eat at the Bear Cave until Scott moved to Denver to be closer to his son. One day at the college, one of the guys who eats with us on Wednesday suggested that we drive to Culbertson and have lunch at the Hillside Perk restaurant, the restaurant that had opened when I was still eating at the Bear Cave. My friend had been there before and raved about the food so I agreed to meet him there. I've been eating there at least once a week ever since!

Everything served is homemade, the owners, cooks and servers are local, and their friendliness and the quality of their food puts them right up at the top of the list. They have a standard menu that doesn't change but they have two different specials every day and that's really their calling card. Whether you're having ham and beans on cornbread, chicken fried chicken, a french dip sandwich, chicken enchilada or any of the other cooked-in-the-kitchen specialties they have, it's sure worth the 22 mile trip because that kind of food isn't being served anywhere in McCook.

Like anything of quality, news of the restaurant appears to be spreading by word-of-mouth. I ate there earlier this week along with several McCook high school students and their teacher, apparently on a field trip, and other folks from McCook. Although their crowd is more local than not, that's probably going to change as positive word about them spreads through our communities. They're open early in the morning serving coffee and a few breakfast items including cinnamon rolls that another friend told me were out of this world! I've always enjoyed the people of Culbertson and used to drive over there weekly before the Quarter Moon burned down. It's a pleasure to make that drive once again, knowing I'll be rewarded for it with great food, great service and great people!