Bollinger County: Bonnie’s Moo Cow Cafe in Patton, Missouri, dishes out Southern classics

Editor's note: This story has been updated to show the correct location of the cafe and its distance from Cape Girardeau.

At 72, some folks might want to take it easy, sleep late and enjoy retirement. Not Bonnie Mills, who can be found most days at 5:30 a.m. at the cafe she owns in Patton, Missouri, Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe. Even though the cafe doesn't start serving until 7 a.m., she opens the doors at 6 so people can stop by for coffee and conversation.

Mills says that's her favorite part of running the cafe, which she bought from her sister-in-law 23 years ago.

"I like to be around people," she says.

While her sister-in-law owned the place, Mills worked for her part time as a waitress, but for 30 years prior to that, she worked as a beautician. She was tired of the beauty shop business, and she enjoyed working at the cafe so much that she just decided to buy it, she says.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Ronnie Mills visits with customers over lunch on Monday, March 27, 2017, at Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe in Patton, Missouri.

The friendly atmosphere was one of the things she liked best about it, and though her customers enjoy talking with her, it's the food that is really the draw.

"It's all home cooked," she says. "It's just a home-cooking cafe."

Mills started cooking when she married her husband, Ronnie, at age 17, and soon they will celebrate their 53rd wedding anniversary. She says she still enjoys cooking. She grew up in the country on a farm, and says country cooking is all she's ever known.

Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe has a small-town charm and coupled with the fresh-cooked food, it's a popular spot for locals as well as people in neighboring towns. The restaurant is located at the intersection of Highways 51 and 72. Patton is about 32 miles from Cape Girardeau, but Mills says people come from 60 or 75 miles to enjoy a home-cooked meal.

Southern classics like ham and beans, chicken and dumpling, meatloaf and pork chops are staples at the cafe. Lunchtime features daily specials for $5.99, which include a meat, choice of vegetable and cornbread.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Customers eat lunch on Monday, March 27, 2017, at Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe in Patton, Missouri.

She says people have often told her she needs to raise her prices, but she doesn't want to do that.

"I could make more money, but that's not the important thing," she says. "I need to satisfy the customers."

It's the people that make Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe special and she knows it.

"No matter how busy I am on a Saturday night, I'll still make my rounds to the tables, say hello and make sure everything's all right.

The cafe closes during the week at 3 p.m. Generally, dinner isn't served Monday through Thursday, but the restaurant's building is attached to the Patton Livestock Auction Barn, so if there is a sale on Monday, she sometimes stays open.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Elizabeth Robison takes a customer's lunch order on Monday, March 27, 2017, at Bonnie's Moo Cow Cafe in Patton, Missouri.

The restaurant, which seats 100, is usually packed on Friday and Saturday nights, when an all-you-can-eat special draws in a crowd. It includes catfish, shrimp and frog legs, pork tenderloin and chicken, served with vegetables, for $11.99. "It's all farm-raised catfish. None of that frozen stuff," she says.

The cafe closes at 8 p.m. on the weekend.

Like the savory food, all the pies are handmade, and for just $2.50 a slice, it's hard to resist as an ending to a down-home dinner.