RESTAURANTS OFFER TASTE OF NOSTALGIA

Charles Varble, right, pays for his dinner to Leslie "Scooter" Seabaugh, owner of Mable's Cafe in Chaffee. Varble works seven day each week at the cafe that was started by his mother Mable.

Since he bought the place almost six years ago, Scooter Seabaugh has been getting up before 5 a.m. every day to prepare breakfasts and plate lunches at Mabel's Cafe in Chaffee.

Seabaugh bought the cafe from his mother, Mabel Seabaugh, who started Mabel's in 1958. Since then the restaurant not only is an eating establishment, but it has reached a level of nostalgia among Chaffee residents.

Walking into Mabel's gives an outsider a glimpse into Chaffee's recent history. Old pictures, plaques and bar stools fill the restaurant. if any of the patrons have questions about the memorabilia, they can get an answer out of Seabaugh, be it fact or fiction.

Mabel's hasn't always been at 119 W. Yoakum; the cafe relocated at least four times, three times to expand and once because of a fire.

"It took her a while to start back after that," Seabaugh said. "She didn't have any insurance and she was burned out."

Seabaugh said he would prefer everyone in Chaffee stop cooking for themselves and go out to eat. Breakfast draws the biggest crowd of mostly regular customers, he said.

"If I'm busy in the back cooking," he said, "they'll get their own coffee. They'll even leave their money at the register and leave if I'm in the back. Everyone knows how much everything costs."

Mabel's is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. most days, but Seabaugh said they'll stay open as long as customers walk through the door. He said even Mabel still comes in some evenings for dinner.

Other small towns also have their nostalgic cafes and restaurants that not only provide good food but are part of their town's identity.

Wib's Drive In at Jackson hasn't changed the menu much in its 47 years. The owners, A.D. and Judy Hoffman, said French fries and ice cream are offered but that's the only new food items appearing on the menu. The mainstay is barbecue sandwiches: outsides, regulars, cheese, hot and extra hot.

"Jack Hoffmeister owned it for 23 years," A.D. Hoffman said, "and his wife used to make pies at home and bring them down and sell them But the health inspector put a stop to that."

Since then, pies have been made inside the restaurant at 1204 Highway 61 North.

Hoffman said Anna Dean and Bob Lohman started Wib's in 1948, then sold it to Jack Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister sold the business to Hoffman's parents, A.D. and Carmen Hoffman, in 1973. He and his wife purchased Wib's in 1986.

"I got a degree in math and was going to school to be an electrical engineer," Hoffman said. "I got tired of that and came back here and started doing this."

Although the menu hasn't changed much, the style of service has been altered. Wib's used to be a drive-in: Cars pulled up to the building and car hops took orders and took the barbecues to the customers in their cars.

"By the time my parents bought it from Jack, that was gone," Hoffman said. "Jack used to joke that every kid in town worked for him at one time or another."

In addition to Jackson residents stopping by Wib's, Hoffman meets many people who grew up in Jackson but have moved away. "We get a lot of people who come back and have to eat here," he said.

Folks in New Hamburg also return to visit Schindler's Tavern.

Although Brenda Schwepker has owned the tavern about three years, it has a 125-year history sitting on top one of the highest hills in Scott County.

"I love this," Schwepker, a Sikeston native, said about owning the tavern. "I always wanted some place like this, and I love this town. I'm happy right here."

Schindler's Tavern is open from 8 a.m. to midnight or 1 a.m., depending on the number of customers. The tavern's claim to fame is the bologna burger: a regular cheese burger topped with fried bologna.

"I get a lot of people in here just to try that," Schwepker said.

Walking into Schindler's also is like taking a step back in time: Signs and placards on the wall boast cheap food prices from years past and blunt philosophy.

Schwepker said she tried to make some changes to the place but the customers, mostly townsfolk, wouldn't let her. "They want things left exactly the way they are," she said. "I guess that's what I'll do."

Schindler's is a place for the family to eat and relax, Schwepker said. "They're hard workers here, and this is the kind of place they want to come to and relax," she said.