Very befitting of the location at the Beatrice 77 Livestock Sales building, a new restaurant in town is cooking up some cattle drive cuisine.
Jason Williams, the owner of Bistro 77, said he and several volunteers started working during cattle sales for the auction house around two months ago and decided to work full-time in late November.
Williams said the menus are still being worked on, but he calls the style cattle drive cuisine and said it's similar to Tex-Mex.
“We still do the classic stuff where you get two or three eggs however you want them,” Williams said. “But we also do huevos rancheros. I do migas street tacos, different kind of style of French toast, and just try to bring everything a little more upscale, above the norm, and try to be different.”
According to the Kansas Historical Society, northern states had a shortage of beef after the Civil War. Texas ranchers had an abundance of cattle and they decided to ship them north – largely to Kansas cities, dubbed cow towns – to be exported across the country from there.
"It pulled from all of these different ethnic groups, because all the immigrants were coming over. … So you have a lot of Hispanic influence, and then you have Irish, Italian, Czech, German -- you have all of these different ethnic groups that kind of influence the food.”
According to its Facebook page, Bistro 77 bills itself as a "farm to table" restaurant and says all of its dishes are made from locally sourced ingredients.
Bistro 77’s current hours are Thursday through Monday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Williams wants to add evening hours in the future, as well.
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