Zenda — A restaurant housed in an old lumber yard draws hundreds of customers who come to this south-central Kansas town for the racks of ribs, the $23 seafood buffet and the rustic decor.
Stacks of lumber have been replaced by a tank of iced shrimp, and the bin bolts are converted into wine racks at the former Zenda lumber yard where locals bought their building and farm supplies.
Open only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the Lumber Yard Steakhouse & Supper Club's clientele, which comes from miles around, eclipses the 103-person town, about 55 miles southwest of Wichita.
"Our biggest push was over 500 people in just four to five hours," said manager and cook Brandee Bohrer.
The restaurant specializes in steaks and offers a full menu. But it's the ribs, served the first Saturday of each month, that draws local diner Brenda Dixon.
"If you order a whole rack, you take home leftovers," Dixon said. "They're great for takeout. When I know my family is coming, I order them ahead and put them in the freezer."
The restaurant, now on its third owners, was founded on November 1993 by Woodrow and Beulah Graber. Zenda had a little supper club, but it closed that fall, and the Grabers thought the town needed a new one, Beulah Graber said.
So, the couple used their property in downtown Zenda for the restaurant. The Kultch Lumberyard had occupied that spot for 73 years starting in 1902.
Beulah, then 75, and Woodrow, then 80, knew nothing about the restaurant business. They hired a neighbor lady to cook and enlisted help from their daughter and her husband.
"When we opened, we served almost 100 people that first night," Beulah Graber said. "We thought we'd have 20 or 25 customers. It was amazing that most of them came back."
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