The Hayloft

Last night the Schrag side of the family had one last meal together before the college students in the family left for another year of school. The Hayloft was the restaurant of choice. It is a very small cafe on Hwy 42 a couple miles south of Canistota which is 30 minutes west of Sioux Falls. The first quirky thing about The Hayloft is that there is nothing else around it. At first I was not even sure we were in the right place. Jeremy and I came from Sioux Falls and planned on meeting everyone else there at 6:30. We got there just a bit late and I did not recogize any of the cars so I went inside to ask the name of the restaurant. All the locals eating curiously looked up at me and some lady said, "Are you in the right place?" She told me it was The Hayloft and I said thanks and went back outside so those people would stop staring at me.

Soon the other Schrags arrived and we all went inside. The second quirky thing about The Hayloft were the table settings. All the dishes and cups were different. Everyone was recognizing CorelleWare they had eaten on before.

The third quirky thing was the decor. There were probably hundreds of plates adorning all four walls in the cafe. They reminded me of the plates my Grandpa Hoppe used to collect, except he put his in vaults and cupboards where no one could see them. There was a poster with Tom Daschle's photo on it thanking him for 27 years of service. That ubiquitos picture of the two farm kids in coveralls kicking the dirt was also hanging up. A picture of the Austin wrestling team with their shirts off was resting on a shelf. Austin, MN? Avon products were loaded up on shelves by the bathroom. Were those for sale?

The food was very reasonalby priced and decent. My steak was not the best I had ever had, but the salad bar was great. Those deviled eggs ... mmmm. I had to laugh when Nathan's gravy for his chicken fried steak came in a serving bowl. They must not have had anything smaller. Throughout the meal I noticed there was a lot of random food around that no one ordered, but they just gave to us. In the beginning an employee brought out a tray of carmel rolls. Several jars of Tootsie rolls were already on the table to snack on. Finally, just before we left another employee/owner brought us some stale popcorm. Again, very quirky.

I liked the strange little Hayloft cafe. I think I might go back again someday.