Submitted Photo

Home Place Restaurant

102 S. Liberty, Troy, Kan.

(785) 985-3800

When cyclists with Bike Across Kansas traveled along U.S. Highway 36 last June, they made their luncheon pit stop at Home Place restaurant in Troy. The restaurant is located on the town square and is owned by Jeannie Ricklefs and her sister, Mary Jackson.

It’s a cozy, 45-seat eatery open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch Sunday through Friday. They are closed on Saturdays.

Early birds get a special treat on Thursday and Friday mornings, with coffee and Jeannie’s fresh homemade cinnamon rolls starting at 7:30 a.m. Lunch offerings include usually two entrees that change daily, along with soups and sandwiches. And you’ll want to save room for Jeannie Ricklefs’ famous square pie. The pies were nominated as a Best Bite because of their delicious crust.

Why square pies?

The place mats in the restaurant cite an extract from an address by the Honorable Daniel Webster Wilder at Wathena, Kan., on July 4, 1884, taken from Gray’s Doniphan County History. He tells the story of a group of young men traveling to Troy and stopping at a little shop on the east side of the square (the location of Home Place). This was what he wrote about being served round pies:

“Every man in the party would have starved rather than eaten a round pie, after their leader Abbey Nelson, in a momentary and whimsical edict, had declared that the only straight out Free State and Black Republican pie was a square pie. ‘Of course, square piece,’ they all roared and yelled. ‘Who ever heard of a Free State man eating a round pie.’”

It’s an interesting story, although you might need to be a history buff to understand it. And the truth is that Jeannie makes square pies because she discovered she could make pies faster and easier in a big square pan. Whatever the reason, they look delicious square. The Bike Across Kansas cyclists must have liked square pies, too. They said they are coming back next year for more.