The Hometown Café is open for dine-in and carryout.

WEEKLY MENU

Tuesday 9/2

Red Wine Braised Ribeye Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, Italian Bread Sticks
Soup: Chickpea Chowder

Ribeye steaks are seared in a cast-iron skillet, smothered in a red wine sauce and braised. The sauce is heavy with onions caramelized in the same cast iron skillet the ribeyes were seared in. We are serving the braised ribeye and red wine sauce right over mashed potatoes! The soup is meat-free (except for Better Than Bouillon soup bases), oil-free, dairy-free, low in sodium and will fit into any diet on the healthy diet spectrum, even the plant-based whole foods diet. It is based on the classic flavors of potato, tomato, onions, peppers and celery present in a Manhattan clam chowder. You can buy Better Than Bouillon Soup bases right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle and look for a video of me making this very soup on the same page! Everything is gluten-free today.
 

Wednesday 9/3

Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl, Brown Rice, Green Beans
Soup: Coconut Chicken Curry
If you were ever given a sample of teriyaki chicken in a mall food court, then you have tasted this teriyaki chicken. I love this stuff; it’s tender but not shredded and is very well-marinated. This is now officially one of the favorite meals we serve in the Hometown Café! One portion of this chicken has 3.5 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated), 50 mg of cholesterol and 290 mg of sodium. Brown rice is a great non-meat source of protein with a huge fiber punch! Remember, if you are eating the DASH diet, you shoot for 30 grams of fiber daily. Brown rice can give you a great head start on that number! In Japan, curry is extremely popular and can be found on many traditional Japanese restaurant menus. The curry in this soup will be light but will have everything you’d expect in a good West Indian-style curry, including ginger, garlic, allspice and a good Madras curry powder with a pile of vegetables and potatoes! You can make it a meal in itself if you want! The rice and vegetables are gluten-free. The box for the teriyaki chicken has a gluten-free statement on it, but I see soy sauce mentioned in the ingredients several times, which is derived from wheat.

Thursday 9/4

Hometown Bierocks, Side Salad
Soup: Southwest Smoked Chicken
Bierocks are a popular item in Nebraska and Kansas, almost exclusively. It’s a yeast-leavened sweet bread pocket filled with a savory mixture of ground beef, cabbage and onions, seasoned with garlic, vinegar and a hint of sugar. We are serving it with a side salad, and you are welcome to use the smaller plastic container and visit the salad bar, where you can build a salad to your liking. The last time we tried bierocks, we had a miscommunication in the kitchen and too little dough was removed from the freezer. About half of what we served, although passable, was not proofed adequately so it appeared uncooked and a little “doughy.” Sorry about that, today’s will be the same great product that we tested and were all happy with. Hope you enjoy them! The portion size is quite substantial…these are big boys! Each portion contains approximately 500 calories, 10 grams of fat (3 grams of which are saturated), 40 mg of cholesterol and 700 mg of sodium. That compares with a bierock from Runza with 490 calories, 16 grams of fat (7 grams saturated), 40 mg cholesterol and 1,280 mg of sodium. This is obviously a treat item, but you can easily make it fit into the macronutrient parameters of a moderate diet, such as the DASH diet. Nothing is gluten-free today.

 

Open for dine-in or carryout weekdays from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Due to supply shortages for some products, menus listed may change.

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LUNCH PRICES

Full hot lunch (includes one cold side) – $7.99
Just entree – $3.99
Just vegetable or starch – $2.50
Pre-packaged side salad – $2.50
Full Salad Bar (unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $11.99
Children’s Salad Bar (8 and under, unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $3.99
Children’s Full Meal (8 and under) – $3.99
Senior Salad Bar (65+, unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $5.99
Senior Full Meal (65+) – $5.99
Salad only (unlimited trips) – $9.99
Soup only (unlimited trips) – $3.00
To-Go/One Trip Salad Bar – $7.99
Other sides priced specifically.

Be Relevant: About Chef Steve Smith

Chef Steve’s passion for delicious food is paired with a love for creating healthy options. Chef Steve was trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has opened 13 restaurants around the world. Most recently he was the executive chef at Coconut Grove in Nevis, West Indies.

Following a decision to make more healthy food choices in his own diet, Chef Steve became a registered and licensed dietitian. SCMH and Chef Steve have partnered to add nutrition education and support to patients and their families as a new service provided to those staying at the hospital.

Offering high-quality food in a healthcare setting is always a formidable challenge, one few healthcare facilities can tackle.  The quality and service goals of a chef and food service professional do not always align with the nutrition concerns of a healthcare facility.  Smith County Memorial Hospital has devised a unique solution to this problem in the person of a Chef-Registered Dietitian.  By combining the responsibilities for creating food and delivering nutrition services we are able to maintain high quality standards of both food and service while filling the nutrition needs of patients and the community.  The result is a food service department that is highly relevant to the medical team, the staff of the facility, patients in the hospital, and the community at large.

The Hometown Café is situated at the front entrance of the Smith County Memorial Hospital, located in North Central Kansas up near the Nebraska border.  We are open to the public Monday through Friday from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm and serve approximately 100 staff members, 30 Meals on Wheels participants, 30 members of the public, and 10-20 patients and guests in the hospital daily.  Our meals are based on the macronutrient parameters of the DASH diet, and we tailor food and nutrition to meet the needs of patients on an individual basis.  As a Chef-RD, Chef Steve goes into patient rooms every day armed with 30+ years’ experience providing tableside service to patrons in high-end hotels and stand-alone restaurants, intimate knowledge of what is in the refrigerators in the Hometown Café kitchen and the skill to know what to do with it, and a dedication to the highest level of service called the Spirit of Hospitality.
DASH Diet Guide

Chef Steve's Grab Good

Chef Steve’s community health partnership with Gene’s Heartland Foods makes finding exciting, healthier ingredients a breeze. Look for Chef Steve’s Grab Good labels on the ingredients he selects at Gene’s. Scan the QR code for instant access to Recipes, Pro Tips from a Registered Dietitian, and How-To Cooking Videos. It’s never been easier to cook healthy and tasty meals.

With Chef Steve’s Grab Good, making healthy lifestyle changes is not just easy, it’s a breeze!

CHEF STEVE'S GRAB GOOD

“Chef Steve and his crew make awesome food!!”