Last week my mom, sister and I went on a road trip to check out Pawhuska, OK where Ree Drummond – aka The Pioneer Woman – lives, works and cooks up some really great food! On busy weekends in the summer the size of the town can double due to all the visitors. The locals didn’t seem to mind that their sweet little town has turned into a food lovers destination. I’m not sure how I would handle all the extra commotion, but everyone we spoke with was glad to greet their out of town guests. We checked out some posts from people that had already been there and got some helpful information on when to visit – mainly to go early mornings and avoid Saturdays if possible. They are closed on Sunday too, so plan accordingly.
Breakfast – lets start with all that yummy breakfast food, shall we?? We were there right as they opened at 7 AM on a Friday, and I think we were the 2nd table seated for breakfast. Perfect! First up – coffee. It’s her own blend of coffee, they sell it in the Mercantile, and it was very good. We each ordered an meal with the intent to share so we could try lots of dishes. Eggs in a hole with sausage, bacon, hash browns and tomato salad, Edna Mae’s pancakes and biscuits and gravy. They brought us 4 kinds of syrup, and I now have an addiction to salted caramel syrup. The pancakes were light and fluffy and I will definitely be making them soon, plus I needed a new syrup in my life. Biscuits were tender with sage sausage and creamy gravy. Basically the food was what you would expect if she was back there whipping it up for you. Great way to start our day! When we went back to the store later in the day there was a 2 hour wait around lunchtime, so we were glad we got in early and could relax and enjoy our buffet of food.
Shopping – While I have seen her things at the local mega mart, the way things are displayed at the Mercantile make you feel like you are shopping in someone’s (her) well stocked home. The merchandise is set up in large bookcase and sideboard type pieces of furniture, and you are encouraged to look through drawers and bins to find more cute things to put in your shopping basket. Everyone there is very helpful and there is large bookshelf that you can store your loot on while you fill up another basket. Yes I know that from personal experience. Here’s what I ended up with, and my sweet sister bought me that uber-cute cow pillow. Doesn’t she look good in my chair? There are a few other local stores in the same area so be sure to check those out too…lots of local Oklahoma items to check out.
Lodge tour – we had initially set up to be in Pawhuska for 2 days – one for the town and one for the Lodge tour which was due to be open on Saturday. However we were glad to find out the Lodge was open on Friday while we were there too. Score! The weather was miserable – cold and raining – but we braved it since we thought the crowds would be lighter on Friday. It’s just what you see on TV. There is NO CHARGE to go out and tour around and check out her place, you just need a map from the Mercantile, but they are only open on certain dates depending on her schedule. There are guides there to answer questions and they are just as friendly as can be. Even the cows seemed happy to see us and posed for a few pictures. We got to see her prop room, which I could have spent the entire day in. There’s every piece of kitchen equipment you can think of in there. I did get to pet the dogs too, but they were wet and trying hard to love me back so I didn’t get any pictures with them. The sheer size of the ranch is very impressive in person, even in the wet and cold weather.
Warning: Your car will need a bath after.
After out tour we decided to go back into town and try out her P-Town pizza joint for lunch. After all that ranch work (aka chasing cows down to take pictures of) we needed some more food! I had just seen an episode of the show where she made the Not-Knots garlic bread and her pizzas, so what better things to try, right? The marinara and the ranch was outstanding, and the three types of pepperoni on the pizza was a new thing I’m going to have to try to duplicate at home. Caesar salad rounded out the meal, because you have to have a vegetable, right? The food we had at her places was probably my favorite of the trip, even thought we did find some pretty good tacos in St. Louis on the way home, but that’s maybe another post. 🙂
If you go, have fun and tell all our new Oklahoma friends – including the cows – hello for us!
Amy’s Kitchen 