After a very cold morning dealing with frozen batteries and drifted-in gates, I was hungry and in need of come hot coffee. It was just after 1 in the afternoon and the CM and I were kind of in the middle of nowhere. We cut back on 59 toward Morris, but the highway was diverted around town and we didn't see anything except the entrance to UM-Morris. The next town on the road was Barrett, and we stopped at the first place we found. This place happened to be the Barrett Inn II. From the outside we weren't exactly sure it was open, but the door was unlocked and we were soon out of the sub-zero temperatures and in a nearly empty dining room. We quickly picked a table and were greeted by the waitress coming out of the kitchen. She was kind enough to make a new pot of coffee rather than serve us the old stuff. There was an on-sale bar adjoined to the cafe and I walked over there briefly to use the restroom. A couple of barflies gave me a quick glance. Not much going on at 1:30 on a Tuesday, but it was pretty damn cold out. I took a quick glance at the menu, which was standard small town cafe fare: burgers, chicken sandwiches, etc. The menu claimed the burgers were renowned, so I decided to give them a try. I ordered the Stroganoff Burger, which was a 1/3 lb. burger with mushrooms and sour cream. It was a good but not great sandwich. The bun wasn't toasted and quickly became soggy and my single napkin proved inadequate. The hamburger was well done (as ordered) and was overall of high quality, but the mushrooms (canned) and the sour cream didn't quite match up. I got fries with my burger, and the pile, fresh out of the fryer, had to weigh in at over a pound. There was no way I could eat even half of them, but they were pretty good. All in all I'd certainly stop by the Barrett Inn II if I ever found myself in this town again. The waitress was certainly friendly enough, talking with us about the bitter cold for quite some time after we had eaten, and the locals didn't seem too insular.
BD K.
After a very cold morning dealing with frozen batteries and drifted-in gates, I was hungry and in need of come hot coffee. It was just after 1 in the afternoon and the CM and I were kind of in the middle of nowhere. We cut back on 59 toward Morris, but the highway was diverted around town and we didn't see anything except the entrance to UM-Morris. The next town on the road was Barrett, and we stopped at the first place we found. This place happened to be the Barrett Inn II. From the outside we weren't exactly sure it was open, but the door was unlocked and we were soon out of the sub-zero temperatures and in a nearly empty dining room. We quickly picked a table and were greeted by the waitress coming out of the kitchen. She was kind enough to make a new pot of coffee rather than serve us the old stuff. There was an on-sale bar adjoined to the cafe and I walked over there briefly to use the restroom. A couple of barflies gave me a quick glance. Not much going on at 1:30 on a Tuesday, but it was pretty damn cold out. I took a quick glance at the menu, which was standard small town cafe fare: burgers, chicken sandwiches, etc. The menu claimed the burgers were renowned, so I decided to give them a try. I ordered the Stroganoff Burger, which was a 1/3 lb. burger with mushrooms and sour cream. It was a good but not great sandwich. The bun wasn't toasted and quickly became soggy and my single napkin proved inadequate. The hamburger was well done (as ordered) and was overall of high quality, but the mushrooms (canned) and the sour cream didn't quite match up. I got fries with my burger, and the pile, fresh out of the fryer, had to weigh in at over a pound. There was no way I could eat even half of them, but they were pretty good. All in all I'd certainly stop by the Barrett Inn II if I ever found myself in this town again. The waitress was certainly friendly enough, talking with us about the bitter cold for quite some time after we had eaten, and the locals didn't seem too insular.
(3)