By Tom Wing
Many times, as a student at Northside High School, my friends and I walked a few blocks to the corner of Greenwood Road and Park Avenue. Right next to Vivian's Bookstore, an icon in its own right, was the Corner House, the object of our affection and end to our midday hunger.
For a high school kid trying to keep gas in the car and have little money left over for the weekend, a "Corner House Special" – ham and turkey on (grilled, my preference) Van Hatten's bread, with house-made, secret recipe, blue cheese dressing, a pickle wedge and chips – was perfect.
The previous owner, Charles Cowan, ran the Fort Smith lunch spot with his daughter and a few devoted workers. Linda Mankin approached Cowan in early 1985 to buy it. She was interested in a business she could run while her kids were in school. He initially turned Linda down, but later that year, agreed to sell.
Linda took over a business with a cult following. In addition to Northside students like me, who kept the Corner House in a rotation with Señor Bob's Taco Hut, Homer and Martha's and Porta's on Rogers, other regular patrons included a group of doctors’ wives and clergy. Teachers ordered lunch to go and visited en masse the week before school started. ABF employees, just a few blocks away in those days, ordered lunch and often bought up all the strawberry pie. One of Linda's cooks remarked, "If the phone was ringing at 10 a.m., it was going to be a busy day."
Linda remembers one elderly customer who always sat at the same table. When they'd ask if he wanted his usual order, he'd say yes and then promptly fall asleep in his chair, always waking sometime after his food had arrived. Offering "good food in a comfortable atmosphere" was important to Linda. She remembers several other elderly customers who ate alone at the Corner House. They trusted the staff, even though they didn't feel at ease eating alone at other places. Relationships were built, good food served and a comfortable atmosphere was maintained for 15 successful years.
Linda diversified the original menu, trying a few things and adopting items that became fan favorites. The menu had daily specials. Monday was apple pie, Tuesday was cake day, with Linda adding carrot cake to the already popular chocolate marble and Italian cream.
Wednesday was lemon pie, with Thursday's feature being Stromboli. S trawberry pie was a seasonal offering, while vegetable beef soup, Reuben sandwiches, chef salads, coconut pie and warm German potato salad were staples.
House-made poppyseed dressing was another favorite. Van Hatten's Bakery, in the neighborhood, supplied the bread, baked fresh daily. It is hard to explain what that bread was like compared to what's available today. It was yet another secret to the Corner House success.
If you're like me, you may wish for a Corner House Special, some German potato salad and dessert, served with love and care in a comfortable setting, and lament the café's closing in 2000. I'm happy to say we're in luck!
A partnership with Arts on Main in Van Buren will bring the Corner House back to life on June 27. Linda will conduct a cooking class in the new art center’s culinary classroom, sharing some of the Corner House's most popular dishes, and I will be sharing the history and memories of this cherished lunch spot.
With admission to the class, attendees will be treated to a full lunch with dessert and the recipe for the blue cheese dressing. This is the first in a series of cooking programs led by Linda that will cover other local eateries of yesteryear and also feature some heirloom cookbooks.
Tickets for the class, including an actual taste of history and recipes, are $75. Register online at artsonmainvb.com 479-474-7767
