Visiting Carolyn’s Essenhaus in Arlington, KS

I decided to do a little Kansas road tripping and drive out to random small towns across our state searching for restaurant gems. One of my first stops took me to Carolyn’s Essenhaus in Arlington, KS. It’s located roughly an hour outside of Wichita.

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104 Main St., Arlington, KS 67514
620-538-4711

Monday: 6am – 8pm
Tuesday: 6am – 2:30pm
Wednesday – Friday: 6am – 8pm
Saturday: 6:30am – 2:30pm

Website | Facebook
Cash/Card Accepted
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There was plenty of seating inside Carolyn’s Essenhaus. They had a big open dining room area plus two other side banquet rooms with additional seating. I overheard that the restaurant has been getting packed all day long, so that was a cool thing to hear given the rough year restaurants in general had.

Carolyn’s Essenhaus had pastries on display that you could purchase for pennies on the dollar. Someone told me that the honeybuns were a meal in itself.

They also had snacks, pickles, condiments and other snacks available for purchase.

I arrived while they were serving breakfast. After perusing the menu, I went with the mush which was cornmeal and water that was fried and topped with some sausage, gravy and syrup. One of the employees called it “Depression Food”, I called it delicious. There wasn’t much to it but for some reason it really clicked with my taste buds. The fried cornmeal had a texture similar to a hash brown and sausage, gravy and syrup are always guaranteed to improve any meal.

I also ordered a breakfast sandwich and French toast made with cinnamon bread. As a plus, it came with warm syrup on the side. The cinnamon bread was a nice touch which gave the dish an additional touch of sweetness. I didn’t realize the breakfast sandwich came in two so I gave one of them to another person who happened to be sitting at my table.

Everybody there was raving about the pies that are baked fresh daily.

I asked one of the guys sitting at my table which one he recommended and he said “strawberry”. He must know me because strawberry is usually my go to when choosing dessert.

Their pies are made with a thin crust and topped heavily with whichever type of pie you ask for. Mine had a mountain of strawberries laid on it with a ton of whipped cream. It was delicious but I particularly loved the pie crust and wish there was more of it.

It was a great visit to start my road trip in Kansas. All the ladies there were nonstop smiles. They were inviting, helpful, quick, hard-working and every other adjective to describe a perfect server. I’m glad I could finally make it out to Arlington for one restaurant that’s been high on my list.

Here’s their breakfast menu:

Happy Dining,
Eddy

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