J. Huston Tavern offers an era and an aura

Built in 1834, the two-story J. Huston Tavern in Arrow Rock will reopen Easter Sunday with down-home gourmet cuisine under the management of its new owner, Chef Liz Huff.

The tavern, a mainstay in the community for 175 years, is brimming with Saline County history, period art — and even a few sightings of Sarah, the resident ghost. 

Huff, a sixth-generation Saline County resident, has a culinary degree and a culinary management degree from the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, and is the former owner of the Catalpa Restaurant in Arrow Rock.

J. Huston, a historic brick tavern, still boasts the original wood floors and maintains the flavor of the 1850s. While the downstairs houses the restaurant and bar, the upstairs museum area can be toured, with permission. 

“Most everything in here (is) mine; tables, prints and artwork are my family’s things,” Huff said of the downstairs area. 

“This is the oldest continuing restaurant west of the Mississippi,” she added. “It served people on the Santa Fe Trail and the river trade.”

There are three dining areas and a bar that can collectively hold 140 people. Each area is decorated with a period artist, and textiles and furniture belonging to Huff’s family.

To the left of the entryway is the Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) room. Bodmer, a Swiss artist, made sketches of the bluffs surrounding Arrow Rock. Also in this room, Huff has hung a handmade buggy robe that once belonged to her great-great-great-grandmother.

The center dining area holds original, hand-colored lithographs of indigenous Native American tribes by artists Thomas McKenny and James Hall, dated 1835 to 1836. This room also contains a map of Missouri, dated 1827 and written in French, that belongs to Huff’s father.

The room toward the rear of the tavern showcases copies of work by George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879). Bingham, who lived in Arrow Rock, not only painted Missouri life but also life in Arrow Rock. A notable copy of his work hanging in the room is “Canvassing for a Vote,” which depicts the northeast outside corner of the tavern.

To the right of the entryway is the Mercantile room, or bar. The mercantile was added onto the existing building in 1850. Huff arranged everything in the room to authenticate the period by using crockery, china, musical instruments, old medicine bottles, textiles and furniture. She said some of the pieces belong to the state. The Mercantile room will feature Huff’s special Spanish-style sangria and entertainment with a bluegrass ensemble on Saturday nights. 

“The point was, I wanted people to walk in here and feel the 1850s atmosphere,” Huff said of both the Mercantile and tavern areas.

The staff will wear period costumes while waiting on and serving patrons. Huff will have a carving table set up in the Bingham room and the server will wear a “jolly flatboatman uniform,” she said.

“It feels like you’ve walked into someplace surreal,” she added. “I call it eater-tainment.” 

Remember that while visiting any building with as rich a history as the J. Huston Tavern, there will be stories and sightings of ghostly apparitions. 

Both Huff and her head prep manager, Ricky Boudreau, have experienced the unexplained. Whether it be objects flying through the air, hearing a woman’s voice when no one is there or seeing a woman dressed in period clothes walking through a room, Huff and Boudreau are no longer skeptics. They believe the paranormal mystery adds to the history of the tavern. 

Huff’s tavern menu will revolve around all-you-can-eat buttermilk fried chicken, chicken roasted with lemon and herbs and ham glazed with her own “Lettuce Lizzie’s” maple mustard dressing.

For $12.50, customers can choose one meat and two sides, served with biscuits and cornbread. For $16.75 they can eat all three meats and any of the eight sides offered. Sides include twists on old favorites such as mashed red potatoes with bacon cream sauce, candied green beans with caramelized bacon and onions, and Parmesan, lemon and spinach rice pilaf.

Chicken or ham can be replaced with steamed snow crab legs for $23.75, an 8-ounce prime rib for $24.75 or a 16-ounce prime rib for $29.75. There also is a children’s menu of fried chicken legs for ages 4 through 10. It sells for $5.95; there is no charge for children 3 and younger. 

“For $40, a family of four can eat here on a Sunday afternoon,” Huff said.

Food won’t be served family style, but as Boudreau said it will be a “walking buffet.” Servers will walk around providing second helpings when needed.

The Mercantile menu will offer tasty appetizers such as pan-seared ravioli with blue cheese cream, grilled shrimp skewers and chicken wings.

Huff doesn’t skimp on decadent desserts, either. Her carrot cake recipe belongs to 85-year-old Arrow Rock resident Mary Kathryn Feuers, who is a 55-year member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

“It’s the best carrot cake in the whole world,” Huff exclaimed. “The whole universe revolves around this cake!”

Huff double frosts all her cakes.

“I have two pounds of powdered sugar in my cake, and two pounds of cream cheese. It weighs eight pounds,” she said, smiling. “My coconut cake weighs nine.” 

Although she’s a chef and loves to cook, Huff’s life philosophy centers around people, and she wants to transfer that to her staff. She said there will be little cards on the tables that say, “If you want Chef Huff to give you a hug, let her know.”

“Service is more important than food,” she said. “The service must be impeccable; everyone must be treated with importance. It’s not rocket science, it’s common sense.

“The whole idea is fun and family and history and culture. I want everyone to have fun!”

Brie and green chile stew 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 yellow onions, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 stick butter

1/3 cup flour

1 quart half and half

32 ounces chicken or vegetable broth

1 pound brie cheese, cubed

4 ounces chopped green chilies

1 tangerine, zested and then juiced

8 ounces sour cream

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped 

Kosher salt to taste

Method:

Sauté onion and celery in butter; add flour and cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add half and half and broth to pot slowly, while whisking. Bring soup to a simmer and cook, over medium heat, for 5 minutes (or until it has a nice semi-thick consistency).

Add green chilies, then add brie and stir occasionally until cheese is melted. Take off the heat and add tangerine juice, then add salt to taste.

Garnish with sour cream, chopped cilantro and tangerine zest.

Variations:

•Use a lime or grapefruit in place of the tangerine, and jalapeno instead of green chile for a spicier soup.

•Add raw shrimp or scallops to the soup after brie is melted, and simmer for 2 minutes before taking off the heat and adding the tangerine juice.

•Substitute 4 ounces of dry white wine for part of the broth. 

Source: Chef Liz Huff

J. Huston Tavern

Chef Liz Huff, owner

304 Main

Arrow Rock

660-837-3200

Hours:

Easter Sunday-May 31

Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-9 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

June 1-Oct. 31

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-9 p.m. 

Thursday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Nov. 1-Dec. 23

Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. -2 p.m., 5-9 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. -3 p.m.