MEDFORD—On the corner of Highways 81 and 11 is an unassuming blue building with a sign that says EAT.
What started out as a hamburger and hotdog stand has grown into full-fledged restaurant serving homestyle dishes and homemade pies.
Owner Alice Smrcka grew up helping her parents and older sister in the little café that originally went up for sale in 1958. Her father got it with the highest bid.
“We just took over,” she said, from the previous owners. Back then the menu was burgers and hotdogs along with ice cream. There was no place to sit down; customers ordered at the counter and then took their food to go or returned to their cars to eat.
The Smrckas moved to town from the family farm, and Alice’s father built the kitchen that Alice still uses today.
They expanded Smrcka’s Dairy Shack in 1963, adding a dining area and increasing freezer space. There was a buffet and salad bar for the longest time; Alice said coronavirus ended that.
While she went to school and graduated from Medford, she didn’t intend on staying. Her older sister ran the café after her parents retired.
But when Alice’s sister got sick, Alice came back to her hometown to care for her and the café. Her sister passed in 2004, leaving Smrcka’s to Alice.
That was 20 years ago.
Alice and her one employee, a young lady named Abby, work up to 14-hour days Monday through Friday handcrafting nearly all of the food they sell, including the smash burgers, chicken strips, chicken fried steaks, onion rings, and fried pies. They serve lunch and dinner Monday through Friday.
They arrive around 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. to get ready for the day; Smrcka’s opens at 10 a.m.
After the lunch rush is when they do much of the food prep, Alice said. The onion rings alone take two or three hours to slice up onions and then bread them.
Smrcka’s offers the standard burger and cheeseburger along with the golly burger, which has been a Medford favorite for over 60 years with its signature hickory smoked sauce called the golly sauce, and the moo oink burger, hamburger meat combined with Blue and Gold sausage.
Then of course there are Alice’s coconut cream pies made from scratch starting with the crust. She bakes the pie crusts ahead of time and makes the fillings later.
“We are known for the pies,” she said, adding she learned the skill from her mother. “My mom made pies. That’s where it started. I add my own twist to it.”
Her mother was known for her fruit pies. There’s not much of a call for those these days, but Alice has discovered people still hanker for the cherry and apple fried pies, also made from scratch.
“Guys from Rock Island Railroad would call in for a burger and a hand pie,” Alice said. “The railroad and the depot are gone, but the fried pies are still here.”
And perhaps most famous are the old-fashioned cherry limeades.
“They come far and wide for the limeades. They are real limeades,” Alice said. She makes her cherry syrup from natural extract and simple syrup. She also squeezes the limes and stirs in the carbonated water. Patrons can order a 12-ounce on up to a 44-ounce.
A longtime local, Alice supports local, whether it’s the meat from the Medford grocer or the Medford school.
The town supports her business too. Some of the regulars have been coming in weekly or even daily at Smrcka’s since they were kids.
Medford had an oil boom and subsequent bust, and the recent fire at the OneOK plant has radically impacted the economy. Nevertheless, people have continued to eat at Smrcka’s.
Plus, Alice said, “We’re at a crossroads.” She sees an influx of visitors throughout the year. Whether they’re traveling through on the way to the artesian well, storm chasing, helping with harvest, hunting for crystals at the salt flats, or heading to the sand dunes, people from around the world have popped into Smrcka’s.
Alice hasn’t decided yet if she’ll retire, sell, or simply shut down. Occasionally she has to close the doors either because she’s sick or has an appointment that can’t wait.
For her, the work never stops. Even though she closes at 7 p.m., sometimes she doesn’t get home until 10 p.m. And she’s always gearing up for the next week on the weekends doing repairs or shopping for supplies in Enid or in Wichita, Kan.
“I’ll keep at it,” Alice said. That is until she retires, which she said is looking better all the time as she nears 80.