BARTLETT, Neb. (KOLN) – Dorothy Dexter serves a town of about 100 people at the Bibs and Boots Café, offering daily specials like roast beef and hot beef sandwiches on Tuesdays and meatloaf on Wednesdays.
At 87, Dexter drives 30 minutes from her home in the nearby town of Chambers to fire up the griddle six days a week at her restaurant in Bartlett. After a good day’s work, she drives back to Chambers.
“Most people think this is an old folks’ home anyway,” Dexter joked.
Dexter’s first home was a sod house northeast of Burwell.
“There was nine of us in my family,” Dexter said.
She raised seven children in Bartlett before taking over the Bibs and Boots Cafe in 1999, one year after her husband died in 1998. She kept the business’s name from the previous owner.
“And I said if I’d been smart, I would have built my house around this light pole,” Dorothy said, gesturing outside of the building. “And then I could walk to work.”
Rocky Finlayson, a traveling salesman, designed the restaurant’s menu. The cover features a cowboy cartoon by native artist Herb Mignery, and the menu highlights Wheeler County.
“Bartlett- you know, they work pretty hard to stay alive. I want people to understand what makes their area tick – education,” Finlayson said. “There’s too many people that sort of gloss over stuff.”
Finlayson said the restaurant does a healthy takeout business for ranchers, farmers and agricultural workers in the area.
“Random guys just- they come in and get six, eight, ten meals and take off with them,” Finlayson said.
The menu features many specialties. Finlayson stops in Bartlett specifically for rib day and Dexter’s coconut cream pie.
“I mean, it’s got meringue that’s like this big,” Finlayson said, gesturing to show the amount. “She’s in there beating it to death in the morning, trying to get it ready.”
When Finlayson asked Dexter about retirement plans, she referenced her mother’s longevity.
“I said, ‘Dorothy, how long are you going to do this?’” Finlayson asked. “She said, ‘Well, my mom lived to be 101.’ And she said, ‘Besides, what am I going to do? Sit at home with calcify and a recliner?’”
Community members bus tables when available. Nancy Winings works in the kitchen and runs a gift shop at the restaurant.
“Dorothy is like my inspiration. I hope when I’m her age, I’m still working as hard as she is,” Winings said. “And I just see how hard she works. And I see her heart for the local people. It’s really needed to have home-cooked food and her caring touch on top of it.”
When she’s not in the kitchen, Dexter enjoys meeting new people in the dining area.
“You’d be surprised how many people, you know during Junk Jaunt, people come from all over,” Dexter said.
The Bibs and Boots Cafe is located along Highway 281 at First Randolph Street in Bartlett. The doors are open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. On Sundays, the cafe closes at 2 p.m.
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Dining and Cooking