Second in LDN's 'Let's Eat' Series

New crop at the Korn Krib

[APRIL 12, 2000]  The Korn Krib on Route 121 in Latham reopened under new management on March 30. The new proprietors, Michael and Demetrios “Jimmy” Vanos of Lincoln, have leased the property and are open for business.  The restaurant’s hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

“We offer family-style food at competitive prices,” according to Michael Vanos, the older brother.  “All of our food is made from scratch, we offer daily lunch specials and breakfast is served throughout the day,” he added.  A grand opening is not planned. 

Most of their business is by word of mouth.  They have many lunch carryouts to area businesses, and people even make the 15-minute drive from Decatur for lunch, according to the brothers.  They anticipate that the highway expansion project planned for Route 121 will only add to their business by bringing more traffic past their establishment.

[Remodeled and reopened Korn Krib 
on Route 121 in Latham.]

The young men come from a long line of restaurateurs and bring many years of experience to the business.  Most recently they have worked at Daphne’s Restaurant in Lincoln, owned by their parents, John and Stacie Vanos.  The brothers said their parents were instrumental in their decision to pursue this venture.

The Vanos brothers have done some minor remodeling.  They have added a dividing wall to separate the bar area from one of the two dining areas, giving each more privacy.  The bar is equipped with a jukebox and a TV.  Michael describes it as “a comfortable place.”  A farm-scene mural is being painted on the wall of the east corn crib.  It will encircle the dining area.  A teacher from the Clinton school system has been commissioned to paint the mural. Demetrios Vanos said that the venture is a lot of hard work, but “it is a lot of fun to meet new people.”

Michael Vanos described the recent restaurant boom in Logan County as good.  He feels that there is enough business for everybody, and that he, his brother and their staff of 12 are well equipped to handle the job.

[The Vanos brothers, Michael (left) and Demetrios (right) standing in the east corn crib at the Korn Krib 
Restaurant in Latham, continuing a family tradition.]

The original Korn Krib, built in 1948 by Eddie Weiss, was constructed from two corn bins. He opened it as a tavern where locals could gather to eat, visit and play cards.  The building was later remodeled and called The Green Towers. In 1996, brothers Jeff and Greg Burgett of Latham purchased the building and reopened it as the Korn Krib Restaurant. It became known as a family place with delicious food.  In 1997 the building burned, with arson was cited as the cause, according to a Latham history book. Although the structure was completely destroyed, it was rebuilt and leased to the Vanos brothers.  Greg Burgett, a Latham farmer, now manages the property.

[Kym C. Ammons-Scott]

Happy to be here

The Restaurant at the Depot is among our county’s many blessings

[APRIL 12, 2000]  Let us digress; the food is sublime.  Now to the real story about The Restaurant at the Depot:  Chef Jeff loves Lincoln, and he says so with conviction, even while reminiscing about his restaurant days in Galena and his study of the gourmet science in the provincial cafés in the south of France.

Jeff Tendick’s gentle, “happy to be here” style must be contagious, because the whole crew at the Depot seems tickled to be serving an intriguing menu of what Tendick calls “French, general European and some Midwestern fare.”  Server Melissa Habisohn, an LCC senior from Crystal Lake, can barely contain her delight at mouthing the words, “La Boule Boeuf Bourguignon,” and assistant server Michael Berkshire is quick to assure diners that Chef Jeff’s special creation of fresh beef tips, whole mushrooms, sliced carrots, aromatic herbs, garlic and a hint of turnip, flavored with brandy and Burgundy wine in a hollowed bowl of freshly-baked French bread is manna from heaven.

    Manager Dan Knuppel beams with pride as Chef Jeff and his kitchen staff present to the polished servers colorful and hearty dishes, from 16-ounce New York strip steaks to dainty cheesecakes laced with rosy raspberry puree and drizzled with chocolate.  Assistant server Sharon Wilson, a Chicagoan from Hyde Park, pours water and fills coffee cups with a careful grace.  Her thin yellow tie is just the right touch of foreground against a crisp, white shirt.  Server Melanie Goforth, a Lincoln native with restaurant experience in Naples, Fla., says The Restaurant at the Depot makes her proud of her hometown.

Now back to the food.  Even the entrees shout “happy to be here.”  “Roast Pork Gentleman Jack,” “Chicken Tarragon,” “Cotes de Porc du Roi” and “Catfish Supreme.”  That last one is evidence of the Midwestern favorites that Chef Jeff has cordially added to the mix.
    If the European cuisine is a bit foreign to you (oh, come on, give it a try), then order up some Railsplitter fries with two Wisconsin brats on grilled sourdough bread, add some sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese, and tell the bartender to pour you a Leinenkugel Red.  Then you, too, will be happy to be here.

Some dishes are served with bread topped with Chef Jeff’s Calamata butter, black with ground olives in an olive oil base and a touch of something only the Chef can name.  The house bread is a soft, even-textured, sweet French sub-roll, light with golden folds.

[Mark and Debra Howard (left) chat with Mike and Debbie Kilgallen in the sun room.]

Happy diners are unhurried; they chat around comfortably-spaced, linen-bedecked tables in the elegant Victorian room, and watch Lincoln’s downtown fade from twilight to nightfall through the atrium of the sun room.  Something old and good has returned to Lincoln, leisurely dining in a lovely place that holds many memories—the Depot.

[Chef Jeff is happy to be in Lincoln.]

With the re-opening of the Depot, one suspects that Lincoln itself is opening to a happy era.  A spate of other good restaurants have come to Lincoln in the past few years, and several of the old standbys have expanded, freshened up and kept pace with a generation that, like none before it, enjoys eating out. Good restaurants in Lincoln don’t compete with each other so much as they give us all reason to stay in town, frequent them all, and count our blessings. 

Click here to view more images of LDN's night at the Depot.

[LDN]

Good news and bad news on soybean cyst nematodes
[APRIL 10, 2000]  One of the below-ground pests of soybeans and other plants is the soybean cyst nematode (SCN).  This creature is actually a small, parasitic roundworm that attacks the roots.  Most nematodes can only be seen with magnification, but the adult females and cysts of SCN are about 1/32 of an inch and are visible to the human eye.  This pest is important to Logan County producers because of potential yield losses of up to 10 bushels per acre, and the entry wound can allow plant diseases to enter the plant.  This could mean losses in the millions of dollars for Logan County.

Soybean cyst nematodes were first confirmed in our county in the mid-1980s in the Hartsburg area.  Since then, fields in virtually every part of Logan County have been analyzed and found to have populations of SCN.  In early stages of field infection, no visible signs on the plants occur.  As populations build in the soil, the above-ground plant parts may start showing damage that is often taken for nutrient deficiencies, compaction damage, herbicide injury or other plant diseases.
     The life cycle of the cyst nematode has three major stages:  egg, juvenile and adult.  The entire life cycle can be completed in 24 to 30 days under good conditions.  When spring temperature and moisture conditions are right, the eggs hatch into worm-shaped juveniles.  These juveniles then infect the soybean roots where they begin feeding.  As the females continue to feed, they become so large they burst through the root and are exposed to the soil.  The males simply migrate out of the root and fertilize the females.  The swollen females then start to produce eggs. The eggs remain in the dead female, which is then called a cyst.  Each cyst may contain up to 400 eggs, which will usually hatch the next year, but may survive in the cyst for several years.

 SCN is spread with lots of help.  On its own, these nematodes could move a few inches per year.  Anything that moves soil infested with nematodes will also spread them.  Farm machinery, people, birds, animals and water are the main ways nematodes are distributed. Water and machinery probably have the greatest impact.  Flowing water can actually carry the cysts to other field areas.

[John Fulton]

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