Hartsburg cafe 35th on Main blends California and Midwest tastes
Equipped with a passion for food, a mid-Missouri family brings fresh flavors and a new experience to the Katy Trail
Vox Magazine
Nov. 15, 2018
Little Andrew Haller loved to stir the pot. Standing beside his mother Cindy Nilges, Haller, with his deep brown, curiosity-filled eyes, would peep over the stove as she whipped up culinary experiments from the depths of their kitchen cabinets. Flash forward to today, and Haller’s attentiveness and Nilges’ passion for food fuel their new restaurant, 35th on Main, in Hartsburg.
It’s a family affair at 35th on Main. Haller is now the chef, still side by side with his mom as they work to create the fresh menu. It mixes the tastes of California, where Nilges is from, with the Midwest, featuring dishes such as the Drunken Camaron, a tangy shrimp tostada topped with roasted corn and chipotle crema. The menu also borrows favorites, such as the Mushroom Medley and Mussels & Clams, from the Nilgeses’ previous food joint, the Hartsburg Grand Restaurant, which operated for three years. Other crowd favorites include a creamy cheesy artichoke dip, a pork al pastor flatbread and bleu cheese fish tacos.
“I’d fight my grandma just for an invitation for a snack at their house,” says Hartsburg local Bill Molendorp, who rents a bright red train caboose across the street from 35th on Main to guests traveling on the Katy Trail. Molendorp says the change of cuisine has brought lots of curious people through the sleepy Katy Trail stop about 20 miles south of Columbia.
Nilges and Haller take pride in surprising these guests. “A lot of people come in here and underestimate this place,” Haller says. He loves that people are shocked to find this style of food in Hartsburg.
Above all, Nilges hopes guests will enjoy sitting around a table and eating her scratch-made food. “I want everyone that comes in here to feel welcome.” 
The cafe, which opened Sept. 8, is sandwiched between a row of residential homes on Main Street. Visitors are welcomed through a charming patio and onto a wide porch lined with palm plants. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is retro-industrial, complete with iron lighting fixtures, and a row of steel stools line a long wood-slat bar top.
The eclectic, modern eatery was recently transformed from a ’50s-style diner, replete with a life-sized Elvis cutout. Nilges and her husband, Jim, purchased the building from newly retired Dotty Manns, who operated the beloved Dotty’s Cafe with her husband for nearly 20 years. Manns was disheartened to give up her restaurant, but she says she was delighted to pass it on to the Nilges family. “I was so happy to find Cindy and (Jim) because they love it like I do,” she says.