Krain Corner Inn Is Now A Real Family Restaurant

Restaurant review Krain Corner Inn, 39929 264 SE, Enumclaw, 825-9904. No credit cards. Personal checks OK. Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Take out is available. Building available for private parties, meetings, etc.

Krain Corner Inn takes you back to your favorite aunt's cozy country home.

Inside, a hodgepodge of furniture from different eras somehow blends. Card games, history books, kitschy crafts and old family photos amuse and entertain.

The smell of farm fresh vegetables slowly simmering rises from the kitchen.

Don't reach for your American Express, but do bring the kids and seat yourself. New owners have recently retooled this family restaurant at the foot of Mount Rainier on Highway 169 near Enumclaw. Waitresses there even smile and ask you where you are from.

Like the atmosphere, the menu stems from the heartland.

A mix of burgers and sandwiches arrive with soup or salad for an under-$5 lunch. Pancakes, potatoes, biscuits with gravy and omelets highlight the breakfast menu.

Friday night's special features fish and chips. Slow roasted prime rib, the menu's most expensive item at $9.95, draws a crowd on Saturday nights.

The closed-face but double-fisted Reuben with fresh sauerkraut and a dash of horseradish packs a punch. One soup of the day, the clam chowder, was spiked with the interesting addition of real bacon strips.

For $4.95, you can build an omelet from your favorite ingredients.

The plate comes mounted high with farm fried potatoes and toast. For 50 cents more, order the biscuits and gravy and you won't leave hungry.

A cross-section of locals and travelers fill the house. Dirt encrusted ranch trucks share the parking lot with four-door sedans with child restraint seats.

Kent residents Karen and Glenn Hatch bought the place in 1991.

A family-run restaurant, Glenn washes dishes, Karen waits tables. The Hatches' son, Ian, manages the kitchen and cousin, Kathleen Marth, manages the front half of the restaurant.

A former engineer, Glenn retired from Rockwell Aerospace. Karen runs a private kindergarten from her home.

"We've tried to build slowly, by word of mouth," said Marth, taking a break from an immensely popular weekend breakfast rush. "Our customers have been really supportive."

Krain Corner Inn aims for simplicity, Marth said. The formula: Cook home-style dishes with fresh ingredients. Serve big portions and charge prices young families can afford.

Not too long ago, the restaurant needed serious reconditioning. Since opening in 1916, it had rocked the Enumclaw Plateau as a rowdy saloon. Hard-drinking, pool-shooting ranch hands frequented the roadside bar, embedding it with a tough reputation.

However, the new proprietors have eradicated that image and changed it into a children-friendly, family establishment.

Families now have the run of the place, but beer and wine still flow from behind a 1907 vintage wooden bar.

Every nook and cranny of Krain Corner Inn exudes history. It's the last standing building in the old pioneer town of Krain, which means "at the foot of the hills" in Slovenian. In its heyday, the old town boasted a general store, church, school, community hall, and another tavern.

The walls inside "The Krain," as the locals call it, tell the story best. Black and white photographs and articles describe life in the old town before time, fire and developments destroyed it.

"The Krain" conspicuously occupies a street corner amid pastoral farmland and bucolic horse ranches. Find it at the intersection of S.E. 400 Street and Highway 169 at the four-way flashing light north of Enumclaw.

Restaurant reviews are a regular Thursday feature of the South County Life section. Reviewers visit restaurants unannounced and pay in full for all their meals. When they interview members of the restaurant management and staff, they do so only after the meals and services have been appraised.