3B
Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Monday, November 30.1987
Barbecue lovers are lured to tavern by secret sauce
By PETER GRAM Special to the Kansan
WILLIAMSBURG — It's the smell of barbecue that sets this bar apart. It hits you while you're still in the street.
Guy & Mae's looks like a typical tavern. It's dark. There's a bar, a pool table, beer signs and several picnic tables. Country music plays on the jukebox.
The tables have no tablecloths or place mats. The Ottawa Herald is spread out when the ribs come. A headline says "Half-man man gets dieting help after life of obesity."
But there's no diet help at Guy & Mae's. It's a cardiologist's nightmare. The servings are huge, the meat is red and greasy, and it's washed down with cold beer.
Barbecue lovers from all over the state come to the local tavern for sauce spiced with Mae Kesner's secret "hookie-poo" poured over hickory-smoked ribs.
That was the lure for a Topeka motorcycle club that picked Guy & Mae's for its fall rib run on a recent weekend. About 30 Oz Hogs made the 60-mile ride for the ribs, which club member Glen "Bear" Griffith had been bragging about.
"They were just squirming to get here." Griffith said.
It was the first trip to Guy & Mae's for Oz Hog Frank Votaw, a two-bar-stool-size guy. After two sandwiches and a half slab of ribs, he was trying to decide whether to eat the rest or take it home to his wife, who couldn't make the trip.
"I don't know if I can leave none of this for nobody," he said. "But she said if I didn't, she'd slap me upside the head."
Bill Beutler isn't officially an Ox
Hog, but he couldn't resist the ride
with the club to Williamsburg, just south of Interstate 35 in Franklin County.
"Part of the fun is riding the bike to get here," he said. "You just get a little hungrig on the way down."
Beutler has eaten in a lot of rub joints. But he decided on this trip, his fourth to Guy & Mae's, that its barbecue was the best.
"You go to a lot of these clubs, and you have to fight your way through a line just to get a beer," he said. "But if you rate these places by stars, this place ought to get seven, with five
Part of the fun is riding the bike to get here. You just get a little hungrier on the way down.'
Bill Beutler Guys & Mae's patron
WILLIAMSBURG — Mae Kesner stands before a portrait of her late husband, Guy, with whom she started Guy & Mae's Tavern. The tavern is known for its barbecue.
"But they just aren't as good as ours," she said. "I'm not bragging; we just know how to do it."
Mae looks like the grandmas you see on television. A short, round woman, she looks as if she was born to be hugged. A smile welcomes everyone who enters her kitchen.
being the best."
Mae Kesner said she'd tried a lot of other barbecue places, too.
But it's not really her kitchen any more. After running the tavern for seven years, Guy and Mae sold it to their daughters in 1980. Then last year Guy died. Mae retired a short time later, but she comes back every once in a while to sample the ribs and help out in the kitchen.
The ribs go on the grill at 6 a.m. A fresh batch of sauce is made every day from a recipe that Mae's had for years.
The full figures of many of Guy & Mae's customers are testimony to the effectiveness of Mae's sauce. There's a lot of stretched flannel around those bellies.
"I had a recipe, and I altered it," she said. "I put a little of this and a little of that in it — and secret hookie-poo."
Mae has a simple explanation. "I guess they eat too many ribs."
Mo. Sat, 9:30 to 5:30 *Sun, 12:3* Thursday until 8:30
843-1099 *In Downtown* 8th and Mass.
Prop & Wheel Hobbies
2201 W. 25th Suite B 749-0287
WHIMSICAL PLUSH SLIPPERS For kids of all ages! Wow the Cow, Murphy Moose, Quackers, J.J Bearfoot, Ella Phant, Frinkles Pig and your favorite Walt Disney characters.
Look your best for the Holidays.
Alice in Sub-land
It's aVery Important Date!
It's a very important Date! The subs are hot, we're open late. We're Eight, we're Eight, we're Eight!
It's Great, as told by the White Rabbit We're Eight.
While in Sub-land Alice came upon a large octopus. In each tentacle it held a Yello Sub. Alice, who was a wise person, believed in telling her opinion when asked. She told the octopus which subs she liked best. In return he gave her a lovely refreshing drink. We'll do the same for you.
SWEATERS
20% - 50% OFF
'til Christmas
PUBLIX
9:30 to 5:30 Monday-Saturday
9:30 to 8:30 Thursday
1:00 to 3:00 Sunday
3:31 Points, Manhattan
GRAND OPENING THE LOFT
Friday, December 4th & Saturday, December 5th!
25% OFF selected active wear
Register to win...
- one $100 gift certificate
- one $50 gift certificate
742 Massachusetts
841-2117
- gift certificates from-- Eldridge Hotel Scotch Cleaners Headmasters The Fitness Center
- The Fitness Center
- and selected items in the store
A contemporary women's clothing store
clothing store
9:30-8:00 Monday-Friday
9:30-5:30 Saturday
1-5 Sunday