A plate of broasted chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy and egg noodles is a solid reason to stop anywhere. At Das Dutchman Essenhaus in the Shipshewana area, it is also the beginning of a larger outing: a restaurant meal that can stretch into pie shopping, a browse through specialty foods and home décor, and time spent wandering a property with a village-like scale.
The place is larger than a quick glance from the road might suggest. Its dining rooms and shops make it easy to arrive hungry, stay awhile, and leave with more than a receipt—perhaps a bag of baked treats, a package of egg noodles, or a jar of peanut butter.
A meal with more than one path
Das Dutchman Essenhaus offers three distinctly useful ways to eat: buffet service, a regular menu, and family-style meals served at the table. That flexibility helps when a group is split between people who want to sample widely and people who already know they want a particular entrée.
The buffet is broad, with meats, side dishes, salad-bar selections and desserts. It is a comfortable format for the hungry traveler who would rather not choose between roast beef and chicken, or between noodles and mashed potatoes. A Saturday breakfast buffet has also been noted for hot food and quick replenishment.
Family-style dining brings the food to the table, giving a meal a slower, pass-the-bowl rhythm. It suits a gathering where conversation is as important as deciding what to put on the plate first.
The comfort-food lineup
The cooking is made from scratch and built around generous portions of familiar Midwestern comfort food. Broasted chicken is a frequent favorite, its crisp, hearty presence well matched to gravy, potatoes and noodles.
Pulled roast beef is another standout, served tender and juicy enough to earn its own place among the regular cravings. Roasted turkey comes with both dark and light meat, an uncommonly welcome detail for a table with firm opinions on that particular question.
Meatloaf, egg noodles, mashed potatoes and gravy fill out the kind of menu that rewards a substantial appetite. These are not fussy dishes, and they are not meant to be. They are the reason a plate can look pleasantly full before anyone has reached dessert.
The salad bar provides a lighter counterpoint to all that roast-and-gravy territory. Its wide selection also gives vegetarians more choices than they might expect at a restaurant known for chicken, turkey and beef.
Save room for bread pudding and pie
Dessert has plenty of competition at a buffet, but bread pudding has become one of the dishes people look for. It belongs naturally after a comfort-food meal: warm, sweet and unpretentious.
Homemade pies are another recurring reason not to leave too quickly. With a wide assortment to choose from, pie can be the finish to lunch, a take-home purchase, or both. No one needs to make a rule against buying an extra one for later.
The bakery side of the stop extends the meal beyond the dining room. Baked treats, the restaurant's well-known egg noodles and other food gifts give the visit a practical souvenir angle, especially for travelers who enjoy taking a bit of the trip back to their own kitchen.
Buggy booths and a roomy dining room
The dining atmosphere manages to be cozy without being cramped. The rooms are open and comfortable, with old-fashioned visual touches that keep the setting from feeling like a generic large restaurant.
Among the more distinctive seats are Amish buggy booths, a playful detail that gives a meal a little local character. They are the sort of feature that children notice right away and adults tend to mention afterward.
The layout works for different kinds of tables: a couple sharing pie, a solo diner settling in for a full plate, a multigenerational family, or a large group gathering around a long meal. Large parties can be accommodated, though a group visit of that scale has involved advance phone coordination and a waiting-list arrangement.
After lunch, the browsing begins
The surrounding shops are a major reason the visit can become an afternoon rather than a single meal. Bakery goods and specialty foods share space with gifts and home décor, so the browsing moves easily from something edible to something decorative.
The front gift-shop area includes old-time and historical-style objects displayed with a polished, decorative touch. It gives the first stretch of shopping a little more personality than a standard souvenir counter.
The merchandise is varied enough that not every purchase has to be food-related. One person may be looking for a pie or noodles while another pauses over a gift item, a kitchen accent or a piece of home décor. The hunt is pleasantly open-ended.
A natural Shipshewana-area stop
Das Dutchman Essenhaus fits easily before or after time spent around Shipshewana and the surrounding countryside. The grounds are attractive and well maintained, and horse-drawn carriage rides around the property add another possible activity when available.
Free parking is plentiful, which helps on a stop involving both a meal and shopping bags. The restaurant's mix of buffet, menu and family-style dining also keeps it useful for recurring family gatherings; many visitors fold it into annual traditions and group trips.
For a full meal, a bakery case worth investigating and shops that reward an extra lap, this is a stop that can occupy much more of the day than a roadside lunch break.