🍲 WHAT'S COOKING: Home-cooked food, from waffles to gravy, and friendly conversation, too

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Having grown up visiting truck stops and diners across the country with her father, Bonnie "Maw Maw" Crider had a good idea what a good diner should feature − great food, in a family friendly atmosphere and a place people want to come again and again.

And that is what she has created at Maw Maw's Diner, located at 11058 State Route 39, west of Millersburg, when she bought the former Corner Kitchen in 2020.

The diner's name, Maw Maw, comes from her own moniker, which her first grandson called her.

"My grandson couldn't say grandma, so he called me Maw Maw, and now everybody I know calls me Maw Maw," Crider said.

From 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, the diner is bustling with regulars and newcomers alike, serving fresh, hot homemade meals with daily features ranging from Waffle Wednesdays to Fish Fridays. Other specials include homemade spaghetti and meatballs, or specialty burgers, barbecued chicken sandwiches or a turkey platter.

Breakfast is served until 10:45 a.m. and lunch is served until closing.

"I've been in some sort of restaurant business since I could walk," Crider said. "My dad was an over-the-road truck driver and I spent most of my childhood with him until I went to school. We would stop at various truck stops along the way.

"We moved to Holmes County in 2007," she continued. "My family used to come to this restaurant for the all-you-can eat fish, and we'd sit here and talk about what we could do with this place."

A year to the day after her husband, Mike, died in 2019, Crider saw that the restaurant was for sale and she took it as a sign. She decided it was time to put her plans into action.

Fresh, home-cooked meals

Maw Maw's creates all the items on the menu fresh.

"We feature home-cooked foods," she said. "All of our meals are made from scratch. We make our own gravy, we slice our potatoes fresh every day. We make fresh pancakes and waffles. Our meats are all from local meat distributors, like our sausage; it's whole-hog sausage from Shreve Meats.

"We keep everything as local as we can," she added. "When Harvey's Market opens, we get our produce and fruits from him. Our baked goods are all made from scratch by me. We make our own salad dressings, we chop our own lettuce, we slice our own lunchmeat."

A family-friendly atmosphere

She admits a lot of the customers keep coming back for the abuse she gives them, as they enjoy the family-like atmosphere as well as the good food.

"People come here for family and fellowship," Crider said. "When you come here, you will see your friends and your neighbors. It's a community place.

"It's also for my pleasant personality," she added with a laugh.

"My staff that is with me right now, three cooks and three servers, they have been with me since we started," she said. "We do what we can and we do it well."

To check out last week's What's Cooking, Muddy's, visit The-Daily-Record.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: 🍲 WHAT'S COOKING Holmes family diner got its start from Maw Maw