In the basement kitchen of Sigma Delta Tau, Barry Rogers, 45, prepares dinner for hungry sorority girls. The girl's are mainly Jewish, so Rogers makes sure that he cooks a lot of Kosher foods.
"As long as I cook more chicken than red meat the girls are happy," Rogers said.
On this night, Rogers creates a crab and spinach casserole because the girls at SDT like to eat healthy. Sioux Falls, S.D. junior Miriam Ofstein said Rogers is a very accommodating cook.
"If we have recipes of things we want him to make, he'll always make that," Ofstein said.
"He also always make sure to do something extra for our vegetarian or vegan sisters."
It's not easy cooking for a house full of girls with various allergies and tastes, and it can be challenging at times for Rogers. It gives him lots of options to cook, but what he does here is a long way from his roots at Nelson's Buffeteria in Tulsa, Okla.
Roger's grandfather opened Nelson's in 1929. Formerly located in the downtown strip, Nelson's Buffeteria was "as famous for the chicken fried steak in Tulsa as Arthur Bryant's or Gates is for barbeque in Kansas City," Rogers said.
He talks about the "soul kitchen," - "mostly black in the back, and white out front," - where he worked as a teen, washing dishes, although he is the white owner's son. He still owns the giant neon sign that hung out front, and remembers the old-fashioned menu with pot roast, pot pies, cornbread, mashed potatoes and that chicken fried steak. Current KU head basketball coach Bill Self was known to frequent the place between 1998-200 when he was coaching at the University of Tulsa.
Roger's grandfather Nelson passed the Buffeteria down through his family, and named his son Nelson, who gave his name to Barry. Barry's father eventually sold the restaurant to other management, as Tulsa's downtown declined and business at Nelson's went bad.
"When my dad had the restaurant, I didn't realize what we had," Rogers said. Rogers had attended law school at KU from 1986-1988, and eventually went to L.A. as a high school teacher.
In June, Rogers opened a Coney Island hot dog joint at Iowa and 25th Street called "The Hut," but he had to close it because he couldn't keep it open while he worked at KU.
"It was a combination of being new and the location," Rogers said. "And I just couldn't keep it open with the hours I'm working here."
"Those places are more popular in Tulsa than they are in New York, where people think of the famous Coney Island," Rogers said. "The Hut" sold inexpensive hot dogs that could be loaded with things like onions, cheese and chili. "They've been around in Tulsa for 100 years," Rogers said.
Despite having to close his Coney Island, some day Rogers hopes to reopen Nelson's Buffeteria, at the old Tulsa location or maybe even in Lawrence. Rogers still makes a lot of the old place's recipes at the sorority.
"I want to resurrect Nelson's and bring it to 100 years of service," Rogers said. But he does fear the possibility that it could just go under again. For him it's an "unbearable thought."
"It's not even about the money, it's about doing the right thing. Doing the family thing," Rogers said.
For now, Rogers is enjoying a bachelor's life in what he calls "one of the nicest college towns in the country, without a doubt."
"I'm an exile in Lawrence, which is a place I love," Rogers said. "There's no other place I'd rather be than Lawrence."
"As long as I cook more chicken than red meat the girls are happy," Rogers said.
On this night, Rogers creates a crab and spinach casserole because the girls at SDT like to eat healthy. Sioux Falls, S.D. junior Miriam Ofstein said Rogers is a very accommodating cook.
"If we have recipes of things we want him to make, he'll always make that," Ofstein said.
"He also always make sure to do something extra for our vegetarian or vegan sisters."
It's not easy cooking for a house full of girls with various allergies and tastes, and it can be challenging at times for Rogers. It gives him lots of options to cook, but what he does here is a long way from his roots at Nelson's Buffeteria in Tulsa, Okla.
Roger's grandfather opened Nelson's in 1929. Formerly located in the downtown strip, Nelson's Buffeteria was "as famous for the chicken fried steak in Tulsa as Arthur Bryant's or Gates is for barbeque in Kansas City," Rogers said.
He talks about the "soul kitchen," - "mostly black in the back, and white out front," - where he worked as a teen, washing dishes, although he is the white owner's son. He still owns the giant neon sign that hung out front, and remembers the old-fashioned menu with pot roast, pot pies, cornbread, mashed potatoes and that chicken fried steak. Current KU head basketball coach Bill Self was known to frequent the place between 1998-200 when he was coaching at the University of Tulsa.
Roger's grandfather Nelson passed the Buffeteria down through his family, and named his son Nelson, who gave his name to Barry. Barry's father eventually sold the restaurant to other management, as Tulsa's downtown declined and business at Nelson's went bad.
"When my dad had the restaurant, I didn't realize what we had," Rogers said. Rogers had attended law school at KU from 1986-1988, and eventually went to L.A. as a high school teacher.
In June, Rogers opened a Coney Island hot dog joint at Iowa and 25th Street called "The Hut," but he had to close it because he couldn't keep it open while he worked at KU.
"It was a combination of being new and the location," Rogers said. "And I just couldn't keep it open with the hours I'm working here."
"Those places are more popular in Tulsa than they are in New York, where people think of the famous Coney Island," Rogers said. "The Hut" sold inexpensive hot dogs that could be loaded with things like onions, cheese and chili. "They've been around in Tulsa for 100 years," Rogers said.
Despite having to close his Coney Island, some day Rogers hopes to reopen Nelson's Buffeteria, at the old Tulsa location or maybe even in Lawrence. Rogers still makes a lot of the old place's recipes at the sorority.
"I want to resurrect Nelson's and bring it to 100 years of service," Rogers said. But he does fear the possibility that it could just go under again. For him it's an "unbearable thought."
"It's not even about the money, it's about doing the right thing. Doing the family thing," Rogers said.
For now, Rogers is enjoying a bachelor's life in what he calls "one of the nicest college towns in the country, without a doubt."
"I'm an exile in Lawrence, which is a place I love," Rogers said. "There's no other place I'd rather be than Lawrence."
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