After the Lyons family closed the Twin Mansions on National Avenue in March 2020, the bed and breakfast along with the restaurant remained shuttered.

The family closed as the COVID-19 Pandemic shut down businesses in the nation.

A new chapter started in June 2021 when the Elton family moved from Kansas City into the northern mansion to make their home at 742 S. National Avenue and in September 2021, the southern mansion at 750 S. National Avenue was once again opened as a restaurant.

Dry Wood Creek Cafe is owned by Chef Marty Elton and his wife, Carrie.

To view a prior feature on the business: Dry Wood Creek Cafe: New Business Owners at the Former Lyon’s Mansions

The new business venture idea came about during downtime following lockdown, because Elton’s K.C. area catering business was affected by COVID-19 as well.

“During COVID,  a catering business was up in the air,” Elton said.

His own home needed some remodeling and he looked on Zillow for possible properties to look at and saw the property in Fort Scott, known as the Twin Mansions.

“The property attracted us, and the people and town have been great,” Elton said in a break from restaurant work on Wednesday morning.

He is hoping to have a grand opening later in the year, close to the holidays, he said.

Until then, he and his four employees are serving breakfast and lunch from Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

He said after decades in the business he knew he wanted more time with his family and the cafe hours allow that.

“I’m spending my evenings with my kids,’ Elton said.

Elton also caters meals to all size orders, from box lunches to weddings, he said.

In the southern mansion on an upper level, the Elton’s have an office for rent that would be suitable for an accountant or lawyer, he said.

Dry Wood Creek Cafe is located at 750 S. National and can be reached at 620-224-2970. For the latest info, see their Facebook page.

Kasi, 23,  and Aung Kyaw-Gates, 29,  are working to open a hibachi/sushi restaurant in downtown Fort Scott at 17 S. Main.

They have named it Samurai Hibachi and Sushi and hope to be open in October following renovation and hiring of employees, Kasi said.

Sushi is raw meat with seaweed rice on the outside, rolled into a roll then cut into eight pieces, she said.

“We have salmon, shrimp tempura, eel, veggie, spicy tuna, and a crab salad,” Kasi said.

Hibachi is rice or noodles with meat, grilled on a flat top grill with a sauce, she said.

The couple ran a food truck on East Wall street earlier this year, but closed down when a partner left the business for a larger town, Kasi said.

“We waited until we could find a place to open a restaurant and Robert Coon got a hold of us,” she said.

Coon is the owner of Coon Rentals LLC and recently bought 17 S. Main at a Bourbon County Commission auction.

“My husband has always wanted to open his own restaurant…and had worked in many restaurants and food places. He knows everything needed to open and succeed,” Kasi said.

Gates provided the following menus for the restaurant:

Kasi is a 2017 graduate of Uniontown High School and a 2019 graduate of Fort Scott Community College with a general science degree, she said.

Her husband, originally from Myanmar (Burma) has been in the U.S. for five years, ending up in Pittsburg, KS, where they met.

They were married in November 2019.

Aung is currently working in Pittsburg at a hibachi/sushi restaurant and Kasi owns the Third Fairy shop at 1 E. Wall Street.

“I sell incense, herbs, tarot cards, chrystals, and pagan and Wiccan items,” she said.

Coon said the first floor of the building will be divided, with the restaurant on the current kitchen side. He said an attorney has expressed interest in renting the other side.

The menu is taken from their Facebook page: