Antiques adorn shelves and walls at Mister Bratz Butcher Shop.

By Loren Shaum
Guest Columnist

ORLAND — Orland was the first settlement in Steuben County when the Staynor family and Gideon Langdon followed the Vistula Trail (now SR 120) west and settled in what is now Orland in 1831. Over the years, the area became known as the “Vermont Settlement” because of the many settler’s arriving from that state. One of those was Captain Samuel Barry who plotted the town in 1834.

According to documents at the circa 1903 Joyce Public Library, the town had a strong anti-slavery sentiment and Captain Barry with twelve other abolitionists established an Underground Railroad to Barry’s home. The home still sits a block north of the main intersection on Barry Street.

Today, Orland is best known as the home of Miller Poultry’s state-of-the-art chicken processing plant. In 1974, Galen Miller changed from raising turkeys to chickens. The decision was genius! Millers’ “egg-to-table” chickens are raised at local farms, processed, and widely distributed to grocer outlets. Miller’s Poultry is a local legend!

Besides a couple hardware stores, there is the Rolling Valley Grill, a butcher shop, a barber shop, grocery store and Chubby’s Fish & Steak. Next door to Chubby’s is Mister Bratz Butcher Shop. Both places are owned by Kevin and Kellie Kain. Kevin has been slicing meat for years and opened Mister Bratz in 2009. The store features over 35 bratwurst flavors, fresh cut meats, cheeses, fish, canned goods, house-made salads and catering.

The bratwursts are made from either pork or chicken but the most popular are the Hawaiian pork brats. All brats are made using a secret family recipe.

On occasion, they will have fresh-frozen bluegill fillets. That and their house-made all-beef franks, and seasoned pork patties made our trip worthwhile.

Wall Lake Tavern

Present day Captain Berry House.

West of downtown is a hidden gem on Wall Lake: The Wall Lake Tavern. Just follow the faded sign on SR 120 that points to this hide-away. This rural joint serves-up some great grub and is worth checking out!

When we arrived, the parking lot was full of both customer and fishermen vehicles. Once settled, we captured a table adjacent a couple locals quaffing brews. After ordering drinks, we perused the special board. On this day, there was a wet burrito and a chicken salad melt with a cup of interesting chicken Milano soup.

The main menu features sandwiches on one side and entrées on the other side. For the latter, there are 13 choices, and you can order ala carte, as a basket or as a dinner. The sweet-garlic ribeye and the barbequed ribs are favorites. When ordered as a dinner, the price includes one of the 15 sides and a salad.

One of the six appetizers was onion rings, and us being connoisseurs-of-sorts on these delectable circles, that was the first choice. The tavern’s beer batter made this basket of golden goodness better than most. We slammed them!

Although several of the 18 sandwiches listed looked tempting, including the popular pepper-jack- onion burger, I opted for the chicken salad melt special. While Gayle, my wife, went with two pieces of the popular fried fish that included their house-made slaw.

Adding a slice of onion made my sandwich perfect, and the soup was stellar! It had a rich, thick tomato broth with a hint of parmesan cheese and was chuck-full of bell peppers, onion and shredded chicken.

One go-to side dish was the pea salad. It’s the best! Mixed with the peas are chucks of cheddar, boiled egg and onion combined with a light mayo dressing. They also sell this by the pint.

Then there’s the desserts. We watched slices of pie and quadruple chocolate cheesecake roll-out. They also had a weird maple-bacon cheesecake. The cheesecakes are made by Kathy Bond, just down the road. Call (260) 316-6675 if you want to order a cheesecake.

If you want a cool road trip, Orland is about than an hour from Lake Country. There’s more than one joint to eat, and if you want local history, stop in at the Barber Shop.