by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Entering the Cornerstone Buffet and Restaurant in Sartell is a bit like entering another era.
Inside the door are black-and-white photos of scenes from the old Sartell paper mill, some of the photos at least 100 years old. To the right are scenes from Sauk Rapids, some dating back to the late 1800s. Those photos are there because the Cornerstone’s owners live in Sauk Rapids.
Once past that small entrance, visitors see ahead of them what looks like a grandma’s farm kitchen, a nostalgic rush of rows of jams, baking supplies, old-fashioned candies like Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy and the eye-catching centerpiece – an old wood-burning stove.
The restaurant itself is filled with unadorned but beautiful plain wooden tables and chairs. The all-around look is almost austere but welcoming. In a separate large room is a banquet and party room, which can be rented.
Taken altogether, the old-fashioned ambience of the place is not accidental. It reflects the quality of the foods – freshly prepared comfort foods, rather basic, untrendy and delicious. The old-fashioned, basic look of Cornerstone (a name taken from the Bible) also reflects its faith-based inspiration.
Its owner-operator and head chef Jeremy Kenning of Sauk Rapids said Jesus Christ and the Gospel teachings inspire him and his staff in how they do their jobs and how they treat one another and their customers. The Cornerstone is owned by Kenning, his wife, Jennifer, and their children: Christian, 18; Hailey, 17; Chandler, 14; Cole, 13; and Creed, 10.
Cornerstone, open every day from 6 a.m.-9 p.m., is located in Sartell River Plaza across from the Sartell Middle School, in the place where an Oriental restaurant used to be.
The restaurant offers buffet-style dining with scores of entrées and side dishes kept warm under the long buffet table. It also provides cook-to-order dinners from the menu, such fare as hamburgers, pizzas, appetizers, pasta, fish, chicken, steaks, breakfasts, sandwich wraps, soups and salads.
Cornerstone diners can expect something new and different every day of the week. On Mondays, for example, there is a chicken buffet from 4-8 p.m. featuring fried, barbecued or baked chicken.
Next day, Tuesday, is Comfort Food Buffet with choices such as meatloaf, roast turkey and Tater-Tot casseroles.
On Thursday there is a German Buffet from 4-8 p.m. with hearty foods like cabbage rolls, pork schnitzel, sausage and sauerkraut, German chocolate cake and much more.
For fish and seafood fanciers there is Friday Surf and Turf Night from 4-9 p.m. with crab legs, baked tilapia, shrimp and also “turf” foods like steak.
Sunday, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. is Brunch Buffet, with everything anyone could ever want for breakfast (pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage and more), as well as homemade caramel-cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, mashed potatoes and much more.
Every Saturday and Sunday there is a breakfast buffet from 8-11 a.m. and a brunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The lunch buffet is offered from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Cornerstone is a family-owned restaurant inspired by another Cornerstone, the one in Melrose that has been open for years and that Kenning used to work at as general manager, along with its owner Steve Danzl, who also operated for many years the Twin Pines Restaurant on Hwy. 10 just south of Rice and Funky’s Restaurant in Melrose.
Born in St. Cloud, Kenning, 39, started in the restaurant business at the tender age of 13 when he made pizzas at Funky’s. Later he worked for four years at MT’s on Eighth in St. Cloud, two years at the St. Cloud Holiday Inn, then again at Funky’s with Danzl.
“I love the restaurant business,” he said. “I feel I was born to it.”
His wife, Jennifer, agrees.
“He’s an amazing cook,” she said. “He’s a cook at heart; he’s done it forever. He cooks anything. My favorite is his chicken-and-dumpling soup. The new restaurant has been so busy. There are 30-35 employees now, and we need more. We’re busy, but that’s a good problem to have.”
Jennifer helps when she can at the restaurant, although she is busy most often with her own job as a chemical-health counselor at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School.
Cornerstone is definitely a “family affair.” Daughter Hailey works there part-time as a waitress. Sons Chandler and Cole do come dishwashing, and the youngest, Creed, likes to come along to try his hand at any chores, even vacuuming.
To see a complete menu and more about Cornerstone, visit its website at: www.cornerstonebuffetrestaurant.com.
Jeremy Kenning, owner of the just-opened Cornerstone Buffet and Restaurant in Sartell, stands in the old-fashioned one-room shop in the front of his business. The country-style set up offers old-time candies, jams, jellies, baking supplies, all amid nostalgic relics of the past.
Jeremy Kenning, owner-operator of the Cornerstone Buffet and Restaurant in Sartell is pleased all of his food is extremely fresh, much of it locally grown and so much of it made daily on the premises. The new buffet-restaurant is located in Riverside Plaza across from the Sartell Middle School.
Alan and Odessa Scherr and their 10-year-old son Kenny enjoy a burger lunch at Cornerstone Buffet and Restaurant at Sartell’s Riverside Plaza. Asked if the food was good, Kenny, wide-eyed with a mouth full of French fries, nodded vigorously up and down yes, yes, yes. The Scherrs, of Sauk Rapids, are part-owners of Central Perk, a coffee-and-wine shop next to the Paramount Theater in St. Cloud.
The Cornerstone buffet section is chock-full of nutritious choices for salads to go along with sumptuous main dinners and lunches. The salad fixings, some of them seen here, include baby spinach, spring greens, hard-boiled eggs, radishes, yellow peppers and purple onions.
