The Landmark, Lowry City
February 2025
Two-piece chicken dinners come with mashed potatoes dolloped with scratch brown or white gravy and a yeast roll. Customers choose two homemade sides such as creamy potato salad, pickled beets, crispy coleslaw or that day’s dessert salad. It’s a bargain by any standards at $10.50 or $11.50 for all white meat. Price aside, my husband declared it the best fried chicken he has eaten. I agreed. Landmark’s crispy golden crust envelopes moist and tender meat.
“We fry by hand and don’t cut corners,” says owner and entrepreneur John Foster. “On Fridays, I cut up 50 whole chickens for Sunday.”
Less than a mile off Highway 13 and just north of Osceola Cheese Company, The Landmark serves as a community gathering place serving breakfast and lunch. A beehive of activity, locals and waitresses greet each other with hellos and hugs. Likewise, my husband and I were warmly welcomed. Service started the minute we were seated at the blue Formica table.
“I grew up in this community and love it here,” says Foster, “I enjoy being the place where people come to eat and see their friends.”
Although open for years, Foster bought The Landmark at the beginning of 2023. Now age 27, he started at the restaurant as a 16-year-old dishwasher, waiter and weekend cook before attending community college. He cooks alongside his staff and bakes his yeast rolls and desserts starting at 4:45 each morning. Savannah, restaurant manager and 15-year employee, mother hens the staff.
Throughout the week, except when closed on Mondays, homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast draw regulars. Lunch specials, posted daily on Facebook, might feature ham and beans or fried catfish. Menu staples range from pot roast with brown gravy, meatloaf and sandwiches.
Foster enjoys the art of pie making. Desserts rotate daily, often selling out. Sundays, he makes 10 pies, a cobbler and a cheesecake. For $2.75 and $3.25 respectively, we tried coconut cream, banana cream and yummy blackberry cobbler. Whole pies, ordered ahead, sell for $12 to $14.
“What I enjoy most as a small business owner is being of service to my community and my employees,” said Foster.
For more information, look up The Landmark Restaurant Lowry City on Facebook.