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Located in the historic old Morrison library building at 100 W. Maple St., The Southern Eatery is bringing back its traditional country cooking to the community.

Officially opened Jan. 9, it is not the first time owner Douglassa “Dee” Haley has operated a restaurant in the building, which is owned by the City of Morrison.

“This is our fourth time around here,” Haley said.

Describing The Southern Eatery as “your plain meat and three,” Haley said she first opened the restaurant in 2018, but keeps coming back for the people.

“I love the people here, the community is just so supportive,” she said.

Popular menu items include country fried steak with white gravy and mashed potatoes, meat loaf, fried pork chops and fried catfish every Friday.

When asked the secret to a good meat and three restaurant, Haley said, home cooking and seasoning.

“What you would get here is what you would get at home,” she said. “I learned to cook from my grandparents and my mom and dad and I just brought that into it.”

Today of course we have country fried steak with white gravy, mashed potatoes, meat loaf, fried pork chops, fried catfish on Fridays.

Haley said she gained even more experience working with her parents at a restaurant they owned in West Tennessee for five years and has always worked in restaurants.

Despite being a small community just over the Warren County line, Haley said it is important for Morrison to have a restaurant.

“It is a gathering place for everybody to get to know each other,” she said.

In addition to the country main dishes, The Southern Eatery is also serving up a selection of homemade desserts that rotate daily.

“We have chocolate chess and regular chess usually every day,” Haley said. “We have a cobbler usually on Wednesday and on Thursday I usually make a cake. Then we have our meringue pies on Friday.”

The Southern Eatery is currently open from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 7-11 a.m. on Saturday. For updates and current menus, visit The Southern Eatery Facebook page.