Want to go to a place that has the most amazing brownie and out of this world iced coffee? Of course you do! And such a place exists in the small town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Our trip to Pioneer’s Woman’s Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma didn’t really start out as a trip to there. I was looking for a different car, and there was a potential one in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I wasn’t really enthused about driving to Oklahoma to buy a car. What if I got there and didn’t like it? Which is exactly what happened, by the way. But, I quickly figured out that Bartlesville is only 29 miles away from Pawhuska, Oklahoma—the home of the Pioneer Woman and her shop, the Mercantile. And my Summer Bucket List 2017 included Pawhuska and the Mercantile.
So, in early June 2017, we loaded up the three kids and set off for Pawhuska. We’re wearing our Adventure Bands from the Bucket List family but that’s a story for another blog post.
Traveling from Wichita to Pawhuska is really not that far–only 2 hours. But we were already “behind schedule” a bit when we left because I heard that you wanted to get there EARLY because of the crazy long lines. Can you believe that there are crazy, long lines in Pawhuska? The Mercantile is a 25,000 square foot shop that serves approximately 6,000 people a day! It’s kinda amazing to me that one woman (with her love for cooking and ranching) essentially put a small town of approximately 3,500 residents on the map for so many other people.
I thought that maaaybe somebody reading this might not actually know who the Pioneer Woman is. I find that surprising, but my sister didn’t know until recently. So brief background, her real name is Ree Drummond. She started a blog before blogging was really a thing. She basically talked about ranch life (she and her husband have a working cattle ranch in Oklahoma), parenting, and food. She has published several cookbooks and she has a show on the Food Network. She’s recently expanded Pawhuska even more by opening a 8-room hotel (a cowboy luxury hotel). When she opened up reservations, the hotel sold out for 6 months in 30 minutes. Crazy! Maybe on my next visit to Pawhuska, I’ll stay overnight?!
Our drive to Oklahoma was actually kinda pretty. The rolling fields of Oklahoma in late spring are beautiful. We rolled into Pawhuska around 11 a.m. When we arrived, it was as advertised. The line was long, but the outside of the shop was impressive.
We lined up and I thought that standing in a potentially two-hour long line with three kids did not sound like the best idea I’d ever had. Especially since they had just been in the car for 2 hours. The Pioneer Woman has got it going on though. She has outside “entertainment,” and three people were performing skits for the long line. We couldn’t hear much because we were pretty far back. But one of the girls, being very observant, walked down to the end of the line and explained to us newbies how the Merc worked. You only stand in line if you want to sit down and eat at the sit-down restaurant. The sit-down restaurant includes things like chicken fried steak, a brisket reuben, and fried pork chops. Delicious sounding food! From where we were standing, she told us was approximately a two-hour wait. But, if you didn’t want to eat in the sit-down restaurant, and you just wanted grab-and-go hot items, baked goods, coffee, or just to see the store, you could go on in the store. I didn’t really care about sitting down for lunch (although sometime I would like to go back and do that without kids), and the kids only wanted cinnamon rolls. And I really wanted coffee. Coffee. Always coffee. So we ditched the outside line and headed inside. Before we went in, however, the outside helper gave me the recommendation to try the Spicy Cowgirl coffee-one of Ree’s signature coffee drinks. Boy, was she smart!
The inside of the store is tastefully decorated. All of the merchandise is on the lower level of the store. There’s everything from cooking supplies to clothes to knick knacks to stuffed animals. It has PW dishes and funky coffee cups. We actually made it out of the store without buying a stuffed animal-much to my children’s disappointment. I left without buying myself anything too (except food-which doesn’t count as “stuff”) which was incredibly hard to do. But the motto for summer 2017 was: “More experiences, less stuff.” We stuck to our motto this trip.
Upstairs, we joined the bakery line. Although there was also a line to order from the bakery, it was much shorter and moved at a really good pace. In all, it took us about 15 minutes to go through the line. We ordered a tuna salad on a croissant, a box of cinnamon rolls, a knock-you-naked brownie, lemonades, and Spicy Cowgirls. We easily found a seat and sat at a table overlooking the street and enjoyed our goodies.
The cinnamon rolls were as good as imagined. I’ve been making Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls for about 5 years now. I make them every Christmas. It’s a tradition now for the kids to help me make them, and my parents expect them every Christmas Eve. They are soo good. And soo messy when making them, which is why the kids love to make them! Her recipe is on her blog. If you’ve never made them, you should try them out. Just a warning: her food (and indeed her cinnamon rolls) includes copious amounts of butter and sugar. But, they are so good!
The knock-you-naked brownie was one of the most delicious brownies I have ever tried. It’s rich chocolate with chocolate icing and sprinkle-type things on top (that’s a technical term) that are fabulous. The Spicy Cowgirl coffee was also delicious. It was creamy, slightly spicy and chocolatey. It’s described as a mixture of cold brew, milk, Mexican chile syup, and dark chocolate sauce shaken and served over ice and then topped with vanilla cold sweet cream, cinnamon, and cayenne. Who else thinks that sounds divine?! It was sooo good that I promptly decided that I needed to replicate it back home because it’s not like I’ll be driving to Pawhuska every day. I’ll include my version in my recipes, but y
Our trip to Pawhuska happened to coincide with a day that guests can go tour Pioneer Woman’s guest lodge. The guest lodge is where her guests stay (obviously), but it’s also where she films her Food Network cooking show. I picked up tickets (they’re free) and directions (also free) from the gift wrap clerk at the Merc. Although it’s free to get in, you do have to get tickets from the Merc and can’t just show up.
The drive to the lodge was also beautiful. The lodge is about 20 minutes from the Mercantile and approximately one-third of the trip is on a dirt road. On the way, we saw a large group of wild horses on the Drummond’s land. Although the lodge was crowded, it was not nearly as crowded as the shop in Pawhuska. The lodge is amazing! I would kill for her pantry and kitchen. The pantry even has a ladder. And the view from the porch is simply beautiful Oklahoma country. I will say the rails on the deck are not “kid-friendly” as I thought Wyatt might fall, ahem jump, through at any time to the ground below. But he didn’t and we made it out alive. The kids had a great time running up and down the hill right outside the lodge. And then we sat and ate some more of the food that we had brought from the Merc under a shade tree.
When we drove back through Pawhuska (after the Lodge) and on our way to Bartlesville, it was around 2:30 and quite warm. The line was much shorter and they had given out umbrellas to the people standing in line to shade them from the hot sun. All in all, it was a great trip. I’d highly recommend a trip to the Mercantile and hopefully you’ll get lucky and go on a day when you can also visit the guest lodge. It’s worth it!