Celebrity Chef Paula Deen: Bringing Southern taste to Branson

The Georgia-based star's restaurant is a Midwest milestone

Iowa has several famous chefs and restaurant owners, including some TV stars, but no one on the scale of Guy Fieri or Gordon Ramsay.

But if you want to visit a Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen restaurant, Iowans can travel south to Branson, Missouri, a tourist mecca known for amusement parks, music and plenty of hype.

Enter, or should I say entree…. Paula Deen’s restaurant in the shopping and entertainment complex Branson Landing.

Me, mingling with the celebrities… or at least a cardboard facsimile. (Photo by John Naughton.)

Deen is a well-known celebrity chef who has built a culinary empire based on TV shows, books and restaurants.

The Branson restaurant opened in 2019 and has roared out of the pandemic with family-style meals, a brightly lit and comfortable dining room and a gift shop that is bigger than you’ll find at any Cracker Barrel.

Branson — about a six-hour drive from Des Moines — has been a hit for decades, providing family friendly attractions and celebrity showrooms built by figures such as Dolly Parton, comedian Yakov Smirnoff and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Family style spreads, such as this one featuring fried chicken, catfish and sides, are a stable at Paula Deen’s Branson, Missouri, restaurant. (Photo by John Naughton.)

Paula Deen, one of the Queens of Celebrity Chefs, decided to make Branson work for her, too.