HALLIDAY - Christine and Rene Kraus kept their promise and oh, what a relief it is.

People in Halliday feel like they've collectively swallowed a bottle of antacids after a long bout of stomach burn.

The Krauses had operated a restaurant that was a community jewel, set like something special into the town's main street.

Rene, with his old-world Czechoslovakian charm, and Christine, with her sweet hand for baking, made Rene's Restaurant a tasteful congenial place for breakfast and lunch.

A year ago, though, they decided to retire. But they promised Halliday it wouldn't be without a restaurant.

They leased the restaurant to a younger couple and settled into a life of leisure. Rene Kraus golfed and dabbled in his hobby of collecting vintage wines. Christine Kraus indulged her own hobbies of doll making and sculpting.

No getting up at 4 a.m. to get the restaurant ready for the day. No working seven days a week. For the Krauses, life was good.

Up at the restaurant, things were going the other direction, fast. Residents say the quality of food and service took a sharp turn for the worse.

Faithful to the core, Halliday residents gave it chance after chance. One by one, disgusted and frustrated, they got a proverbial case of heartburn and quit coming.

The Krauses ended up bringing the restaurant back. They had a promise to keep.

The faithful who missed them showed up in force to help them keep it. For two weeks in October, some 15 residents helped clean the restaurant, scraping up grease, cleaning out mold and sweeping up cigarette butts littering the floor.

They shoveled out and washed every inch of the place, down to the last spoon in the drawer.

Marie Steffen, of Halliday, was at Rene's on Wednesday, enjoying the morning coffee with friends that's once again part of her day.

She said she missed the Krauses' hospitality. "I was so thrilled when they said they'd come back," she said.

Norma Weisz was among those who came to lend some elbow grease. Christine Kraus had made plans to visit family out of state and much of the cleaning was done without her.

"When she came back, everything was spic and span," Weisz said. She was part of a table of folks, gabbing and eating, just like in the good old days.

Word has gotten out and even the out-of-towners, who loved Rene's as much as the locals, are returning, Weisz said.

Christine Kraus was at the grill in the kitchen, putting out plates of hot and perfectly done eggs and hash browns. Rene Kraus was up front, pouring coffee and tending to customers.

It isn't easy being tethered to that demanding schedule after a year off. Christine Kraus said she already misses being able to come and go, but she missed the people, too.

But it was even harder to watch the restaurant failing.

"It was painful. I was devastated - it was so hard to see what was going on in here," she said. This is a woman who uses an old European family recipe to make the most delicate almond coffee cake anywhere.

Weisz said people in Halliday talked to the Krauses about the restaurant, but it never required begging them to come back.

"She (Christine Kraus) promised she'd never leave our town without a restaurant," Weisz said.

And so she hasn't.

Meanwhile, Rene's Restaurant is back on the market, a good opportunity for someone young and ambitious, Christine Kraus says.

In the year since they left, they haven't gotten any younger, but they are committed to the community.

Rene Kraus enjoyed fresh air and exercise this summer from daily rounds at the newly opened Medicine Hole Golf Course at Killdeer during his brief retirement.

He smiles, maybe a little wistfully. "I'll still find time to golf."

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)