Dining Out is Fun
Texas cafes have what it takes to get you through the day—mashed potatoes and chicken-fried steak. The rest is gravy.
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When Vernon McGuyer came to Corsicana in 1976, he had only $128 in his pocket. Today he owns and runs Roy’s Cafe, which feeds around five hundred people a day. Checking the company logos on customers’ shirts, we noted Sears, Pinkertons, Mrs. Baird’s Bread, the local Cadillac dealership, and a pipeline company. The phone keeps ringing because members of the cafe’s who’s who are often paged while on their coffee breaks. Roy’s is a friendly, energetic place that serves all the coffee you can drink for the price of one cup. All told, the eight veterans among the employees have put in more than 140 years at the cafe. After examining the business cards and memorabilia on the bulletin board, visitors should try the homemade biscuits or the cinnamon toast (cinnamon on both sides and topped with more sugar than your mother ever allowed).
DENTON
TOM AND JO’S CAFE
702 S. Elm,
about thirty miles north of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Monday through Saturday 6 a.m.-8 p.m.
Closed Sunday.
Remember those places that used to have individual jukebox selectors in every booth? Tom and Jo’s Cafe is one of them; you slide into your booth, punch up Willie Nelson singing “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” order, and never miss a bite or a beat. All in all Tom and Jo’s is a pretty decent cafe; nothing is outstanding, but nothing is really bad either. After eating at plenty of places where nothing was really good, we’ve come to respect proprietors like Gerald Sitton, who gives you a palatable meal at an honest price. A good cheeseburger in a basket, served with real French fries, is $2.05. A slice of homemade pie will set you back 80 cents. Tom and Jo’s also has lunch specials, but avoid the vegetables unless you like them canned.
EL PASO
FARMER’S MARKET CAFE
5014 Doniphan.
Tuesday through Sunday 7 a.m.-8 p.m.,
Monday 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
The old wooden bench in front of the Farmer’s Market Cafe is a fine place to ponder the changes twenty-odd years have brought. At one time the site was on the edge of El Paso, surrounded by farms; thus the name. Today the big white stucco building sits at a major intersection, surrounded by commercial enterprises, but it still has the feel of a small-town cafe. The proprietor, Tino Hernandez, leases the space by the month. The building’s owner hopes to sell the land to a supermarket or chain store and cash in big, so the cafe could disappear any day.
Although the popular attraction here is barbecued brisket (which can be a tad dry), the huevos rancheros breakfast is a bargain. It consists of one or two fried eggs on a tortilla liberally doused with freshly made Spanish sauce and grated white cheese, hashbrowns (these are real fried potato patties), and homemade refried beans flanked by extra flour tortillas and a mug of hot coffee, all for $2.55. The day we ate there we were served by a pleasant waiter with a mere eighteen-year tenure. On any particular day the special might be spareribs, hot links, Swiss steak, tacos, or chicken fried steak, with three vegetables, for $2.75. The soup every Friday is—always has been, always will be—fish chowder. The Farmer’s Market has even had a sports star, golfer Lee Trevino, as a customer.
FAYETTEVILLE
MICHALSKY’S CAFE
On the square,
about seventy miles east of Austin.
Seven days a week 7 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
Sophie Michalsky has been decorating this place for more than 21 years now. The result is unparalleled cafe kitsch. Besides the Coke machine and the jukebox, there are velvet paintings from down Mexico way and a scale that dispenses fortunes. Those items mingle with sombreros dangling from deer antlers, Shiner beer calendars picturing dogs playing poker, gimme caps, plastic birds on perches hanging from the ceiling, old Christmas cards, wrought-iron ships, and even an award that Sophie’s husband, Jerry, received in 1982 from the American Institute of Architects for some fancy carpentry he did.
But no matter how cluttered and chaotic the decor, the menu is straightforward and simple. Sophie calls it “Take what I got,” and regular customers phone ahead to find out if a favorite dish is on the stove. The vegetables are fresh whenever possible, and she makes pies when she can. Jerry likes dewberry pie so much that he picks the berries himself. Sounds like a great bet during the dewberry season in April.
One caution: from the outside the place looks dreary. There is only one window and nothing else to invite you in, but take our word for it—the decorations alone are worth the experience.
FAYETTEVILLE
ORSAK’S CAFE
On the square,
about seventy miles east of Austin.
Tuesday through Sunday7 a.m.-6 p.m. or later.
Closed Monday.
On the one and only square in Fayetteville, just a biscuit’s throw from Michalsky’s Cafe, is Ike and Edith Orsak’s place. We had a solid country breakfast here of smoked ham, eggs, and hashbrowns, and Ike, a taciturn type who takes pride in the food he serves, made us some real hot chocolate. Lunch specials include fried chicken, fried fish, barbecue, and anything else Ike and Edith feel like fixing. One of the best reasons to go to Orsak’s, though, is to read the multitudinous signs on the wall. Apparently what Ike lacks in talkativeness he makes up for with signs, especially funny ones to improve your disposition and make your coffee last a little longer. The Orsak community bulletin board is worth a look-see too.
FLORESVILLE
WRIGHT’S CAFE
1008 C Street,
about twenty miles southeast of San Antonio.
Monday through Saturday 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday.
Wright’s Cafe is the right cafe in Floresville. It is frequented by nearly everyone, including the town’s most famous family, the Connallys. An elk head belonging to John Connally’s son Mark hangs here—a memento of a recent hunting trip to Colorado. Bert and Alma Wright started the cafe in 1954, after they did a brief stint as owners of the Baumann Cafe, also in Floresille, where they got their antique marble counter and massive stained-glass back bar. The counter case holds, besides the usual chewing tobacco and antacids, a lineup of crocheted dolls.
Bert butchers all the meat himself, the chicken-fried steak is hand-breaded, and Alma herself cuts up the chicken for frying. Most of the time you can choose from seven vegetables. Of special note for dinner is the fried quail. For dessert ask about Alma’s coconut and lemon pies, which she makes from scratch when the mood strikes her.
FORT STOCKTON
SARAH’S CAFE
106 S. Nelson,
about eighty miles southwest of Odessa.
Monday through Saturday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
Closed Sundays and holidays.
Cleo Castelo, who with husband Mike owns Sarah’s Cafe, is Fort Stockton’s self-appointed ambassador of goodwill. She sees to it that first-time lady visitors receive a complimentary miniature Mexican pot and a quesadilla. (Men get only the quesadilla.) While tallying up your check, she will tell you to call her collect if you have car trouble on the highway, and her guest register has signatures from all over the world.
It never ceases to amaze us how Mexican restaurants can take five ingredients and turn them into 45 different meals. Sarah’s is no exception. Here your lunch starts with tostadas made at the cafe. The green and red chili sauces are prepared from a recipe handed down by Cleo’s mother, who started the restaurant in 1929. Cleo guards the recipe so closely that she goes in early to prepare it when nobody else is around. Unfortunately, the red chile sauce was a touch too tomatoey for us, and the enchiladas with green sauce were soggy. The fresh guacamole was exceptionally good, however.
HUFSMITH
GOODSON’S CAFE
Kuykendahl Road,
just north of Tomball and 25 miles northwest of downtown Houston.
Monday through Wednesday 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 8-10,
Saturday 10-10, Sunday 9-9.
Closed Thursday.
Of all the country cafes that Houstonians rave about, Goodson’s is the one. Ella Goodson, 78, has been running the place for 34 years, making her a real survivor in the business. But not long ago Ella broke a kneecap, which made it hard for her to supervise the cooking, and the cafe’s kitchen seems to have fallen on hard times.
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