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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The official policy is to use fresh meat (bought daily) and vegetables (some frozen goods are used when fresh is unavailable, and only the green beans and corn are ever canned), but things were not up to snuff when we ate there. One thing we can wholeheartedly recommend, though, is the cornbread—it’s some of the best in the state. Ella’s secret is to generously grease the pan, which fries the bottom of the bread to a crispy brown. We really admire Ella Goodson, and we want to like her cafe. Here’s hoping for better luck soon.
INDUSTRY
PINKY’S CAFE
U.S.159 (1.2 miles southeast of town),
about seventy miles west of Houston.
Tuesday through Friday 4 p.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday
You have to really want to go to Pinky’s to find it, because it certainly isn’t on the map. But if you take the trouble, you’re in for a treat. Pinky’s is owned by Norma and Lloyd Wubbenhorst, who along with their son Roger and his wife, Patsy, have been running the cafe for five and a half years.
Pinky’s serves a generous hand-breaded chicken-fried steak, as well as great cream gravy made by Norma. Roger, a refugee from a nine-to-five job in Houston, fixes memorable pinto beans, using a recipe he won’t divulge. The food is made from fresh ingredients as much as possible. During our visit Roger was deep in negotiations with a local woman for fresh farm eggs. In the end, he bought three dozen.
During the Austin Chalk boom, Pinky’s was a bit more active, but it still enjoys the support of the local Lion’s Club. Note the fifties gasoline pump (which no longer works) and the red, yellow, and pink roses in front. On the inside, don’t miss the nickel-Coke machine.
KERRVILLE
HILL COUNTRY CAFE
806 Main,
about sixty miles northwest of San Antonio.
Monday through Friday 5:30 a.m.-2 p.m.,
Saturday (breakfast only) 5:30 a.m.-11 a.m.
Closed Sunday.
The waitresses at the Hill Country Cafe have a habit of photographing their customers and hanging the pictures on the cafe walls, so dress for posterity if you decide to stop in. And speaking of dress, don’t be surprised if the waitresses are dressed alike. They do that for special occasions; last Christmas they all showed up as elves.
Ray and Marlin Marie Snider have owned their cafe for only three years, but in that short time they have established a reputation for good, honest food. They make their biscuits from scratch and process their own potatoes for french fries, mashed potatoes and hashbrowns. Lunch specials include liver and onions, chicken-fried steak, fried catfish, roast beef, and both fried and baked chicken. You also get your choice of two vegetables, a salad or coleslaw, iced tea or coffee, and a piece of Marlin’s cake or pie, all for just $3 to $3.40. the cafe is popular with the movers and shakers around Kerrville; the mayor and a table of his cronies have coffee there almost every day.
MARFA
OLD BORUNDA CAFE
203 San Antonio,
about 175 miles southwest of Odessa.
Erratic hours. Call ahead.
By now Carolina Borunda Humphries’ cafe may be the best-known obscure cafe in Texas. In fact, you might have already read about it in these pages (“Is There Food After Stockton?” TM, March 1983). So we won’t tell you again that the fare is basic enchiladas and tamales in a ubiquitous chili gravy of astonishing orange hue, and we won’t repeat that everybody in the county eats at this tidy white diner, from young families with crying tots to cowboys with spurs that jingle-jangle-jingle. No. We have only one word to say to you: pralines. Luscious, brittle morsels of brown sugar and pecans made by Carolina’s niece, these world-class candies will soothe you mightily on the rest of your journey across West Texas. Don’t neglect to lay in an adequate supply. There’s nothing worse than reaching over to grab another and finding that you ate the last one along about San Angelo.
NEW BRAUNFELS
KRAUSE’S CAFE
148 Castell,
about twenty miles northeast of San Antonio.
Monday through Saturday 6:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday.
Success can undermine a good cafe, and big, bustling Krause’s is flirting with trouble. If you don’t believe us, listen to this: even though the biscuits and cornbread are made from scratch, they’re served with Shed’s Spread instead of butter, and of the twenty-odd pies, only four are homemade. We suspect that the daily flood of customers may be forcing the cooks to prepare the main dishes well in advance. Perhaps that is why our food was cold. The menu has become so diversified that there seems to be no specialty. You can get just about anything, including steaks and sauerkraut and ham sandwiches, all of it acceptable but none of it fantastic.
The late Gene Krause started this cafe back in 1938 as a place that served chili, stew, and hamburgers. Today it is run by his son and daughter-in-law, Kermit and Mildred, and pie and deli operations have been added. There can be too much of a good thing, you know.
PONDER
RANCHMAN’S CAFE
On Main one-half block west of FM 156 (across
from the post office), about 25 miles north of Fort Worth.
Seven days a week 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
“Why don’t you too go to Ponder/And tear a steak asunder/Then you too will cease to wonder/Why we all go oft’ to Ponder.” This verse, the first poetry we have ever encountered that was inspired by a steak, was written in the guest book at Ranchman’s by a satisfied customer. By way of explanation, owner Grace “Pete” Jackson says modestly, “We just cook like we cook at home.”
So famous is this place that Hugh O’Brien, Ruth Buzzi, Lindsay Wagner, and visitors from London, Paris, and Puerto Rico have signed the guest book with raves. Some guests insist on having a souvenir. President Jimmy Carter’s mother, Miz Lillian, purchased the cafe’s rustic outhouse several years ago and had it delivered to her daughter’s home in nearby Argyle.
The reason for the Ranchman’s popularity is clear. Pete cuts her own thick, juicy steaks exclusively from the short loin and loin end, reserving the trimmings to be ground up into some of the best hamburger meat in North Texas. Lunch specials change daily, and breakfast always includes cured ham, bacon, or sausage. Lunches are $3.95, steaks $6.75 and up. To top it all off, Pete makes some of the best pies in the state, using only fresh ingredients. A pie like her chocolate—made from real chocolate, not a pudding mix—is a rarity in cafes. Knowledgeable customers reserve slices before they sit down to eat, and they also make reservations to dine. From the atmosphere to the food to the one-block downtown in which the cafe is located to the personality of Pete herself, Ranchman’s has everything you could ask for in a cafe. We just wish Pete could be around for another eighty years.
RAYMONDVILLE
BUD’S WAGON WHEEL CAFE
U.S. Business 77 (three miles south of town),
about 45 miles north of Brownsville.
Monday through Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Closed Sunday.
From the outside, Bud’s looks like any old South Texas honky-tonk. In fact, Paul Whitworth, editor of the Raymondville and Willacy County News, says he didn’t even go into the place for the first three years he lived in the Valley. When he was finally persuaded to by a friend, he found that folks like the county judge, attorneys, shopkeepers, bankers, and farmers had been eating there for years. They come for the locally famous chicken-fried steak and the liver and onions (“best in the world,” raves one fan), but the thing that puts Bud’s in a special category is the shrimp and fish caught fresh in the Laguna Madre. Bud Young, who has owned the cafe for thirteen years, buys directly from local fishermen whenever possible, and our filet of fried flounder was A-OK. The french fries are the real, old-line kind, not sissy frozen ones. Plate lunches (your choice from three meats, three vegetables, and dessert) are $3.50.
Every few years there comes a veritable monsoon in the area and since Bud’s is located in a little dip in the highway, it almost always gets flooded, once for close to two months. When that happens, Bud closes until the water goes down. Then he attacks the damage with buckets and brooms. The regulars wait patiently until the cafe is back to normal, then they all queue up again. It’s that kind of place.
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