Day Trips

Texas Old-Time Restaurants and Cafes is one guidebook that should be in every glove compartment that travels outside of the city limits. Better still, they should hand this book out at the state's borders to everyone who is driving more than 100 miles into the state.

This book is so valuable because you can't drive much more than 100 miles in any direction before running into one of the eateries described in Sheryl Smith-Rodgers' book. The down-home cafes listed are the perfect antidote for the temptation of stopping at roadside golden arches.

Before some clown built cookie-cutter hamburger stands in nearly every town between here and there, my parents used to call the small-town cafes "greasy spoons." Without the national franchises that stretch from coast to coast, small-town cafes were about our only dining choice. Prior to secret sauce and happy meals, even Dairy Queen was a treat.

And Dairy Queen is in the book; right next to South Austin's premier upscale dining spot, Green Pastures. The purveyor of soft-serve ice cream wasn't invented here, but Texans have embraced it as our own. There should be a historical marker at 29th and Guadalupe, where the phenomenon began in 1947.

There are state historical markers at the Elite Cafe in Waco, Burton Cafe in Burton, Stagecoach Inn in Salado, Wunsche Bros. Cafe and Saloon in Spring, and even at Green Pastures. National Register of Historical Places designation has been conferred on the Golden Light Cafe in Amarillo, the Inn at Brushy Creek in Round Rock, and the Wunsche Brothers.

"I included Dairy Queen because it is such an institution," Sheryl says. Her only criteria for listing an establishment was that it be at least 20 years old. She found that many of the featured establishments share the same kind of well-worn, mix-matched decor and a table reserved for the local coffee-and-pie crowd. "I was amazed how many old restaurants Texas has," she says. The list stretches from the Big Texan Steak Ranch opened in Amarillo in 1960 to the Quality Cafe, an institution in Beaumont since 1930.

"I didn't want the book to be a 'best of' list," Sheryl says, "but rather a tribute to these places that have been in business for so long." The oldest one she found was Kuby's Sausage House in Dallas. The Snider Plaza deli and restaurant had its beginnings in 1728 at Kuby's Meat Market and Restaurant in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and came to Texas in 1961. The oldest cafe in the same location is the Stagecoach Inn, which began in the 1860s in Salado.

Even if the coffee tastes like it was made on opening day by the original owner and the waitress moves about as fast as his grandmother, we love these old places for the memories. Places like Martin's Restaurant in Lampasas and the New Waskom Cafe in Waskom are worth seeking out for the ambience as well as the food. Let's see some Madison Avenue restaurant expert re-create the comfort of the Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls.

Sheryl, a freelance writer, mother of two elementary school students, and wife of Blanco State Park Superintendent Terry Rodgers, admits that she has not visited every hash house in the book. That would have pushed the research past the year and a half it took her to compile the list of 95 cafes she profiles and 64 more that are noted by address only. Three (the Club Cafe in Brady, Bon Ton Restaurant in LaGrange, and Weesatche Cafe in Weesatche) have closed since the book was published last August.

The result of her hard work is a very interesting book that documents some of Texas' most beloved institutions. The recipes donated to the project by the cooks aren't bad either; the index alone covers four pages of mouth-watering dishes. This will become a reference guide that will feed generations of day trippers.

Hamburgers, steaks, Mexican food, seafood, delicatessens, hot dogs, and more are represented on the list of long-lasting Texas eateries. Documenting old-time barbecue joints is a book all to itself, Sheryl says, and has been done several times.

From the upscale Grey Moss Inn in Helotes to the funky Blessing Hotel Coffee Shop in Blessing, these are the diners we love to discover and poke fun at. Despite all of our good-natured ribbing about old coffee, stale waitresses, and good old boys sitting in the corner; most of us would prefer chicken and dumplings to chicken nuggets. Sheryl's book makes it easier to find the well-established local favorites when traveling in unfamilar territory.

Anytime you write a book like this, one of the most often asked questions of the author is which is her favorite. Po-Po Family Restaurant in Welfare is one place that Sheryl and her family frequent. "Earl Abels in San Antonio never changes," she says after field research that stretches back to her college days. And of course, the Blanco Cafe and Bowling Club in her current hometown is a favorite for their hot doughnuts, BLT tacos, and meringue pies.

As much as the Rodgers family enjoys trying new restaurants, there is no place as special as their own kitchen and dining room. Sheryl even shares some of her own favorite recipes. Documenting Texas' old restaurants promises to be an ongoing project. If you know of a cafe that was left off the list, she can be contacted at P.O. Box 493, Blanco 78606 or at [email protected]. Visit her Web site at www.geocities.com/sherylsr.

Texas Old-Time Restaurants and Cafes is available at local bookstores for $18.95. For a guide to state parks and campfire cooking, look for Sheryl's other book, Weekends Away: Camping and Cooking in Texas State Parks.

Coming up ...

Texas Coastal Wetlands Guide is a free 66-page guidebook from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that makes a nice addition to any natural science library. Besides explaining the geology, flora, and fauna of the coastal region, the book offers a long list of preserves, refuges, parks, and sanctuaries that are open to the public. To order single copies, call 912-7190 or write Janet Nelson, Coastal Conservation Branch, 3000 S. I-35, Suite 320, Austin 78704. E-mail requests to [email protected].