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Saradora’s offers quality coffee, teas, snacks, and meals unusual to small towns. “Why shouldn’t |
Saradora’s Coffeehouse and Emporium in Round Rock is a quality of life thing, according to owner Sarah Roberts. Hers, yours, and mine. It is the kind of place that gives all of us a choice beyond the ordinary. Like the difference between Folgers Coffee and fresh-roasted whole coffee beans.
At the corner of Mays and Main streets in downtown Round Rock, the coffee shop is in a building that is more than 160 years old and once was a general store supplying cattle drives and travelers on the old Chisholm Trail. Now, the building is a bright and airy room with a relaxed character that reflects the owner, the community, and the customers who stop in for coffee, ice cream, fudge, lunch, or just to rest for a few minutes.
Roberts’ last job as a health care professional didn’t prepare her for the two-and-a-half-year project of building a community center in a downtown that rolls up the sidewalks at 6pm. When she first saw the building it was an eyesore at the entrance to the historic section of town.
The coffeehouse’s name comes from a combination of Roberts’ first name and Dora Robertson’s name, the lady who sold her the building. The renovation uncovered the windows on the west side of the building and had the original windows and doors replicated. The mortar in the walls of the rock rubble building had to be replaced.
“There have been a few things that took longer than they should have, but no real mistakes,” says the grandmother and mother of four children ranging in age from 24 to eight. She admits that when she started she didn’t even know how to make an espresso.
Divorced and in her early forties, Roberts says, “All I wanted was a coffeehouse with art, music, and a place for people to meet.”
The old grocery store is crowded with tables, chairs, and a couch. Families and groups of friends play a hand of cards or checkers from the games on the tables while sipping on a cup of coffee, Amy’s ice cream, or a meal. After tasting coffee from roasters in Austin and as far away as San Francisco, Roberts decided on the award-winning coffee from Cianfrani Coffee Company in Georgetown.
“I grew up in a musical family,” Roberts says. “I missed that.” So she made music an important part of the coffeehouse with someone onstage every night.
The hardest part of being a small business owner, Roberts says, is managing the shop’s personnel. She has been lucky, though, with two capable managers, Mike Lane and Melinda Wilson, helping her.
The coffeehouse has become a part of the community’s quality of life, Roberts says. A group of engineers from a nearby high-tech company meets at the coffee shop every Monday morning to plan their week. The coffee house has become a popular room for weddings and baby showers.
“The beauty of calling it a coffeehouse and emporium is that it can be anything you want it to be,” she says. The little gift shop in the back of the store reflects Roberts’ eclectic taste and travels. One of the gems of the shop is the Saradora’s T-shirt, sporting a painting by a local artist.
Like everything else in the building, the menu evolved over time. When she went looking for an appropriate coffeehouse selection, a friend recommended she consider selling bento, a Japanese rice dish as capricious as the coffee shop. Served with seared chicken, shrimp, or vegetables on a skewer resting on a bed of rice, it is the choice of the sauces that makes each dish personal. Roberts learned how to make the dish by working at a bento stand in Portland, Oregon, for a week.
One thing led to another with other items on the menu. They started carrying Austin’s Great Harvest Bread, so they used it to make sandwiches. Since they had cheese for the sandwiches, they might as well make breakfast tacos, she reasoned. The combination of tortillas and cheese progressed to offering quesadillas. Making their own soup, biscottis, and fudge were more for the fun of it. A sign behind the counter covered with pastries and candy proclaims that the “kitchen never closes.”
For some of us, there is nothing wrong with hot coffee in Texas summers. For others, all of the coffee drinks can be made cold and their assortment of teas make wonderful iced tea.
Saradora’s Coffee House is open Sunday through Thursday, 7am-10pm and Friday and Saturday, 7am-midnight. The musical lineup begins around 7pm and includes the Williamson County Jazz and Blues Society jamming on Monday nights. On weekends the entertainment varies. For more information, call the coffeehouse at 512/310-1200.
Coming up this weekend…
Agri-Feast passes out samples of agricultural products grown in Guadalupe County, along with refreshments and entertainment, at Seguin’s County Coliseum, May 28. 830/401-2486.
Tomato Picking Contest along with seminars on making salsa, sauces, and other tomato-based recipes at Gendron Homegrown Tomatoes Farm outside of College Station, May 30. 409/799-8130.
Flying Days assembles Texas’ largest collection of rare and restored aircraft in Galveston, May 27-28. 409/740-7722.
Coming up…
Free Outdoor Seminars continue at REI with Buthan – Himalayan Paradise, June 4; Earthwatch Expeditions, June 11; All About Tents and Backpacks, June 18; and Backpacking Through Yellowstone Ecosystem, June 25. 343-5550.
Red Stegall Cowboy Celebration at the George Ranch Historical Park in Richmond combines music, poetry, arts & crafts, and a rodeo, June 5-7. 281/343-0218.
Summer Solstice at Seminole Canyon State Historical Park and the White Shaman Preserve 40 miles west of Del Rio includes special tours to rare rock art sites in the area in conjunction with the Rock Art Foundation, June 20-21. 888/525-9907.
King’s Orchard Fruit Picking Adventure outside of Plantersville offers the widest variety of pick-your-own choices during the first two weeks of June. 409/894-2766.
Day Trips, Vol.2, a book of the second 100 columns, is now available $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, P.O. Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
366th in a Series. Collect them all.
This article appears in May 29 • 1998 and May 29 • 1998 (Cover).
