Texan Cafe
207 East St., Hutto, 512/846-2885
Tue.-Sat., 11am-8:30pm; Sun., 11am–3pm
www.texancafe.net
Texan Cafe is a block and a half north of Highway 79 in Hutto, just a couple of miles east of 130 (9 miles east of I-35). Look for the big Hereford head sticking out of the front of an old limestone building, smack in the heart of Old Town. Roger Joughin and business partner, Ron Yaudes, took over the restaurant in 2006, and both have histories with corporate restaurants, but use recipes from moms and grandmas. Folks come here for good, hard-to-find comfort food, like a stellar hand-breaded chicken-fried steak, ham with root beer glaze, great Cobb salads, and amazing fried pickles. They do a daily lunch special for $7.89; our fave is Thursday’s rich chicken and dumplings. You can expect at least a dozen different homemade sides daily, like butter beans, eggplant casserole, fried okra, tomato cucumber salad, and the like. The adjacent pie shop is the danger zone, where 15 to 20 pies and desserts daily lure you through the connecting door. Flaky golden crusts anchor pie treats like peanut butter, German chocolate, and coconut cream. One bite of their blackberry cobbler is all it takes to transport me back to grandmaw’s.
This article appears in July 18 • 2014.
