BUT NOW IT'S BACK: HAYS CITY CAFE

We live just off the highway you would take if you were going from Wimberley to Kyle, then on up/down I-35 to Austin/San Antonio. And, for as long as I can remember, about halfway down this highway, right at the turnoff to Driftwood, there has been a little filling station/convenience store/cafe called Hays City Cafe. Then one day, about a year ago, there wasn't!

It was the place where all the commuters filled up their tanks and their bellies before heading off to jobs in Austin or San Antonio, where you could grab a soda or snacks before heading off on an adventure, and where people who lived out in the middle of nowhere could grab milk and bread without driving all the way into Wimberley. Needless to say, it left quite a gap in the community when it suddenly closed its doors with no warning. But now it's back!

Normally, we would never try out a new place on opening day, or even opening week. We like to give them a little time to work out the kinks. However, when we were coming home from Austin the other day, and spotted cars in their parking lot, we just couldn't resist stopping in.

The Better-Than-Ever Counter/Grill Area From the Old Cafe

The New Bar Area in Front of the Original Refrigerator Cases

We started off just having a glass of wine and a margarita, as it was happy hour, but then caved in and decided to order some dinner.  It was early and we weren't all that hungry, so we decided to order lite. John went with a little bowl of tortilla soup...

which wasn't so little after all. Next time he'll probably order the "cup" instead. The only snafu came when I tried to order the "appetizer" order of carne guisada, and ended up getting this instead.

Which turned out to be rather fortuitous, since we ended up with enough leftovers for John to make dinner out of the following night! We will be going back before long to try one of their burgers for lunch, and then in a few weeks, they plan to begin breakfast service as well, including breakfast tacos!

In other news, I just spotted the first little buds on our peach yesterday, fixin' to burst open. It reminded me that I still had a couple of bags of peach slices in the freezer from last year's crop. So, late last night I threw together a quick little peach crisp, and we'll try it tonight after dinner. Now, if only there was someplace I could stop on the way home from Austin this evening, to grab a pint of Blue Bell Vanilla Bean ice cream to go with that peach crisp...oh wait! There is! Hays City Cafe!