We started in the small, quaint building on Kerbey Lane. It was the former home of Café Camille, a well respected French restaurant that, like many restaurants, had closed after a few years. On a shoestring budget, we remodeled the building ourselves: painting, finishing floors, planting the front gardens, wallpapering and other less noticeable but equally important things. A friend in College Station built 15 wooden tables and we found old schoolhouse chairs at a used furniture store. We worked on a menu in our spare time, developing some of the items that are still popular today. The night before opening, we made our first batch of Buttermilk Pancakes, and the recipe hasn’t changed since. We opened the doors on May 5, 1980.
We had nine employees, limited hours, and we found we had been right about the kind of restaurant Austin wanted. We did no advertising; word of mouth brought people to the charming little out-of-the-way place on Kerbey Lane. Before long we expanded our hours and our locations.
Kerbey Lane South opened in 1986 in what was once a Burger Chef. We decided on a diner feel because it felt like a diner with its wrap-around windows and counter. It too, was immediately popular with the neighborhood. Our menu was changing by then; we were adding more vegetarian items, salads and specials. We were always devoted to finding the best ingredients for our food, but one thing we couldn’t find anywhere were homegrown, vine-ripened tomatoes. For that, we looked to friends and farmers Cora and Bobby Lamar. They planted enough tomatoes on their land to supply the two locations for the summer. It was such a success they now plant year round for us and harvest a variety of pesticide free produce. High quality, homegrown produce is one of the cornerstones of our success.
In the late 1980’s, we took the opportunity to locate in Northwest Austin in what had once been Captain Boomer’s Seafood Restaurant. It was a rambling old house in a grove of live oak trees set back from Research Boulevard. It felt like being in the country. Of course, Highway183 is now on our doorstep, but the interior is still homey and comfortable and the creative fence and landscape work done in the front helps bring back that country feel.
For a long time we thought we were done expanding until the Conan’s on Guadalupe and 26th Street became available. If you remember, it was dark with lots of wooden booths and just right for a pizza restaurant. But, for a Kerbey Lane feel, we lightened things up and opened up the dining area. We brought round-the-clock dining to the University area. It is a lively place, populated with students, staff, faculty and neighbors. We’ve become involved with various neighborhood business projects that help create a sense of community along “The Drag.”
Many things contribute to what makes Kerbey Lane Cafe special. We have unique buildings each with a special Austin feel; we provide the absolute best ingredients we can find, even growing some of our own; and we have really wonderful people working for and with us. None of the original nine employees are still here, but soon after we opened in 1980, our current Director of Food and Facilities, Carl Leefe, started working at the Central location as a cook. He has done a little of everything over the years, and is an essential part of the success of Kerbey Lane Cafe. Often times employee will work for us for years, leave to pursue other things, and then came back. Such is the case with Julie Hollandsworth, AJ Lujano and Tracy Mongold, who directs our Marketing and Community Service. A number of other key employees have been steadily with us for many, many years. We are honored by such loyalty.
Looking back on all this, we acknowledge we didn’t start out twenty seven years ago thinking we would end up with four distinct and popular restaurants as well as a line of pancake mixes. We really didn’t think we would do this “restaurant thing” very long. We didn’t know much about the business part of running a restaurant, but we knew what we liked to eat, and Austin liked us. We have learned many things along the way, and those of you who have visited us these past years have watched us grow and change. We like to think that along with Austin, we have changed for the better, and hope to continue that for many years to come.