Café Homestead
608 Dry Creek Road
Waco, TX 76705
(254) 754-9604
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Mon - Fri:
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10:00 am
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6:00 pm
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Sat:
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7:00 am
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6:00 pm
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I
finally got around to trying this joint a couple weeks ago, after the guys from
Wacoboard went raving about it. I had also read great things about their
special Farm to Table Dinner from Wacofork. Café Homestead is a local eatery
out at the Homestead Heritage Village, right outside Waco. They specialize in
organic and local food, much of which is grown on site; including the wheat for
the breads, the cows for the beef, and much more. This community is almost in its own world, surrounded by us. They grow most of their own foods, they build their own homes, buildings and tools, they reflect the time before all the crazy technology.. that will probably be the doom of us all as foretold in Terminator. I remember going here for field trips and churning butter, watching the black smith, and such.
I invite my dad for lunch and we head on up there. They are about half full when we get there, so luckily there was no waiting for a table. We order our drinks; I try their peach sweet tea. We both look over the menu and discuss what we should get. I decide to get the South of the Boarder Burger, which is what the guys from Wacoboard recommended. This burger consists of: “A third pound burger topped with Pepper Jack cheese, smothered with green chilies, avocado, and our Ranch dressing, served on a sesame-topped whole wheat bun and garnished with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle and your choice of russet or sweet potato fries”… for $11. I of course got mine sin onions and tomato, and I chose their sweet potato fries. My dad decided to get their Pastrami Melt: “Our own beef pastrami and Brazos Valley Swiss cheese piled on a whole wheat roll, topped with Russian dressing. Served with coleslaw $10.”
Our food arrives and it looks fantastic, the aroma hovering off the dishes are fantastic… I can’t wait to dig in. The burger is rather large, with a 1/3 pounder patty and all those toppings and the ladle of ranch dressing… it makes it a small challenge to eat…. Well if you are afraid of getting messy. I dove in and the ranch dressing just starting dripping all over the place. The first bite is pretty damn good; the burger meat itself is juicy, tender and flavorful as you get the beef flavor and hints of seasoning. The veggies are fresh n’ crisp, the avocado nice and cooling, the pepper jack cheese is nicely melted and has a nice kick. You get nice amount of green chilies in every bite and if you know me, I love my green chilies. Plenty of ranch dressing to go around and pleasantly rounds off the burger. The hamburger bun was great, crisp outer crust and fresh fluffy inside… that wasn’t dry. This was, by far, one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten… most excellent.
After a few bites into my burger I finally chowed down on some of the fresh cut sweet potato fries. I dipped them into the excess ranch dressing that dripped onto the plate. They were crispy, sweet, very hot… and extremely tasty. I love me some sweet potato fries, oh ya. I also managed to snag a bite of my father’s sandwich…. And holy crap it was delicious. I’ve never been a big fan of pastrami, but this was perfect. The meat just melted in your mouth, the cheese was fresh and gooey, the wheat roll was great, and the Russian dressing was top notch. I plan on grabbing this sandwich next time I go back. The coleslaw that came with it was pretty good too; sweet, fresh, creamy, crunchy....I could’ve eaten the rest of it.
After finishing my burger and fries, I was offered some dessert. They didn’t have to twist my arm long, before I broke down and ordered a slice of their Apple Crumb Pie… minus the ice-cream. Everyone gave me crap for not ordering the ice-cream…IM SORRY, my bad my bad; I know better now. The pie, like the rest of the meal, was fantastic; warm, flavorful and savory with apples and cinnamon sweetness, light hint of nutmeg … great texture and the heaping mound of crumb topping was delicious.
The food was great, the experience was pretty good. The only problem was the waitress, who didn’t really seem to pay much attention to us. I had to wave at her across the room to get more tea, after I had finished it off several minutes before. Besides that, they were extremely nice and courteous, helped us pick out a loaf of bread for my mother. We ended up getting her some of their fresh Raisin Cinnamon Bread. Over all, it was a well worth the drive out there and the price we paid. If you haven’t been out there yet, I highly recommend it.
*And if you are like me, you’ll dress casual nice and throw on a Jagermeister hat that I snagged from Mardi Gras*
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