Day Trips

Grandmother's table (Photo By Gerald E. McLeod)

Two Grannies' Downhome Cookin' in Glen Rose hands out hugs like most restaurants hand out mints. It's pretty difficult to get in or out of the c afe without getting a big granny hug or without getting plenty of Southern comfort food to eat.

"When I see a big, old, stodgy cowboy come in," says granny Gloria Whitley, "I like to give him a big, double bear-hug just to loosen him up a bit." She claims there isn't another cafe in the world like Two Grannies'. "People say they love the food but that they come for the hugs."

Whitley, 76, and June Thomas, 80, the other granny, have been handing out hugs and serving good, Southern cooking since October 2001. Since then the restaurant has been featured on television shows around the state, the Today show, and in several magazines. "We've been on the Texas Country Reporter [a regional travel show] at least eight times," she says.

For the two grandmas, the attention has been nothing short of amazing. A couple from Missouri brought them a copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with a story about the ladies' cooking, and they even received a write-up in the Pittsburgh, Pa., newspaper. "[All the attention] is just unbelievable," Whitley says with a hearty laugh. "I guess it is because you'd think two old ladies would have better sense than to start a restaurant."

A lot of people might have thought they were crazy when they first opened half a block off the town square in this quiet county seat. "The first year was kind of tough. The Glen Rose square was kind of dead back then," she says with more than a hint of overstatement.

Whitley and Thomas have attended the same church for more than 50 years. "June invited me and another widow lady over for dinner one night, and after that she and I would go out occasionally for dinner," Whitley says. "One day she said to me, 'You can't get food like we cook anywhere. What if we open a place of our own?'" Within six weeks, Two Grannies was open for lunch and dinner.

Thomas had owned the dress shop in Glen Rose for more than 40 years, and Whitley had been the director of the county senior center and a homemaker for most of her professional career. Both were accomplished cooks at home, but a commercial kitchen was a new adventure.

The food is served buffet-style with three or four selections of meat, half-a-dozen kinds of vegetables, and a dozen different desserts. "June's speciality is the desserts," Whitley says. "We always have banana pudding, plus cobblers, cakes, and pies."

With three girls helping in the kitchen, Whitley and Thomas do or supervise all of the cooking. The fried chicken is skillet-cooked rather than in a deep fryer or pressure cooker. They also fry the green beans, spinach, and okra. "We use only peanut oil," Whitley says.

Nestled among the junk shops and antique dealers, the cafe is in a building that was once the post office. There are only enough seats for 54 diners at a time, and each place setting is a mixture of garage sale cast-offs and bargain-bin discoveries. "We've had people come in and donate their old dishes and silverware to us," Whitley says. "Then when they come back they look for a particular plate or glass to use."

Each meal is accompanied with music. At lunch a piano player tickles the ivories. In the evenings, guests may be serenaded by a singing teacher's star pupils, a local band, or a friend who also plays in Branson, Mo. "You never know who'll walk in and sing a song," Whitley says.

"Our goal is to make everyone feel like they're visiting their grannies," Whitley says with a big smile. Two Grannies' Downhome Cooking is west of the Glen Rose courthouse at 109 W. Barnard St. The doors open Thursday through Saturday from 11am to 2pm and 5 to 8pm. The all-you-can-eat buffets are $6.99 for lunch and $10.99 for dinner. Call 254/897-9773, and one of the grannies will try to hold a table for you if they know you're coming.

728th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.