New kid on the block: Florence welcomes new restaurant on Main Street

  • Alesha Lancaster and her husband Chad own Sailer’s Place, a new restaurant in Florence. The restaurant is named after their 6-year-old daughter, Sailer. Some of her art can be seen in chalk on the welcome sign in the background. Photo by Nalani Nuylan.
    Alesha Lancaster and her husband Chad own Sailer’s Place, a new restaurant in Florence. The restaurant is named after their 6-year-old daughter, Sailer. Some of her art can be seen in chalk on the welcome sign in the background. Photo by Nalani Nuylan.
  • Photos taken by Alesha Lancaster decorate the walls of Sailer’s Place. All the photos were shot in Florence. Photo by Nalani Nuylan.
    Photos taken by Alesha Lancaster decorate the walls of Sailer’s Place. All the photos were shot in Florence. Photo by Nalani Nuylan.
  • Sailer’s Place Cafe and Bakery located on Main Street in Florence is the newest restaurant on the city’s downtown strip. Photo by Nalani Nuylan
    Sailer’s Place Cafe and Bakery located on Main Street in Florence is the newest restaurant on the city’s downtown strip. Photo by Nalani Nuylan
  • Sailer’s Place’s 254 Hot Chicken Sandwich is one of Alesha Lancaster’s favorite meals on the menu. Photo courtesy of Sailer’s Place.
    Sailer’s Place’s 254 Hot Chicken Sandwich is one of Alesha Lancaster’s favorite meals on the menu. Photo courtesy of Sailer’s Place.

     

    A new restaurant in Florence hopes to take after the city’s namesake and “flourish” as a destination for residents looking for food on the downtown strip.

    Sailer’s Place Cafe and Bakery opened at the beginning of November at  208 East Main Street, Florence, and is off to a good start. 

    “We drastically underestimated how busy we were going to be,” Co-owner Alesha Lancaster said November 15. “It’s a great thing.” 

    Ms. Lancaster has been in the restaurant industry since she was 19 years old and said she’s done it all. She’s worked as a server, a bartender, a manager, a caterer and even a cake decorator. Now, she creates the recipes for the cafe, while Mr. Lancaster is the cook.

    “Food [has] always been my passion, and I grew up cooking,” she said. “[Chad] kind of followed me on that. I think he really developed a passion for it too. He’s the real executor of the cooking. He’s an amazing cook.”

    The “classic cafe” menu consists of dishes from salads to pasta. Ms. Lancaster said a few meals stand out. 

    “Our Truffle Philly Cheese Steak [sandwich] is amazing,” she said. “It's really, really good.”

    The sandwich includes shaved ribeye, melty Swiss cheese, truffle butter, with sauteed bell peppers, onions and mushrooms. Ms. Landcaster said she likes to add jalapenos to it. 

    Another house favorite is the 254 Hot Chicken Sandwich. It comes with a panko fried chicken dipped in a spiced hot oil. It's paired with coleslaw and pickles that are made in-house. 

    Ms. Landcaster said the main star of the show has been the chicken fried steak that comes with mashed potatoes and fried okra. The restaurant has a rotating dessert menu. 

    “It’s the classic cafe type of meal,” she said. 

     

    From food truck to restaurant 

    The family-owned “classic cafe” began as Sailer’s Food Trailer in the City of Harker Heights near Killeen three years ago. Ms. Lancaster said she, her husband Chad, and her brother-in-law teamed up because they wanted to do something together and spend more time as a family. 

    Peggy Morse — a friend of Mr. Lancaster’s mother — reached out to the couple through Facebook and invited them to bring the food truck out to her shop on Main Street in Florence.  

    “We came out here a couple of times, and we just fell in love with the people,” Ms. Lancaster said. “Everybody was so wonderful, really inviting. It was just a really warm, wonderful place to be.” 

    When a restaurant space became available, Ms. Morse passed the news on to the Lancasters. Conidedely, the space’s landlord was Julie Atkinson, the landlord for their apartment. It was a perfect match.  

    “Julie and Peggy are our angels, because all the pieces just fell into place,” Ms. Lancaster said. “We found her place to live. We found our space for that restaurant, all that stuff.”

    The restaurant has been open for three weeks, and Ms. Lancaster said, “time has flown by in a continuous way.”

    “It doesn't feel like we've been open for three weeks,” she said. “It feels like we just started doing this, like a few days ago. So we're still learning. And, you know, of course, we've never had a brick-and-mortar. So we're, we're still finding things out and stuff.”

    The restaurant has more than 10 employees working at the cafe. Ms. Lancaster said she goal is to boost the restaurant’s bakery. 

    “I don't have any grandiose goal,” she said. “We’re still kind of ramping up the bakery, but [we have been] getting a lot more successful with the bakery. So hopefully we will get this incorporated into everything. Right now, we're just trying to get on our feet for the cafe part.”

    Sailer’s Place is located at 208 East Main Street in Florence. The Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Saturdays, hours of operation are from noon to 8 p.m. Sailer’s Place is closed on Sundays.

    “We've just had such an amazing response from the community,” Ms. Lancaster said tearfully. “We truly appreciate the support of our community. Everyone has just been so positive. It's [just been] unbelievable. It's such an amazing place to live. We're really lucky.”

    Florence
    new restaurant