Laurie’s Cafe opens for dinner, maintains its tea-room charm

  • Customer Jean Little (left) gave Owner Beth Ernest (right) one of her mother’s old teapots to display in Laurie’s Cafe. Standing in front of the chalk boards with the specials at Laurie’s Cafe on 612 South Main Street. Photo by Abbey Archer
    Customer Jean Little (left) gave Owner Beth Ernest (right) one of her mother’s old teapots to display in Laurie’s Cafe. Standing in front of the chalk boards with the specials at Laurie’s Cafe on 612 South Main Street. Photo by Abbey Archer
  • Emily’s Sampler Plate at Laurie’s Cafe with chicken salad, broccoli salad, congealed salad, and the cucumber and tomato vinaigrette salad. Photo Courtesy of Jacob Ernest
    Emily’s Sampler Plate at Laurie’s Cafe with chicken salad, broccoli salad, congealed salad, and the cucumber and tomato vinaigrette salad. Photo Courtesy of Jacob Ernest

    Laurie’s Cafe, known for its homestyle dishes and nostalgic feel, is now open for dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. The late-day service marks a new chapter for the longtime Georgetown restaurant. 

    Jacob Ernest, the current owner’s son, leads the new dinner shifts. His parents, Don and Beth Ernest, took over the business in December 2016.

    Although Laurie’s Cafe has been through multiple owners, it continues to emphasize tradition over reinvention. Customers frequently note the chocolate cake or the chicken salad tastes just like grandma made it, and that they never want it to change. 

    Recipes have remained the same since Laurie Locke, a recipe columnist for the Sun, opened the restaurant back in 1994. 

    Ms. Locke did catering out of her home for years before opening Laurie’s as a to-go food restaurant in Williamsburg Village — where Gatti’s Pizza is today. Ms. Locke explained that back in the ’90s, there weren’t many pre-made or frozen food items at the grocery store. 

    Laurie’s to-go menu was vast, offering frozen lasagnes, fresh quiches and side salads alongside baked treats. Ms. Locke studied French cooking under Ann Clark in Austin for many years and came up with many unique quiche flavors, including Green Chili, Quiche Lorraine, Tomato Florentine and Crab Quiche. 

    Even though Georgetown was a small town, Laurie’s food to-go thrived. She opened a second location called Laurie’s Too, a tea room where people could eat lunch, where Dos Salsa’s is today, on 1104 South Main Street. Ladies from the Assistance League volunteered to work as waitresses at the tea room ‘just for the tips,’ Ms. Locke remembered. 

    “When we opened the tea room [called Laurie’s Too], I found a collection of little bitty ornamental teapots,” Ms. Locke said. “They were almost the size of a Christmas tree decoration, but they were all different. When someone would order, we would give them a teapot [...] then the waitresses, we would just note which teapot it was, and that's how they'd know where to deliver the food.”

    Ms. Locke got her master’s degree in counseling while running the businesses and raising her three children as a single mother. She sold Laurie’s and Laurie’s Too in 2000. The businesses were combined into Laurie’s Cafe. Ms. Locke then opened her own private therapy practice. 

    Don and Beth Ernest run Laurie’s Cafe today at 612 South Main Street, right off the Square. 

    Mr. Ernest’s path to restaurant ownership began in the kitchen of Stateline BBQ in El Paso, located on the Texas–New Mexico border. He later worked as an airplane mechanic, living internationally with his wife Beth and “traveling the world” before deciding to return to the food industry.

    “My husband always wanted to open a restaurant of his own,” Ms. Ernest said. She explained they were attracted to purchasing Laurie’s because of its good recipes and reputation. They live in Leander and commute into Georgetown for work. 

    The Ernests have not changed anything on the menu because Laurie’s loyal customers asked them not to. However, they have added beer and wine to the menu for those who want something stronger than tea. 

    Laurie’s Cafe is still known for both its dine in and to-go meals. The chicken salad and broccoli salad could be ordered as a restaurant meal or in a plastic to-go container. There are frozen lasagnas, casseroles and whole quiches are available with advance notice. 

    The quaint character of the original Laurie’s Too tea room remains. A collection of teapots brought in by patrons decorate the restaurant and some are even used for serving. 

    “These ladies get downsized and they give me all their tea pots instead of taking them to the thrift store,” Ms. Ernest said. While some of the older teapots are only used for decoration, sturdier ones are still for serving. “So if you want tea, you get the whole pot of tea.”

    Jacob Ernest describes the restaurant’s food as “old-timey” with “small-town charm.” 

    “Young people sometimes don’t get it,” Ms. Ernest said. 

    Ms. Ernest has noticed there has been an increase in foot traffic since the city built the parking garage on South Main Street, which is just right around the corner. 

    Laurie’s Cafe is now open for dinner Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Lunch will continue to be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

    As for the restaurant’s namesake, Ms. Locke said she still enjoys entertaining and cooking for people, but not on a “daily-grind-type” basis. She continues to see therapy clients and writes her weekly “Cook’s Corner” column for the Sun.

    Laurie's Cafe
    Laurie Locke