In 1992 my husband and I opened a little
restaurant in the back of my mom’s gift shop on
the historic town square of Waxahachie, Texas. We had a tiny kitchen with household appliances
and quietly began preparing lunch each day for
hungry tourists and townsfolk of Ellis County. To our delight, we found our 30 seat tearoom
was filled with customers that loved our food
and many more waiting to be sea
ted. Within
months my husband quit his full time job to take
over the business end of things, while I began
preparing as much food as possible each morning
with a sweet little lady who would tirelessly
appear each day to bake homemade pies, cakes
and cobblers. We wondered at times if we had
taken on too much of a task, but every month got
easier, and the joy we brought to our satisfied
customers made it all seem worthwhile. We had more than outgrown our tiny space
when an opportunity came to buy the original
hardware store building, built by the
Moore family in 1913. Southeast of the town square our
restaurant now occupies the saddle and tack room
in our 12,000 square foot building and serves
New Southern Cuisine to over 100 hungry
mouths daily. We have a cookbook in its fifth
printing, having sold over 40,000 copies and
winning the National Writers Digest Grand
Prize Award for self-published books. We have been blessed over the years to
Receive high accolades in the Dallas
Morning News, coined the phrase, “It’s Worth
Flying South” in the Fort Worth Star Telegram
and Texas Monthly magazine
voted us one of the top ten best small town
restaurants in the state. We have also been
reviewed in Southern Living, Texas Highways and Better
Homes and Gardens magazines, along with
multiple appearances on Good Morning Texas and
Good Day Dallas promoting our cookbook. My husband, Andrew, still runs the business
side of things and we also have an antique
furnishings and home accents shop housed in
our wonderful old building, In the spring of
1998, we renovated the second floor loft and
built a home that we share with our Rottweiler,
Elsa. Our loft has been featured on Designing
Texas and shot for numerous publications. On any
given day you will find us working in one of our
three businesses, along with other family members,
friends, and loyal employees. We look forward
to welcoming you to The Dove’s Nest and our
beautiful historic town square.
