If there’s one thing about cafes and restaurants in small towns that’s a constant variable—it’s change.
For most of 2021 and 2022, Spur and Jayton had no cafes and restaurants, due to the challenges brought on by Covid-19 pandemic and conditions. And then difficulties in finding workers forced the only functioning cafes in the area—all in Dickens—to cut back their hours and delayed new restaurants from opening. Spur got its first restaurant back in August 2022: the Ole Town Café, located on Burlington Avenue across the street from the Palace Theater.
During its eighth month of operations, the Ole Town Café has experimented with breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with hours from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.. The café tweaked their schedule and offerings by scaling back to offering breakfast on weekends only.
In recent months, they phased breakfast out, and their schedule has become more fixed as lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday with hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.. They specialize in Mexican food, but diners can also get burgers, chicken fried steaks, and chicken strips among the non–Mexican food options.
G-Ma’s. Filling the breakfast niche is G-Ma’s, which opened in the former MarvelBucks location in the historic Mission service station at the south end of Burlington Avenue in late November 2022.
G-Ma’s is open Monday through Saturday from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., serving breakfast burritos, breakfast bowls, homemade cinnamon rolls, specialty coffees, plus burgers, sandwiches and salads for lunch. It is a drive-through, to-go-only venue.
The Greenhouse Café in Jayton is open Monday through Friday for breakfast and “grab and go” lunches. Their breakfast offerings include breakfast sandwiches, pastries, loaded biscuits and specialty coffees. Their “grab and go” lunches include items such as wraps, chicken salad on croissants, salads, and stuffed potatoes. Their hours vary based upon school events in Jayton. Check their Facebook page to see if they are open and which meals they are serving and when.
Beckton’s Chophouse and Tavern opened in January 2023 in Dickens, in the former Espuela Steakhouse.
The restaurant, which operates as a private membership establishment in order to serve alcoholic beverages, started out with their hours being Wednesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner.
Last week Beckton’s became a dinner only venue six days a week. They are open from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and on Fridays and Saturdays they are open from 4 to 10 p.m. Beckton’s also has a Happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. which features half price drinks and half price appetizers. On Sundays, the restaurant o serves lunch only, and their hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Beckton’s specializes in mesquite-grilled steaks, but they also offer chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, burgers, and fish fries on Fridays, among other menu offerings, and they have a daily salad bar.
The other long-standing cafes in Dickens have since returned to their regular hours that they operated under before the pandemic.
TC’s Ponderosa. The barbecue restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is closed Mondays.
J and M Caprock Cafe is the only café in Dickens County where you can get breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Their hours are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. They serve breakfast, and for lunch and dinner, chicken fried steak, grilled steaks, chicken strips, Mexican food, burgers and sandwiches, salads, fish fries on Fridays and a special Sunday lunch menu.
ONTHEHORIZON The Turnaround Top Café in Spur, in the former Turnaround Café location at the south end of Burlington Avenue, conducted training for staff last week at its café, and has been posting on its Facebook page that it is planning opening soon.
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