Eggs, Potatoes and Community

Rain pours down over a small breakfast nook early Sunday morning.

Apart from two pick-up trucks, the parking lot is empty, but inside small groups of people slowly sip their coffee. By this time, the line would usually be out the door with bikers and other regulars waiting for a place to sit. Though it has slowed them down, the rain hasn’t kept people away.

As the rain trickles down, people begin to trickle in.

“You here by yourself?” a seated man asks another who has just walked in.

“Just brought myself,” he answers. “You order yet?”

The seated man shakes his head no. Without looking up from his newspaper, he gives a motion for the other to take a seat at his table.

Such is a regular morning at Old West Café in Sanger, which many of the town residents have incorporated into their morning ritual. Between 7 and 10 a.m. the small door to Old West steadily opens and closes as people squeeze in to greet their neighbors and find a place to sit.  For many who live here, Old West Café is more than a place that serves up a cheesy casserole of potatoes, meat and eggs over a gravy-smothered biscuit — it’s a microcosm of small town Sanger.

“Old West in the mornings will tell you all you ever really need to know about Sanger,” said Katherine Shelly, who has lived in Sanger her whole life.

As more people file into the western décor-covered walls of Old West, the atmosphere changes. Despite the rain, muffled laughter echoes throughout the restaurant, and the sound of dishes clanging from the kitchen could be heard over country music.

John Cook is a regular at Old West. His table was positioned perfectly between the front and back portion of the café, enabling him to chat with just about everyone being seated. He seemed to know every individual who walked past — apart from his waitress — who typically works at Old West Café’s sister location in Denton. Cook was not satisfied with their conversation until he could pin-point a mutual acquaintance.

“I can always count on running into a buddy here,” Cook said. “You never have to eat alone is Sanger, especially not here.”

A table over from Cook, a silver-haired man yells to Sandy, one of the managers.

“Hi, my love,” he said as Sandy scurried over through a maze of tables to give him a quick hug. Behind him is a wall littered with kitschy signs. “Gun Control is really when you hit your target” hovered above his head. Next to it, a sign read “Yes, I was born in a barn.”

Prior to working at Old West, Sandy worked at a Denny’s. For over 28 years she worked every Thanksgiving at a restaurant that never closed. Now that her kids are older and have kids of their own, she doesn’t need to work as much, which is why Old West, which closes at 2 p.m. is a good match for her.

She finds comfort in her job at a small restaurant where everyone knows everyone — in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

“I like getting to know people and give them food and make them happy,” she says. “That makes me happy. Even when times are hard, everyone still gathers, everyone still eats.”