From the Way Back Machine: Happy New Year 1983

Should we tell you who this Omelettry West cook was? Since he may have gone on to a career in law or medicine, I think not. Suffice it to say that this cook volunteered to wear the diaper to celebrate the New Year for the wacky calendar that was being invented for 1983.

The calendar was rich with jokes. There were dozens of special commemorative days like the (hypothetical) day that they paved Town Lake, the day that they air conditioned the entire downtown of Austin, and - yes - Doris Day.

Here is a link to our previous blog post about the Omelettry West calendar project.

We send you our joyful wishes for a Happy New Year 2009. Thanks for being part of our community.

From the Way Back Machine: the waitresses with Kent Cole, 1982

Back story: the Omelettry West was the first incarnation of today's Magnolia Cafe. Kent and his wife Patricia were asked to help open a new location for the Omelettry. K & P were quickly made part-owners of the new venture and went to work. Kent only learned to cook the day before the official opening.

A year later, Kent found himself single again. Perhaps that explains the gorgeous look of the waitresses in this picture.

The photo was taken by Jack Rheem for a special project: a 13-month calendar to be sold to customers (the extra month was called "Thermidor" which explains the extra long Texas summer between July and August). Each month featured a beautiful B/W photo of the early staff and cafe environment. It is the ultimate collector's item for Magnolia Cafe followers.

I'll eventually post all of the pictures to this blog. Thanks for your interest.

dP

Happy Thanksgiving, circa 1981

In the early days of the Omeletry West (before it became the Magnolia Cafe) Thanksgiving was a giant affair for all of the employees. The tables were pushed together in the dining room to make one common table, and Kent was in charge of cooking the turkeys.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, with all the trimmings!