Food
Abuelita's Cafe
For 15 years, Nelda and Sam Valdez have been feeding Yorktown locals and Eagle Ford Shale oil field workers at Abuelita’s, and Nelda still does all the cooking herself, starting at 3:45 in the morning. Her tagline is the best little secret in Yorktown, but nothing in this kitchen is little. One abuelita taco is really two or three, the pancakes are homemade, and she rolls tamales by the dozens. I loaded up on migas, carne guisada and tamales, then hit it all with her homemade chile piquin dust. Spicy and delicious.
5D Steakhouse & Lounge
5D Steakhouse looks almost too big for Yorktown, and that’s the point. This two-story spot is a steakhouse, bar, concert venue and meat market, all born from a napkin sketch the founders drew at their Sunday dinner table. The stage has hosted the likes of Clay Walker, and the kitchen makes its fifth-generation dried sausage recipe every week. I went with the steak Oscar, a hand cut ribeye topped with grilled asparagus and crab hollandaise. Why settle for finishing butter when you can have crab hollandaise? Pretty fantastic.
Culture
Yorktown Historical Museum
Yorktown was planned as a resting place on the long freight road between the port of Indianola and the Hill Country, and the Yorktown Historical Museum tells that story inside an old mercantile building from the 1870s. After the Civil War this was a rough stretch of Texas, so the windows got steel coverings and the store had its own indoor well, which now doubles as a wishing well for donations. You’ll learn about the town’s Lithuanian settlers and explore two floors of history, with one very old-school elevator between them.
Nordheim Shooting Club
Just down the road in Nordheim, the Nordheim Shooting Club has been a gathering place for this very German community for more than a hundred years. Despite the name, nobody shoots here anymore. It’s a true Texas dance hall with a big wood ceiling, a polished floor and plenty of soul. Folks got married here, and kids once slept in the nursery beside the stage while polka bands played. These days the big draw is the Mayfest tractor pull, and this hall is worth keeping alive for the grandkids.
Yorktown Memorial Hospital
Yorktown Memorial Hospital opened in 1951, run by the Felician Sisters, Catholic nuns who served as its nurses, administrators, cooks and cleaners for decades until it closed. Today it draws visitors from across the country for its haunted reputation. Owner Fred Garza-Guzman shares the sisters’ story along with tales of strange sounds, smells and shadowy figures, and after dark he brought out a device that seemed to answer us in random words. The chapel is the creepiest room in the building. I was told to leave, so I left.
