Stories

The Reuben at Redbud Cafe is reason enough to visit the Blanco square, where you’ll also find a handful of great restaurants, plus local shops and local shopping, although most of it, fair warning, leans toward the ladies. But above it all, the spot that pulls in the most day trippers is lunch at Redbud Cafe. It’s half restaurant, half bakery, half bar, and yes, that math somehow works out.

Watch the full clip below.

From Pottery Studio to the Town’s Gathering Spot

Owners Jon and Jan Brieger are potters by trade, not restaurateurs, but when the old hardware store on the square sat abandoned, they saw a blank lump of clay waiting to be molded into one of the most charming restaurants in Texas. What they were going for, in their own words, was a place with really good scratch made food, a home cooking kind of feel, a focus on local brewery, and above all a place for the community to gather. Every walk of life mixes here, and that blend is exactly the point. Turns out making sandwiches and making pots aren’t so different after all. Put them together well, and they both end up looking good and tasting good. It’s the kind of place where the Reuben sandwich and the pottery on the walls both feel handmade, because they are.

Reuben or Meatloaf? Just Get Two.

The food at Redbud is as good as homemade sandwiches get. The meatloaf sandwich has a real case for best in the state, and it comes down to a genuine toss up against the Reuben, pastrami, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and rye bread stacked into something worth fighting over the last bite of. Order the Reuben if you only get one shot, it’s the sandwich this whole stop is built around. Wash it down with a Redbud Lavender Lemonade, brewed from actual lavender buds steeped into a tea and mixed into the lemonade, and you’ve landed on the sweet spot of the menu.

Next door sits Brieger Pottery, the Briegers’ original studio, and across the street stands the Old Blanco County Courthouse, which means one stop at Redbud puts you in the middle of just about everything worth seeing on the square.

A Good Representative Sample of Blanco

Nobody blinks at a full bar sitting inside a sandwich shop here, because that’s just part of how Blanco does things. It’s a small town where craft brew, home cooking, and a converted hardware store all fit together without anyone questioning it. That kind of easy mix is what makes Blanco worth the drive, Reuben sandwich or not.

Final Thoughts

Redbud sits right on the square, putting you in the middle of everything worth seeing in Blanco. Grab a seat, order something sweet, and let the afternoon slow down a little. Don’t skip dessert either. The cookies and cheesecake have their own following, and if you time it right in winter, the potato chip cookies alone are worth the drive. If this Reuben has you craving more small-town Texas finds, browse all our Daytripper stories for where to go next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Redbud Cafe located?
Redbud Cafe sits on the town square in Blanco, Texas, next door to Brieger Pottery and across from the Old Blanco County Courthouse.

What is Redbud Cafe known for?
Its Reuben sandwich and homemade meatloaf sandwich are the two most requested items, along with its Lavender Lemonade and bakery case of cookies and cheesecake.

Who owns Redbud Cafe?
Jon and Jan Brieger, working potters who opened the cafe in 2009 inside a former hardware store on the Blanco square.

I’ll see y’all on the road.

The Daytripper