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Hill Country Food: A conversation with Jay Bachman
When I set out to write a culinary focused article, I knew right away where I would start, by talking with the culinary mind behind Wimberley Cafe and Marco’s Italian Restaurant, two of my favorite Hill Country stops. What I didn’t know was how much the notions of people, support and community would factor into this story; but more about that in a bit.
Jay Bachman is the co-owner and operator of these two mainstays of our Hill Country restaurant scene. Jay and his wife Jen came to Wimberley after she accepted a coaching position with the Wimberley HS volleyball team, and the couple soon concluded this was the home where they planned to raise their children. They now work together in the business.
Jay is a career restaurateur and is an admitted lifer, acknowledging that he tried to get out of the business a couple of times but it always called him back. Having made a conscious decision to not invest his dollars in culinary school, Jay’s culinary training happened from the inside out; diving in and learning on-the-clock; and career spent raising his hand for any and all jobs that make a restaurant kitchen run.
After launching successful catering and BBQ brands in Wimberley, Jay could not say no when the Wimberley Cafe came up for sale, thinking “I wouldn’t want to live in Wimberley without there being a Wimberley Cafe.” Taking charge would ensure it continued on. Nearly the same scenario occurred later with Marco’s.
Both of Jay’s restaurant brands are built on tradition, both food wise and of our region. One trip through either menu and you’ll see it. Jay explains that it’s his team’s job to preserve as much as possible, and not pursue change for the sake of change. “We want you to remember what your grandmother cooked for you in 1979,” he told me.
Jay has been a longtime volunteer for Mercy Chefs, a faithbased, disaster and humanitarian relief organization. Its this culinary community that he considers his most important cooking influence, since the volunteer time allows him to work alongside many top level executive chefs. He can now call upon the resulting network he’s built to troubleshoot challenges or benchmark ideas with the best.
A major development for the restaurants has been the build-out of a large kitchen extending behind Wimberley Cafe that serves both establishments. Jay describes it as “horribly overbuilt”, but with a higher purpose in mind. Referring back to his work with Mercy Chefs, the new kitchen can put out as many as twenty thousand meals a day if called upon in a disaster situation. So if something unfortunate happens, he’s proud to say that they’re ready. In fact, the first meals going into Kerrville last month came from this kitchen.
I asked Jay if anything on his menus held a personal meaning for him. He quickly went to biscuits and gravy from the cafe, “Because I made it once for my grandmother. She was so unhappy with me over it, that we spent the rest of the day working on it. It reminds me to keep things simple.”
In talking about the business side of running a restaurant, Jay is proud of their culture and references his people the most. “We are the anti-restaurant culture,” he explained. “We want to build people up; to help our people grow. They become more self managed as a result.” He went on to add, “We want parents to know they can trust us with their 15 year old kid who is here on their first job.”
We talked about what’s ahead for the business. Jay can see a day when the industry trend of contemporary, glass and stainless steel restaurant concepts make their way to our Hill Country communities. He explained that while behind the scenes, his kitchens are becoming more high tech, as clean as a hospital, that’s not what we might see out front. They’re sticking to tradition for their customer’s experience.
Outside of the kitchen, Jen has recently founded a nonprofit organization, The Service Industry Relief Fund, to support those in the Wimberley hospitality community who have experienced financial hardship. If they know that an employee or a restaurant owner has an issue, or has had a catastrophic event, the foundation is a means of taking care of those in the community outside of his own staff. He summed it up well as a means of “supporting the hands that keep Wimberley running.”
If you want to try something yourself from the master, here’s Jay’s recipe for Lentil Bacon Soup (Note: you may need adjust the quantities for your situation!)
• 1lb bacon
• 2 bunch celery, diced
• 6 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 yellow onion, diced
• 14 quarts chicken stock
• 4 bags of dry lentils • Sauté bacon to render fat.
• Add veggies to bacon and sweat.
• Add chicken stock and lentils, simmer for 35-45 minutes.
My Favorite Part of Texas is a recurring column celebrating Hill Country lifestyle highlighting music, culinary and regional travel. Joe Christenson is a native Texan and Dripping Springs resident, having lived and travelled throughout the great state of Texas.
