Foodie Friday: The Root Cellar Cafe

On a brisk afternoon warmed by a heater, The Root Cellar Cafe’s new additional outdoor seating area combined with its always fresh and delicious food provided an excellent dining experience.

The Root Cellar’s menu features locally-sourced fresh food and its chefs' cook their meals to perfection. 

This San Marcos eatery — a staple on the Square — is located on the corner of Hopkins Street and LBJ Drive. According to its website, the cafe sits on the bottom floor of the historic Donaldson building, which has “known many faces. Originally it was 'G.W. Donaldson & Co. Hardware Store' and later 'Bond’s Café and Restaurant' in the 1930’s. It has housed several businesses, some of the most notable being the original location for the Paper Bear and Wesray’s Café.” The Root Cellar opened its doors in February 2005.

Root Cellar aims at providing “an extraordinary experience that will keep you coming back time and time again.” And the meals we chose during our visit, will have us coming back for more. 

“There's no better place to enjoy our made-from-scratch food than right outside on our patio or upstairs on our new deck,” the cafe says on its website. “Soak up the views while chowing down on our homemade eats.”

What to get

On our visit, I chose to sample one of Root Cellar’s breakfast selections — the Hill Country Benedict, a split biscuit, sausage patties, scrambled eggs and jalapeno gravy served with homestyle potatoes and fresh fruit. This plate was fantastic. The sausage and gravy were well-seasoned. The biscuit and eggs were nice and flaky, while the potatoes and fresh fruit provided excellent balance to the meal. 

My dining companion chose the Tin Top Old Fashioned Burger — a hand-pressed, house seasoned pork and beef mixed patty with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, house pickles, house mustard and mayo served on a brioche bun. The burger was served with a choice of one side; they went with the creamy mac and cheese. 

Root Cellar has plenty of other options to consider. You can start your meal with one of Root Cellar’s appetizers such as its beer bread with honey butter, cellar salsa with seasoned tortilla chips or beer battered asparagus fries. 

The cafe also offers house specialties like it’s bourbon pecan chicken, shrimp n’ grits and chicken and waffles. Root Cellar has several pasta options — pesto pasta, cellar carbonara risotto, pasta primavera and shrimp scampi. 

Looking for other handheld eats or maybe a salad? Root cellar has those too. Consider finishing your meal with one of the restaurant’s sweets — snickerdoodle bread pudding, dark chocolate brownie or berry cheesecake. 

To see Root Cellar’s full menu visit: https://rootcellarcafe.com/menu.html. 

If you go

The Root Cellar is located at 215 N. LBJ Drive and is open 9 a.m.-8 p.m Tuesday through Sunday. 

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Root Cellar is only offering outdoor dining but has curbside and delivery — through Favor — options.