When you’re driving through Oglesby, Texas, if you blink you’re likely to miss it. With a population of 438, it may look like a small town, but really it’s just a big family for Johnny and Annette Miller to embrace with Johnny’s Family Cafe.
Johnny’s been working in, running, or owning restaurants since he was ten, beginning his career at his uncle's cafe in Gatesville, Texas. Throughout his life, his mom and dad, and grandparents owned cafes. He chuckled as he told me that restaurants run so thick in his family, that they joked about his grandma owning the first food truck. “She would take her horse and wagon to Foot Hood and sell food, chuck wagon style.”
In 2005 Johnny owned and operated 3 cafes. He, his mom, aunt, and other family members ran all three locations, but the explosive growth was too much for the family to maintain, and they closed two, keeping only the location in Clifton. At the peak of business, his mom was making pies for all three locations, and on a typical weekend, it was approximately 35 pies per location.
In 2009, he and Annette married and started their family. By 2015, running a restaurant and having a family with 7 young children was too much, and they decided to close the cafe. However, that didn’t last long. Johnny has a deep love of restaurants, and the people; he, “loves makin’ food and makin’ people happy,” he says. After being involved in a bad accident in 2020, he took some time to recover, then in 2022 decided he was ready to take on a food truck. The problem wasn’t a lack of business; he just wasn’t ready to get back into the intense work of a busy restauranteur, so after just ten months he had to step away from that venture.
Fast forward to 2024. In recent years, Johnny and Annette, one or the other, have had a part-time job in addition to their full-time positions. Because let’s face it, “raising seven kids takes a lot of money”. Their most recent part-time was Uber, and one day they decided that if they were going to do something part-time, why not do something they already knew how to do. That’s when they started discussing a pop-up cafe. While Johnny always had his eyes on the lookout for restaurant opportunities because of his love; Annette and I joked about how she always tried to keep her eyes averted.
A building in Oglesby became the ideal location for their pop-ups. It was rented out as an
event space but had previously been a restaurant; equipped with a full kitchen, bathroom, booths, tables, and even decor. They took the plunge; got the permits and advertised their first monthly popup. Customers from all around flooded them during their first weekend; coming from all of the towns that Johnny, his family, and their cooking had ties to. “People know that if Johnny’s involved, the food is going to be good,” Annette explained, and after serving about 500 people that first weekend, they knew they had to do it again. The cafe operated as a pop-up for a few more months, and while it was doing well, it was a nuisance to move everything in and out every time for the popup events; so they started discussing a full-time lease.
On September 1, 2024, they opened their doors for service every weekend. Now, starting in November, they’re open for breakfast as well. They’re continuing to keep the cafe line running strong in their family. Johnny runs the kitchen, Annette runs front-of-house, his mom still makes the pies, and all of their seven kids work there in some capacity. Their oldest is the only full-time employee; cooking alongside Johnny, and running things when Johnny and Annette aren’t there because they still work full-time at other jobs.
The cafe is bright, full of laughter and smiles, and smells so delicious that it makes it hard to choose from the menu. You’re welcome to sit and stay for a spell or just grab a quick and hearty meal. I had the privilege of having quite a tasting and everything was beyond impressive; flavors that took me back to my grandma’s kitchen table, and a favorite treat that I can’t find many places.
If a restaurant has fried pickles on the menu, that will always be my first choice for an appetizer. These were thin-sliced, hand-battered, and fried to a golden, crispy dream then served with homemade ranch.
The mozzarella sticks were legendary. Massively large, handbattered, and stuffed with all the gooey mozzarella imaginable; and served with another generous cup of ranch.
Two half-pound patties, two slices of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and mustard, all on a hot, buttery, toasted bun. Now that’s how you make the most classic, and delicious double cheeseburger ever. They used fresh, quality ground beef, formed into patties, and then grilled to perfection, the veggies were crisp and bright, and the cheese melted down the hot stack of beef. This big-ass burger came with a stack of fries on the side to complete a burger-lovers dream lunch.
A good fried pork chop needs to be freshly battered, crispy, not greasy, tender, and flavorful. This one checked all of the boxes. Fried pork chops were the newest item on the cafe’s menu, a special for October when I was visiting. I’m hoping they’re sticking around because this isn’t a common dish. And less-commonly, is it done so perfectly. It came with a side of flavorful green beans with bacon, and a bowl of the creamiest, cheesiest mac and cheese.
The pork chop sandwich had another flawlessly battered and fried, tender pork chop nestled down on a buttery, toasted bun; then piled on top was a helping of their crunchy, creamy coleslaw. The sweetness of the coleslaw balanced the savory of the seasoned chop and brightened up the whole sandwich.
The Chicken Salad Salad is the way to go, if you’re looking for something a little lighter. A bed of fresh greens was stacked up with sweet seasonal fruit, in the middle of the fruit was a mound of cool chicken salad. The house-made chicken salad had the ideal amount of saucyness, meaty chicken, and savory add-ins. This salad was impressive on its own, but then they topped it with sandwich fingers made from cinnamon raisin bread slathered with a homemade pineapple cream cheese spread.
The chicken fried steak that you see pictured here is the SMALL, y’all. The large is two of those! The gravy comes on the side so you can add as much or as little as you’d like. The steak was melt in your mouth tender, and flawlessly battered and fried. On the side, I got the homemade mashed potatoes with gravy and corn on the cob. At this point, I wasn’t even surprised that the mashed potatoes were heavenly, but it did kind of stop me in my tracks when that gravy tasted like it was from my grandma’s kitchen. Obviously not packaged.
As dreamy as everything else was, the catfish platter was my overall favorite. It came with a mound of hand-dredged catfish filets that were golden brown on the outside and flakey and mild on the inside. Nothing is a better side dish for catfish than homemade hushpuppies and tartar sauce. I will die on that hill. This platter came with their signature side, fried okra. I was taken back in time with the first bite. My grandma used to make her fried okra just like this; tossed in cornmeal, and pan-fried with sliced onions.
Chocolate meringue pie is my all-time, hands down, 100% favorite dessert and there are so
few places that serve it anymore. Johnny’s Family Cafe has officially taken the #1 spot on my best chocolate meringue pie in Texas list. Creamy, smooth, rich, and decadent, with a buttery, flakey crust. It was topped with a fluffy yet firm meringue; beautifully baked with golden peaks and a faint dusting of sugar and cocoa powder. Friends, this is what pie perfection looks and tastes like. It’s a must-try!
There are a few things that overwhelmingly impressed me with this cafe. The portions are huge, the people are so welcoming and make you feel like you’re just a part of their big ‘ol cafe family, and all the food was incredibly fresh.
You’re going to have to take the backroads to get to Johnny's Family Cafe because there’s just no other way. When you do, tell Johnny, Annette, and the family that I said hi, and order an extra slice of pie, believe me, you’ll be glad you did!
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106 Main St. Oglesby, TX 76561
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