LOCAL HANGOUT - BECKEY’S CAFÉ

from Columbus, Texas Spring/Summer 2022

by tripspublications

MEET THE NEIGHBORS

Welcome to Beckey’s Café

All-American dining experince in downtown Columbus.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY HENDERSON

Every small town in Texas used to have one. Cozy downtown diners, serving up homestyle fare with a smile, seem to be almost a thing of the past. Fortunately for Columbus, Beckey’s Café is a hold out. Offering the most all-American dining experience possible, Beckey Zajicek Divin and her son, Bennie Zajicek, along with their dedicated staff, serve up timeless nostalgia seven days a week.

“One of our big sellers is our tomato basil soup,” shared Beckey. “It’s really my granddaughter’s favorite. She’s also the taste-tester for several of our dishes. Another favorite is our chicken and dumplings that have homemade dumplings. Many times, Benny makes the chicken and he does a really good job. The pies are all made right here and sometimes we run out of a lot of favorites. The blueberry pies have locally grown blueberries. We also bake chocolate, cherry, coconut meringue, apple and more. If you haven’t tried them, you just don’t know how good our pies are. And we don’t have any changes on the horizon. We’re just going to keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them.”

Top left, Bennie Zajiicek welcomes patrons to Beckey’s Café; top right, a group of locals solve the world’s problems every morning; middle, breakfast is served all day; bottom, photos on the wall are a combination of Beckey’s and other area photographers’ art.

Serving traditional, homemade food is important to Beckey. After a lifetime of working primarily in the dining industry, she has honed her craft and learned what works.

“When I run specials, I found people are creatures of habit,” said Beckey. “For the longest time we always had smothered steak or beef tips on Thursday. About five years ago, I changed it to Tuesday and that confused everybody in town. So now we just leave it like it is. I used to worry that people would get tired of having the same food every week but they don’t. Consistency is our key to success.”

Beckey’s Café has built a reputation for quality, creating a fan base out of locals and visitors alike.

“We have a lot of loyal customers that have come and gone over the years,” said Bennie. “Now, we’re also seeing a lot of new customers and visitors from the city, especially on the weekends. We’re the only place around that serves breakfast all day. Our regulars know our specials day-to-day by heart.”

And those regulars get a heaping helping of conversation along with their meal.

“We have some guys come in every morning and talk about everything from politics to cows,” said Bennie with a laugh. “They sit around and solve the world’s problems every day, same thing. There’s one man that comes in and I’ll always ask him, ‘How much rain you get?’ Whatever he tells me, I’ve got a quarter inch more than he did. That makes him mad because I got more rain than him but I actually have no idea how much rain I got. I’ll just tell him a quarter inch more.”

Beckey’s Café is located at 1237 Bowie Street. They are open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.