It began life in 1880 as a cotton gin and grain mill to serve the area. Then, in 1901, a new owner designed and re-built the old building into a flourmill that served the area until 1980. In July of 2006, the wonderful old building went through one more conversion to become Buddy’s at the Feed Mill Restaurant.

Owners Rhonda and David Paquette have brought an eclectic menu to the old place. Having been purveyors of pizza for about 6 years in Johnson City, the first thing they moved to the mill was a sure-enough rock-floored oven. These ovens are the type that all traditional pizza chefs have used for years. They are noted for their high-heat cooking (about 600 degrees), and they produce a wonderful crust, since the pizza is cooked directly on the stone floor of the oven. This unique taste combined with a fine red sauce and a selection of the finest cheese and meats, makes the pizza well worth going for.

Rhonda and David realize that a varied menu is necessary to keep a restaurant in the Hill Country drawing in customers. So they have come up with a good selection of sandwiches, from the Meatball Sub to a couple of wraps, burgers from just a burger to double-and-triple-meat cheeseburgers with a unique twist. The buns are buttered and toasted in that same stone-floor oven as the pizza, which produces extra flavor and less fat. The meat is a special combination of lean to fat, and is first cooked in an oven, then seared to taste and served open face for you to use any trimmings you wish.

All the steaks are hand-cut on premises, and feature a 16 oz. Cowboy Rib-Eye or a 14 oz. Cowgirl Rib-Eye. The chicken fried steak is as good as I have had anywhere, coated properly and cooked just right. I am told the chicken fried chicken is outstanding, check it out. A tavern fish basket featuring fried filets of Atlantic whitefish is available every day while special catfish filets and fried chicken are available every Friday evening.

While Da ...

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