Westlake restaurant reopens after March fire

The staff at Texas Honey Ham anticipated a decent crowd Sept. 6 when they reopened their Westlake restaurant after a fire forced a six-month closure. But they never expected to see a line of customers snaking out the door and down the sidewalk, pushing wait times to an hour or more.

"Everyone has been so supportive," said Trent Hunt, co-owner of the Westlake restaurant on Bee Caves Road. "For the first five days after we reopened, we did twice the volume we were doing before the fire."

Although the casual feel of Texas Honey Ham remains the same, the reconstruction allowed the owners to improve the flow of the kitchen, carve out a generous space in the back for catering and add more tables.

Hunt, a seasoned restaurant manager, said he, along with co-owner Kelly Weiss, launched Texas Honey Ham 10 years ago as a honey ham place with a small sandwich deli. When it opened, Texas Honey Ham had five tables and served only lunch.

Hunt and Weiss tasted 20 or 30 bone-in, spiral-sliced hams on the way to picking the one they would ultimately sell—fresh, sweet and not too salty.

But even with their carefully selected ham, Hunt said the first year was tough.

"No one knew we were here, and we ordered way too much product," he said.

To boost business the restaurant began giving away sandwich samples, Hunt said. Word got around. High school students started showing up for lunch to eat outside, sprawled out on the curbs of the shopping center.

Several years later Hunt, Weiss and a third co-owner, Rob Siller, expanded the restaurant's menu to include breakfast items. The breakfast menu, which is served all day, now accounts for 50 percent to 60 percent of Texas Honey Ham's daily sales, Hunt said.

The egg, cheese and bacon taco is the most frequently ordered item, Hunt said.

Hunt describes the food at Texas Honey Ham as fresh, high-quality and consistent.

"Our philosophy is, 'Make less food more often, so everything's fresh,'" he said.

The chocolate chip cookies, for example, are baked seven or eight times a day instead of in a single, early-morning batch, so the cookies are always warm and gooey for incoming customers.

Recipes for some of the items—such as the seven-bean Hambone Soup (Hunt's favorite) and the apple slaw—come from Hunt's mother.

But the restaurant's real secret recipe is its staff.

"We hire nice people," said Hunt, who has never had to advertise to fill a

position.

When interviewing potential hires, Hunt said he goes with his initial impressions, "because that's what the customers are going to feel.

"We all get along here, so there's lots of camaraderie," he said. "We don't have a lot of rules. Mostly guidelines. This allows creativity."

Instant Thanksgiving

Texas Honey Ham is already taking phone orders for Thanksgiving. The restaurant can provide an entire meal—ham and/or turkey, rolls, any menu sides and seasonally offered cornbread dressing and cranberry-chipotle sauce. Orders can be made by phone.

Texas Honey Ham in service

During the six months the restaurant was closed, Texas Honey Ham employees showed up each week to volunteer at a number of nonprofits throughout the community. They cooked food in soup kitchens, handed out sandwiches to the homeless, bagged trash on church properties and cheered on mentally challenged adults as they played soccer.

Texas Honey Ham Specialties

• Pig in a Blanket ($3.49): One pancake wrapped around grilled honey ham
• Frito Pie (little $4.99, big $6.49): Fritos corn chips smothered in pulled pork, hambone soup and cheese with a touch of homemade barbecue sauce
• The Choice Slice Sandwich ($8.49): One-third of a pound of Choice Slice honey ham, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red onion, dirty mustard and mayonnaise, served on a toasted bun
• Electric Brownie: Chocolate brownie with chocolate chips and swirls of caramel, topped with crumbled toffee

Texas Honey Ham, 3736 Bee Caves Road, Ste. 6A, Austin, 512-330-9888, www.texashoneyham.com

• Mon.–Sat. 7 a.m.–6 p.m.
• Sun. 8 a.m.–2 p.m.