The Monument Cafe is now open late on select days. Other changes include the opening of a beer garden and a grab-and-go market, and a familiar face taking ownership of the restaurant. (Adrian Gandara/Community Impact)
Diners at the Monument Cafe in downtown Georgetown may have noticed some changes recently: new beer garden, new market, new hours.
What they might have missed: new owner.
Meet the owner
David Schuler took full ownership of the restaurant in March from founder Rusty Winkstern. Winkstern founded the restaurant in 1995, but Schuler joined in the late '90s, and he's been part owner and overseeing operations for several years now.
Despite the official change in ownership, longtime diners may already be well acquainted with Schuler's presence around the restaurant, he said.
"My face has been part of the cafe for over 20 years," Schuler said. "Some people still call me Rusty."
David Schuler assumed full ownership of the Monument Cafe after being part owner for several years. Cristy Schuler, his wife, is the restaurant's marketing director.Adrian Gandara/Community Impact
Schuler said he hosts, he greets, he buses tables, and he doesn't think there's any change in anything.
"It's just a changing of the guard, more than ownership," Schuler said.
What's new
The traditional Texas roadside cafe serves local organic food, and Schuler said they strive to be a community center.
The organic theme carries into the cafe's recently opened outdoor beer garden, where customers can eat and drink into the evening, past the cafe's previous 3 p.m. closing time.
"It gives us an opportunity too to bring the alcohol element in more so than you would at breakfast," said Cristy Schuler, cafe marketing director and David Schuler's wife. "We have different beer on tap. We have different housemade cocktails still with that same theme of organic ingredients."
Diners can enjoy the new extended hours every day except Tuesday and Wednesday, when the restaurant closes at 3 p.m.
Diners can order a cocktail flight at the cafe's new beer garden.Adrian Gandara/Community Impact
Another new offering is the Monument Market, where customers can pop in through a newly added side entrance for espressos, lattes, cappuccinos, fresh pastries made daily, grab-and-go meals, and more.
Seating from a corner of the dining area was removed to build the market, and a second entrance was added on the side using the original door from the cafe's former farmers market.
Cristy Schuler said the market lets customers in a hurry skip sit-down wait times when the cafe might be busy, such as Saturday mornings.
"It's like Monument on-the-go," she said. "We listened to our clientele, and they really want that to be part of their weekend, and we wanted to make it easier for it to be part of their weekend."
Customers can use the cafe's side entrance for to-go orders at the new Monument Market.Adrian Gandara/Community Impact
In their own words
"We'd love to see you," David Schuler said. "I really do try to have a servant's heart. I really want to be the best restaurant with the best service that you can find."
Cristy Schuler said they have regulars who have been eating there daily for years, and that they would like to be known as a restaurant where people have a relationship.
"People have their favorite waitresses, they have their favorite dishes that they order, and we know that," she said. "And it's really important to us that you feel seen when you're here—that you're part of our story."
