Locally owned restaurants to open in Copperas Cove
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Copperas Cove residents will soon have three new dining options to choose from with the opening of two restaurants on Business 190 and one downtown.
These three restaurants will each offer a unique menu and bring something new to Copperas Cove.
Located at 212 S. Main Street, Herb & Earnie’s will offer German dishes and Southern comfort food, as well as all-day breakfast. Andy Remedies and Betina Cash, who also own the Cove Theater, said that they are excited to be bringing something new to the downtown area.
The name of the diner comes from Cash’s father, Herbert, and Remedies’ grandfather, Earnest.
Herb and Earnie’s will open in the next few months, although an opening date has not yet been determined. Located in the former storefront of Gaia’s Garden, Herb and Earnie’s offers a spacious but homey dining area. The seating options range from bar seating to several different family style dining tables, offering a mix-matched feel.
Remedies explained that they have applied for the alcohol license for the diner, and the bar area will allow for individuals to come in and sit and enjoy a meal, while the remaining seating accommodates families.
“We typically want to make everybody feel welcome, like at the theater,” Remedies said. “Hometown hospitality is real big for our brand. We’re both from [Cove], so we’re just trying to give people more options. We definitely want more options downtown, because you know, we obviously have a vested interest in being downtown.”
Remedies added that he and Cash wanted to see Copperas Cove’s downtown area thriving again.
“We love our neighbors in Lampasas and Gatesville-I went to high school in Lampasas, and it’s so much smaller than us, but their downtown scene is thriving,” Remedies said. “So, I think we can offer a little bit of that. We have construction bricks that they had in this building back then and it says like 1921 or something was the original building [date], so at some point Copperas Cove had to have a thriving downtown.”
Remedies said that he hopes for Herb and Earnie’s to offer some competition to other local eateries such as the Food Truck Park and Monty’s.
Herb and Earnie’s will seat approximately 75, with the majority seated in the front dining area that features the large front windows. There is also a room for Betina’s Boutique, featuring clothing and accessories and cups made by Cash. At the rear of the restaurant, in the back dining area, customers will be able to enjoy a salad bar. The restaurant also features two restrooms, one of which was added during the renovation of the building and made ADA compliant by T&N Services.
Remedies explained that the mismatched dining sets were a purposeful choice. After Remedies and Cash left their previous jobs as a teacher and school nurse to open the Cove Theater, they also began their search across the state for restaurant furniture, with Cash searching Facebook marketplace for ideas of where to go next to find what they needed.
“That’s what we wanted,” Remedies said. “We didn’t want anything to match because we do want people to feel like they’re at their own dining room table without having to cook their own meals.”
Remedies explained that putting together the menu for the restaurant has been a challenge, but he and Cash are excited to bring another dining option to Cove residents.
“Cove needs more options for food, for just hospitality wise, just to feel like more of a community,” Remedies said. “We definitely need some more options for quality culinary options too.”
Remedies added that as the owners of the Cove Theater, they also want to provide something to add to the date night experience with the theater and now their diner.
When Herb and Earnie’s opens on Wednesday, Feb. 15, their hours of operation will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Over by the Cactus Motel on Business 190, Texas Meltdown Grilled Cheese and Cream Pies and Fries 24-Hour Diner will also be opening soon.
Cody Speer, who also owns FUBAR on the west end of Copperas Cove, said he wanted to offer a 24-hour diner option for customers and also wanted to bring something different to Cove, with a grilled cheese themed restaurant.
“The main reason I decided to open a diner was because when I leave here [FUBAR] at 3:30 in the morning, there’s nowhere to eat in Cove- there’s Whataburger, and that’s about it,” Speer said. “So, I thought it’d be nice to have a place to actually leave the bar and go and sit down and eat.”
Speer said that the Texas Meltdown will be opening soon, while the 24-hour diner does not have an estimated opening date yet, due to facing several setbacks and delays with construction.
Texas Meltdown, located at 1215 E. Bus. 190, has eight employees currently, plus a manager who will oversee both restaurants.
The menu for Texas Meltdown will feature many different varieties of grilled cheese sandwiches and soups and melts and more. It will also feature a breakfast menu.
“There’s so many varieties,” Speer said. “It’s like almost an endless amount of things you can do with grilled cheeses.”
The Texas Meltdown will be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Cream Pies and Fries, located at 1217 E. Bus. 190, got its name from the menu offerings, Speer said. He plans to offer pies made by a baker that he knows, with flavors such as banana cream pie, coconut cream pie, chocolate cream pie and more. The restaurant will also be serving a variety fries, from curly fries to French fries and more.
When Cream Pies and Fries opens, it will be open 24-hours.
“We’ve had FUBAR here for five years now, so I think it’s time to just help grow this town,” Speer said. “I mean, Cove is growing. We need more places here. There’s a lot of fast food, but there’s not really places you can go in, sit down and just have like a nice meal.”
To find out the exact opening days, follow Texas Meltdown and Cream Pies and Fries on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089040275732 and https://www.facebook.com/CREAMPIESANDFRIES.