Commerce Cafe
Restaurant · Lockhart ·
Farm-to-table cafe with seasonal dishes, famous popovers, & cocktails
Farm-to-table cafe with seasonal dishes, famous popovers, & cocktails
"I watched Commerce Cafe open in spring 2020 as a seasonal American spot from Lockhart native Sarah Heard and partner Nathan Lemley; they leased downtown during the pandemic, workshopped dishes for weeks at their Austin restaurant before opening, serve classics like spaghetti Bolognese with housemade pasta and sauce, and run a full bar while aiming to introduce more adventurous dishes to Lockhart in an approachable, high‑value way." - Taylor Tobin
"Foreign & Domestic co-owners and chefs opened this casual cafe in 2020, offering sandwiches, salads, and larger plates of pasta, chicken fried steak, roasted chicken, and seasonal pies. Of course, they also serve Foreign & Domestic’s famous gruyere popovers." - Darcie Duttweiler
"With no heat at home on Monday night, Heard and Lemley stayed in their Lockhart restaurant Commerce Cafe; neither restaurant was open despite having electricity because they didn't want to use additional equipment and electricity, Heard explains, and their entire staff was without heat and may be sleeping in the dining room — as a precaution they cut the building's water supply and have been boiling ice for drinking water." - Erin Russell
"We've had a fairly rough few months in sales and are basically almost covering costs; we've done what we can to minimize expenses without affecting staff take-home pay, takeout has been a huge help, and I also opened a new restaurant, Commerce Cafe, in Lockhart in late May." - Eater Staff
"Opened in late May in Lockhart, Commerce Cafe is a new restaurant the owners launched in Caldwell County; opening mid-pandemic has felt like "push-starting a car uphill every day" — exhausting but necessary to keep staff employed and provide paychecks. The team applies the same, more rigorous safety rules used in Austin (they signed Good Work Austin Dine with Confidence) across both locations to reduce risk, and guests in Lockhart have sometimes needed more prompting to comply; $1 disposable masks are available for those who forget. Staff at Commerce Cafe have been flexible and diligent about safety." - Erin Russell
