Caprock Chronicles: Top 12 historic Lubbock eateries, Part Two

Editor's Note: Caprock Chronicles is edited by Jack Becker, Librarian Emeritus, Texas Tech University Libraries. He can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu . Today’s article, the second of a two-part series, is written by frequent contributor Chuck Lanehart, Lubbock attorney and award-winning Western history writer.

Seemingly every Lubbockite has a preferred restaurant, and many miss their favorites from years long gone. But which of Lubbock’s many eateries are truly significant from a historical perspective? Here are the top four of Caprock Chronicles’ Top Twelve Historic Lubbock Eateries.

Number 4: Hemphill-Wells Round Table

Home of The Empire Builders

Lubbock’s Empire Builders were a group of powerful men—bankers, lawyers, businessmen, politicians and newspaper publishers who met at a corner table—called the “Round Table”— on the mezzanine-level lunchroom of the Hemphill-Wells Department Store at 13th and Avenue J.

Members met each day for lunch and talked about social and political issues, discussed future actions that would be best for Lubbock, and as elections approached, decided on their candidates for political office. Between 1946 and 1964, Round Table candidates won all but one mayoral election. [For more on this subject, see Caprock Chronicles “Round Table Group Dominates Lubbock Politics,” published January 28, 2017.]

Number 3: Stubb’s Legendary Bar B Q

Lubbock’s Culture Catalyst

In 1968, C.B. “Stubbs” Stubblefield opened a small barbeque joint at 108 East Broadway. In the early 1970s, little-known local musicians and artists — Jessie “Guitar” Taylor, Joe Ely, Paul Milosevich, the Maines Brothers and many others — were drawn to the place because of the food, the beer, a juke box filled with rare blues records — and the giant personality of Stubbs himself.

Soon, a tiny stage was erected where live music exploded, especially during the Sunday night “open mike” jams. Stubb’s became the “in” place to hang out, including for famed musicians when visiting Lubbock: Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Tom T. Hall, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Linda Ronstadt, among others. Eventually, Stubbs relocated to Austin, where his restaurant flourished, and he began to sell his sauce locally in repurposed whiskey bottles from the trunk of his Cadillac. The sauce caught on, and the rest is history: Stubb’s Bar B Q Sauce is now sold in grocery stores worldwide.

Number 2: Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark

Dinery on the Hoof

About 11,000 years ago, a spring-fed lake now known as Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark (2401 Landmark Drive) was a favored watering hole for Columbian mammoth and ancient bison, attracting predators like dire wolves and American lions. Clovis Man — perhaps the earliest human culture on the American continent — enjoyed the place like a dinery on the hoof. In every succeeding era through 19 ^th Century Comanche domination of the region, Lubbock Lake was a hunting ground and al fresco picnic area. Herds would come to the water, people would kill big game, butcher, cook and consume the fresh meat, drying and preserving the leftovers. [For more on this subject, see Caprock Chronicles “Millions of Years of History on the Northern Edge of Lubbock,” published July 15, 2023.]

Number 1: The Nicolett Hotel

Site of the Founding of a City

The Nicolett Hotel was built in about 1898 in Old Lubbock, five miles north of current downtown Lubbock. It was the site of discussions among representatives of rival settlements which culminated in a compromise to establish the Lubbock County seat of government in current downtown Lubbock. The finished hotel offered a popular restaurant. The expense of meals at the restaurant was probably customary for the era, but certainly inexpensive by modern standards. On May 19, 1889, for example, Lubbock County pioneer Green C. Igo treated himself and two companions to a steak dinner which set him back a dollar. The iconic beef steak of Western cowboy days was not the only fare on the menu. According to the hotel register, on June 14, 1889, 27 individuals, apparently single — young people from Estacado — enjoyed an oyster dinner at the hotel.

In February of 1891, the Nicolett was moved to the courthouse square of the new Village of Lubbock — a year before the first courthouse was erected. Hotel managers clanged a large bell to call guests for lunch and dinner. The Nicolett served Lubbock’s citizens and visitors for almost 50 years. (A few years ago, a new upscale restaurant called the Nicolett — in honor of the old hotel — opened about three blocks east of the original.) [For more on this subject, see Caprock Chronicles “Nicolett Hotel Opens in Early 1889 in Original Village of Lubbock,” published November 6, 2016.]

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caprock Chronicles: Top 12 historic Lubbock eateries, Part Two