I met K.K. and Donna Heitmiller back in the 1980's when they first opened Heitmiller's Steakhouse, a wonderful restaurant with great food and a great atmosphere. They and their son, Dale Heitmiller, made the place what it was--just totally awesome! Heitmiller's Steakhouse was always on the top of the Waco steakhouses and restaurants listings, and was known as THE PLACE TO GO for a great meal, great surroundings, and a memorable dining event.
Usually it was K.K. who would come around to each table and ask how every little thing was. If he knew you--and he knew almost everyone who came in, or he would soon know you, and would never forget you--- or you wanted to visit with him, he would take a seat at your table and visit or get acquainted.
K.K. had worked as a top car salesman at Steakley Brothers Chevrolet in Waco many years ago, and thus already knew a lot of people from Waco and the surrounding area. K.K. had worked at Steakley with my cousin, Billy Merritt, who, along with his wife Dorothy Lewis Merritt, has sold cars for many years at his own business, Lake Air Motors, located on Franklin Avenue in downtown Waco. I think Billy's son, Stephen Merritt, mostly runs the business now.
Yep, Donna, K.K., and Dale always made a visit to Heitmiller's Steakhouse not just enjoyable, but very special. At Heitmiller's, there was always great food, a great place, and a great friendly and personal atmosphere where you always felt welcome. You just about felt like Family!
After K.K. died a few years ago, Donna and Dale still made you feel like family. It was the same atmosphere and great food. K.K. would have been proud that his legacy of great food, friendly atmosphere, and that family feeling had been carried on.
I ran into Dale one day last year, and he told me that Heitmiller's Steakhouse had been sold. Dale said that the State of Texas was going to take the part of the side of Interstate 35 that Heitmiller's sat on --for the widening of the highway by 2009--so he and his mother had decided to go ahead and sell the place now.
For many years, my bestest old friend and my childhood dearest friend, Sandra Gunter Krumnow, and I had metonce a month or so to eat at Heitmiller's Steakhouse, to catch up with each other's happenings in our lives and just enjoy a good meal at a good price. We usually ordered one of the Senior Specials--a juicy, delicious small steak with all the trimmings at a very right price for our pocketbooks! We would sit and reminisce about the good times in our past. Heitmiller's is also where much of the planning for our Waco High School Class of 1964 40th Reunion in 2005 took place.
I met my dear friend, Sandra, at the ripe old age of four, when she and her family moved to a house two blocks down North 4th Street from my house at 2220 North 4th Street. Sandra and I rode our tricycles and our bicycles together and spent very few hours apart. I can't tell you how many hours we spent at her house playing ping-pong on the screened-in front porch! We were friends all through school, and we have stayed in touch all these years. We have been best buds since 1950, literally eons ago! Let's see...that's a friendship of 58 years! Doesn't seem that long when you have lived it.....just seems a long time when you say it!
Sandra's house on North 4th Street is still there---right across from the old Waco High School Athletic Field. That place is now the Giraffe, Elephant, Rhinocerous, etc part of the Cameron Park Zoo. The old house still looks good. It is catty-cornered to the beautiful white 1860's Georgian mansion called Earle-Harrison House, that fronts on North 5th Street.
Nell Pape, the Waco old-money-cotton- millionairess and Waco philanthropist, convinced the Historical Waco Foundation to save this wonderful piece of history. The huge two-story house was moved to the vacant lot beside Sandra's house in the 1960's or '70's. Today, it is used regularly for weddings, receptions, parties, and all kind of events, as well as being a living history of the Old South.
Sandra and I plan to go eat at Heitmillers sometime soon. We have not been there since the place sold. I am sure they still have great food, as they always have a crowded parking lot. I just don't know if the great atmosphere and the family feeling that was so impressive that came with K.K., Donna, and Dale as owners will still be there. We will just have to see. And have a steak while we're at it!
By the way, if you like a good steak and a pleasant atmosphere, you might want to stop at Heitmiller's Steakhouse one day soon, as it appears it won't be there much longer, but will soon be only a thing of the past, as 2009 is just right around the corner!
2 comments:
Just wanted to let folks know that Heitmiller's will still be there in 2009 and on...apparently, the widening of Interstate 35 will make the sideroad one way, thus making it just a little bit harder to get to heitmiller's. But with all those great steaks and other delicious food available, I don't think it will be all that hard to get to Heitmiller's Steakhouse after all!
After reading your comment about Heitmiller's being taken over by new management, I knew something was different when my wife and I ate there last week when we came out to visit from Oklahoma City. One thing you're right about is that the atmosphere isn't the same, and things didn't seem as upbeat as they used to. Unfortunately, the thing that made me notice that Heitmiller's may be under new management was the food. My wife and I ordered steak, and the food wasn't good at all. Everything was cold, and there wasn't really any flavor. My wife also noticed the difference since the last time we ate there earlier last year although she was not as accustomed to the the restaurant as I was.
When I was going to college in Waco, Heitmiller's was my favorite place to eat. In fact, I used to go there almost everyday to order their soups or a burger for lunch and every once in a while a steak for dinner. It is unfortunate that the Heitmiller's sold their restaurant so soon before knowing for sure if the state was really going to move them out. That place will not be the same as it was before, and I'm afraid the food won't be either. I will truly never forget the Heitmiller's and as you said, the family atmosphere that they created for their guests.
I was not for sure that the restaurant was actually under new management until I decided to do some further investigating and saw the blog that you posted. I wanted to tell myself before that maybe it was just the cook having a bad day for the reason the food wasn't so good. But I knew from the atmosphere too, when I first walked in that something just wasn't right. I wish somehow, the Heitmiller's could take back over the restaurant again...
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