BaylorTaxman said:

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Back in the 1980s Water Works was a restaurant. At one point they made great fried shrimp. It eventually went downhill. There was also a place on Franklin called Surf & Surloin. It was pretty good too.

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I was a bartender at Water Works in the very early 80's - back when drinks couldn't be sold past midnight in Waco except for Saturday when it was extended to 1 AM. Back then, Water Works was the only place in town with live music every night - Sunday night was amateur night and that was the Baylor special night with CFS and spaghetti (if my memory is right) as the discounted food choices with your Baylor ID. Wednesday night had a 3 for 1 happy hour for an hour or 2 which was always a mad house.

The original owners that turned the building into a restaurant/bar brought in Geoffrey Michael who was the head chef at the Royal Orleans in New Orleans at the time. He eventually became the sole owner and although not bad for a pretty good run, it did go downhill followed by Geoffrey running the Brazos Queen restaurant/bar when it was permanently docked along I-35 before being lost to flood waters.

Surf and Sirloin was a decent place to take a date that included a piano player during dinner. Back then your dinner choices were Water Works, Surf and Sirloin, and Steak & Ale (Ache & Stale) on Valley Mills.

Crash Davis said:

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I'm filing a complaint about Chip and Jo to the Better Business Bureau. No booze at Magnolia Table. I'm not typically one for government meddling, but it should be illegal to promote brunch and not serve Bloody Marys. Way to ruin the Elite's legacy!

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Chip and Joanna should start a business called "Magnolia Chair". I can just imagine the advertising campaign now.

[At the silos. the camera pans to a lonely looking man in a chair]

Voice Over: You could be with your friends right now, downing chicken wings and gallons of alcoholic beverages while watching football. Instead, here you sit in the fantasia of decoration surrounded in a haze of potpourri, alone in a small white wicker chair, holding a woman's purse.

Did you ever see that coming?

And sitting there gives you time to ponder the important questions in your life, such as:

"What project is my wife planning for me that is going to take the rest of my weekend to complete?"

and

"Has anybody seen my balls?".

For you, Sir, there's "Magnolia Chair."

Magnolia chair is a handcrafted piece of wood that somebody paid way too much money for to look like they pulled it out of an estate sale. It has been strategically placed for you to park your dignity as you count the hours of your life away that you could be spending doing something that you actually enjoy doing instead of doing things to please your wife that have no guarantee of future sexual activity.

Magnolia Chair: The chair that really takes your life.

Sampi82 said:

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BaylorTaxman said:

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Back in the 1980s Water Works was a restaurant. At one point they made great fried shrimp. It eventually went downhill. There was also a place on Franklin called Surf & Surloin. It was pretty good too.

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Surf and Sirloin was a decent place to take a date that included a piano player during dinner. Back then your dinner choices were Water Works, Surf and Sirloin, and Steak & Ale (Ache & Stale) on Valley Mills.

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Don't forget Nick's.

Dusty Bear said:

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Sampi82 said:

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BaylorTaxman said:

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Back in the 1980s Water Works was a restaurant. At one point they made great fried shrimp. It eventually went downhill. There was also a place on Franklin called Surf & Surloin. It was pretty good too.

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Surf and Sirloin was a decent place to take a date that included a piano player during dinner. Back then your dinner choices were Water Works, Surf and Sirloin, and Steak & Ale (Ache & Stale) on Valley Mills.

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Don't forget Nick's.

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What was the restaurant that was right by Water Works? I think it burned down.

Bearicade said:

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Dusty Bear said:

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Sampi82 said:

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BaylorTaxman said:

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Back in the 1980s Water Works was a restaurant. At one point they made great fried shrimp. It eventually went downhill. There was also a place on Franklin called Surf & Surloin. It was pretty good too.

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Surf and Sirloin was a decent place to take a date that included a piano player during dinner. Back then your dinner choices were Water Works, Surf and Sirloin, and Steak & Ale (Ache & Stale) on Valley Mills.

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Don't forget Nick's.

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What was the restaurant that was right by Water Works? I think it burned down.

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Pelican's Wharf

Pelican's was supposed to rebuild.

30 years later. there is still just a slab where Pelican's once stood.

lrwells50 said:

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Y'all must not be old enough to remember the Hickory Stick.

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It had a second run that happened during my time.

I just remember it being over near KITOK and Campeche Bakery on 19th.

Hickory Stick was some good eating!

Waco had some good places bac in the day.

I remember seeing Jackopierce at Waterworks on my first weekend at Bu.

lrwells50 said:

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Y'all must not be old enough to remember the Hickory Stick.

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Didn't that have a big wooden Indian or something?

Old300Bear said:

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Hickory Stick was some good eating!

Waco had some good places bac in the day.

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I worked at Hickory Stick in college. Old perv Luther ran the kitchen, many of us from Riverfront Cafe went and worked there. I tended bar as well, traded free booze for food with the cooks. Great place.

BearCPA said:

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Yogi said:

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baylrballa said:

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Yogi said:

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Since it is Lent and all, one of Waco's best seafood places right now, in my opinion, is "The Catch" on Valley Mills Drive near Wooded Acres.

In terms of price and quality, think of it as well above Long John Silver's but less than Red Lobster. (I realize that isn't saying much.)

That said, the place is good. It's a great place for lunch if you are in the area.

It's a niche restaurant that really fills a void in the market.

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the catch is very "waco" seafood. I've enjoyed it every time though. Same with Tejun Cajun.

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I don't compare Waco's seafood to what I can get on the coast. I compare it to what I can get in other Texas cities its size. Want to complain about seafood in Waco? Try finding any seafood at all outside a Killeen sushi bar or Red Lobster in the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metro.

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The Catch is also in Killeen. I haven't been yet, but I hear it is also pretty good.

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The Catch has opened in both Temple and Killeen. I ate at the Temple location this afternoon.

Now, if I can get Miller's Smokehouse in McLennan...

If you lived in Waco when I went to Baylor, you probably went to the Wrap N' Roll at Fazoli's (former Pizza Inn) and China Coast at the current Red Lobster location at the mall.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/officials-say-weekend-events-put-spotlight-on-hotel-shortage/article_1dbd0834-4737-59c6-a4f4-ee9c4b507e09.html

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/three-new-hotels-in-the-works-near-central-texas-marketplace/article_466ad6a2-4d89-50d1-a0da-1f181ddf501c.html

A 111 room Hilton Garden Inn is opening in May at Legends Crossing.

3 hotels going up at Central Marketplace.

KB Hotels, which placed Hotel Indigo in downtown Waco, has bought land near Bridge Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on which it reportedly will place two hotels.

Construction is underway on new hotels that will add about 470 rooms to the local inventory, and more are in the planning stages.

Greater Waco received an influx of almost 300 new hotel rooms the past couple of years, "but they already have been absorbed."

Should they try to put a hotel or 2 close to the Heart of Texas Coliseum since they are expanding and hope to hold more events there?

Also Convention hotel downtown?

Too lazy to read thru 300 posts, but does anybody know what is being built just south of the church by Freddie's Custard on the west side of 35 near campus?

La Quinta Del Sol and 2 other hotels plus shopping, I think.

Tiny Elvis said:

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Too lazy to read thru 300 posts, but does anybody know what is being built just south of the church by Freddie's Custard on the west side of 35 near campus?

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From what I have seen in that area:

1. La Quinta Del Sol hotel (topped out)
2. Aloft hotel (to be built)
3. 2 retail centers
4. TFNB Bank (2 story building currently under construction)

What I saw appeared to be a strip of retail space, just wondered if anyone knew what businesses were going in there...

Any updates on the 8-story SpingHill Suites near I35 and University Parks?

That one is gonna be a pretty good addition to downtown/campus area.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/new-subdivisions-sprouting-in-greater-waco/article_b28b5a80-ae2a-58eb-9282-32fed9697611.html

"There seems to be almost an insatiable desire for homes now, with people wanting to live in Hewitt, China Spring and McGregor," he said. "There would be even more homes sold if the housing stock were greater. People can't sell their homes and move because they have no place to go."

That includes the 1,500-home Park Meadows development on the western outskirts of Waco that construction giants D.R. Horton and Stylecraft are teaming up for over the next decade.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/local-builders-plan-large-subdivision-in-southwest-waco/article_d4355238-2e2c-53e9-9adf-fe68b4a98611.html

Longtime Waco builders Fred Dewald and Richard Clark have teamed up to create a new subdivision in West Waco that will feature construction of more than 700 homes on property just blocks away from Castleman Creek Elementary School.

260 luxury homes being built in Lorena. 90 new homes coming to Bosqueville.

The widening of Richie Road has been full funded and should be completed in eighteen months.

"I'm going to buy four lots right off," said Ronnie Laird, a 40-year veteran of the local construction trade.

But Laird said he will get with the program at Creekside and build 2,000- to 2,100-square-foot homes priced at $300,000 or more.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_waco/zoo-seeks-million-county-bond-election-for-new-exhibits-facilities/article_e9e56d8a-6df2-5241-973f-1b50a7f5cdb5.html

Cameron Park Zoo officials Tuesday will pitch a countywide bond election to pay for a $12.5 million expansion, including a high-tech education center, an animal hospital, more parking and an exhibit for endangered African animals.

The zoo project would add 6.5 acres to the Africa exhibit, with new habitat for African blackfooted penguins, bongo antelope, black-and-white colobus monkeys, red river forest hogs and okapis.

Overall attendance at the zoo has increased 140 percent since 2000, when county voters approved a $9.5 million bond election to add the Brazos River Country exhibit. Last year saw 313,000 visitors, up from 130,000 in 2000.

"Zoos are like everything else," he said. "If you don't make improvements and investments, you can't expect attendance to continue to grow. This is a good time to invest in the zoo and let it thrive."

UBBY said:

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http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_waco/zoo-seeks-million-county-bond-election-for-new-exhibits-facilities/article_e9e56d8a-6df2-5241-973f-1b50a7f5cdb5.html

Cameron Park Zoo officials Tuesday will pitch a countywide bond election to pay for a $12.5 million expansion, including a high-tech education center, an animal hospital, more parking and an exhibit for endangered African animals.

The zoo project would add 6.5 acres to the Africa exhibit, with new habitat for African blackfooted penguins, bongo antelope, black-and-white colobus monkeys, red river forest hogs and okapis.

Overall attendance at the zoo has increased 140 percent since 2000, when county voters approved a $9.5 million bond election to add the Brazos River Country exhibit. Last year saw 313,000 visitors, up from 130,000 in 2000.

"Zoos are like everything else," he said. "If you don't make improvements and investments, you can't expect attendance to continue to grow. This is a good time to invest in the zoo and let it thrive."

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I strongly believe the zoo addition needs to have a nice, ceeative event space for up to 300 or 350 people.

lankylefty said:

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Any updates on the 8-story SpingHill Suites near I35 and University Parks?

That one is gonna be a pretty good addition to downtown/campus area.

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I will take a pic of the construction site next time I am in Waco.

Right now, building permit has been issued and concrete ready to be poured.

Heck, Texas Tech built its own hotel.

Staffs it with students and alumni.

Chanellos