| Specially for the Avalanche Journal
Editor’s Note: Caprock Chronicles is edited by Jack Becker, Librarian Emeritus of the Texas Tech University Libraries. He can be reached at [email protected]. Today’s article, the second in a two-part series, was written by Chuck Lanehart, a regular Lubbock contributor, attorney and award-winning writer on Western history.
Seemingly every Lubbock resident has a favorite restaurant, and many miss their favorites from days gone by. But which of Lubbock’s many eateries are truly significant from a historical perspective? Here are the top four of the Caprock Chronicles’ Top Twelve Historic Lubbock Eateries.
Number 4: Hemphill-Wells Round Table
Home of The Empire Builders
The Empire Builders of Lubbock were a group of powerful men – bankers, lawyers, businessmen, politicians and newspaper publishers who met at a corner table – the so-called “Round Table” – in the mezzanine lunchroom of the Hemphill-Wells department store on the corner of 13th and Avenue J.
Members met daily for lunch and discussed social and political issues, discussed future actions that would be best for Lubbock, and as elections approached, chose their candidates for political office. Between 1946 and 1964, Round Table candidates won every mayoral election except one. (For more on this topic, see Caprock Chronicles “Round Table Group Dominates Lubbock Politics,” published January 28, 2017.)
Number 3: Stubb’s legendary Bar BQ
Lubbock’s Cultural Catalyst
In 1968, C.B. “Stubbs” Stubblefield opened a small barbecue joint at 108 East Broadway. By 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 spot for the food, the beer, a jukebox stocked with rare blues records — and the outsized personality of Stubbs himself.
Soon a small stage was set up where live music erupted, especially during the Sunday night “open mike” jams. Stubb’s became the “in” place to hang out, including for famous musicians visiting Lubbock: Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Tom T. Hall, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Linda Ronstadt, to name a few. Eventually, Stubbs moved to Austin, where his restaurant flourished, and he began selling 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 around the world.
Number 2: Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark
Dining at the Hoef
About 11,000 years ago, a spring-fed lake now known as Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark (2401 Landmark Drive) was a favorite watering hole for Columbian mammoths and ancient bison, attracting predators such as dire wolves and American lions. Clovis Man—perhaps the earliest human culture in the Americas—enjoyed the site as a hoofed snack. In each subsequent era through the 19e Throughout Comanche rule in the region, Lubbock Lake was a hunting ground and an open-air picnic area. Herds came to the water, people killed big game, butchered, cooked and ate the fresh meat, and dried and preserved the leftovers. (For more on this topic, see Caprock Chronicles “Millions of Years of History on the Northern Edge of Lubbock,” published July 15, 2023.)
Number 1: The Nicolett Hotel
Place of the foundation of a city
The Nicolett Hotel was built around 1898 in Old Lubbock, five miles north of present-day downtown Lubbock. It was the site of discussions among representatives of rival settlements that culminated in a compromise to locate the Lubbock County government seat in present-day downtown Lubbock. The completed hotel offered a popular restaurant. The cost of meals at the restaurant was probably typical for the time, but certainly inexpensive by modern standards. For example, on May 19, 1889, Lubbock County pioneer Green C. Igo treated himself and two companions to a steak dinner that cost him a dollar. The iconic steak of the western cowboy era was not the only item on the menu. According to the hotel register, on June 14, 1889, 27 people, apparently single — young people from Estacado — enjoyed an oyster dinner at the hotel.
In February 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 rang a large bell to call guests to lunch and dinner. The Nicolett served Lubbock residents and visitors for nearly 50 years. (A few years ago, a new upscale restaurant named the Nicolett—in honor of the old hotel—opened about three blocks east of the original.) (For more on this topic, see the Caprock Chronicles “Nicolett Hotel Opens in Original Lubbock Village in Early 1889,” published November 6, 2016.)
