A MOM-AND-POP-ULAR STOP FOR 51 YEARS
WORDS BY FRANCISCO ORTIZ | PHOTOS BY KIMBERLY SUTA
The Ferrises
Greg and Ana Ferris have owned Bobbie’s Cafe since February 2020, but for the Ferrises, running a 51-year-old mom-and-pop restaurant is a longtime family tradition. That’s because Bobbie’s Cafe has become, over the decades, a destination stop on San Antonio’s Southside, serving up Southern-inspired, home-cooked meals in a low-key atmosphere.
Greg’s great-grandparents, Robert and Vida Condra, bought a busy Southside truck shop on Roosevelt Avenue in 1972. It was, in a sense, a practice run for them. Their daughter, Bobbie, and her husband, Santo, eventually went on to buy the family business and rename and relo- cate it in 1986 to the brick-and-mortar where Bobbie’s Cafe still stands today. Bobbie and Santo’s daughter, Nancy and her husband Randy Ferris — Greg’s parents — later took the reins. As a teenager, Greg waited tables, washed dishes and did other things around the cafe. Ana recalls how and when Greg got a long-expected call — one offering a chance to take over the operations.
Pie
“One day, Greg’s sister called him up. She’s a little frantic and tells him their mom is going to sell the cafe,” Ana remembers. “He calls me up. I’m at an event, and he’s like, ‘My sister just called me. My mom’s going to sell the cafe. Can we buy it?’ I said, ‘Yes, we’ve got to pray first,’ but then I said, ‘Heck, yeah.’ This has been his dream. I mean, Greg grew up here with Santo fixing things. So, this has been his heart.”
Greg said, since the start, he and his family have prided themselves on delighting hungry customers with comfort food dishes that include pancakes, biscuits, giant hand-battered chicken-fried steaks, burgers and French toast.
The Morning Wrecker
“It’s always been about down-home, country cooking,” he says. Ana and Greg thank diners at Bobbie’s Cafe, many of which are Southsiders who enjoy the scratch-made comfort food and friendly, familiar faces. Ana says many regulars now bring their children or even grandchildren. It’s become a tradition passed down to the younger generation — in the kitchen and in the dining room.
“I think a lot of our success is because of the community, and a lot of it is because of the service. Our food is amazing, but you can have amazing food and not have good service. Our team is amazing at service, too,” she explains.
Ana and Greg say it’s not just neighborhood residents who frequently line up outside the restaurant on busy days. In truth, people from all around the San Antonio area and beyond make the trip to Bobbie’s Cafe, based solely on word of mouth.
The chicken-fried steak is one of the most sought after menu items at Bobbie’s Cafe. Ana notes that the beef is locally sourced, hand-cut by a butcher and fried to order. Greg confides the key is breading the beef cutlet in cracker meal, deep frying it to a golden brown and serving it with their homemade country gravy.
Pancakes
“When we’re serving you this big chicken-fried steak, we want you to leave with a full tummy, happy and better off,” Ana says.
Big buttery biscuits are another diner favorite. While their traditional biscuits and gravy plate is a staple, a dish called the Morning Wrecker has become exceptionally popular — at least for those looking to splurge. It features a chicken-fried steak and two eggs stuffed between a hand-sized biscuit, all topped with sausage gravy and cheddar cheese.
“You get a little bit of everything there,” he says.
It’s these and other comfort food delicacies that make Bobbie’s Cafe a venerable dining institution on the Southside, but we’re here to tell you to get ready because more is coming! The Ferrises have recently bought an adjoining space, which is slated to become an elevated coffee shop, serving premium coffee and phenomenal pastries, like cro-nuts.
While the cafe will be open to any visitor, Greg says he and Ana were moved by seeing crowds of hungry diners waiting for a seat at Bobbie’s Cafe.
“On the weekends, we’d have up to a two-hour wait. We’ve gotten better about moving them, but it’s still about 40 minutes to an hour,” Greg said. “I thought that would be a perfect place for people to wait. They can grab a coffee or a pastry while they’re waiting for their breakfast.”
Fried Chicken Sandwich
The new coffee shop will be named Birdie’s — Ana’s childhood nickname — and lend a French Provincial look and feel, with specialty teas and coffees, croissants, salads and soups.
“We’re constantly evolving. There’s always newness happening,” says Ana.
Greg and Ana hope to have Birdie’s open by December. Although the coffee shop will be new, the owners of Bobbie’s Cafe say they and their family will continue to provide old-fashioned comfort food and homestyle cooking, just like we’ve grown to love.
Inside Bobbies
About the Contributor
A native San Antonian, Francisco Ortiz has been a local journalist for more than 25 years, having worked full time or freelanced for several area news publications, including Edible SA. Francisco studied mass communications at San Antonio College and Texas State University. When he’s not writing or editing, he enjoys hiking, reading, and watching or playing basketball.
