Anyone who witnessed me walking through the Hillcrest Hospital parking lot, headed for the labor and delivery waiting room with a camera in my hands might have thought something like, "Oh, it's an expectant father readying to take photos of his new baby."
They would have been wrong. I take pictures of food.
Actually, they would have been a little bit correct in that I was there because a baby was on the way. My longtime friend and WacoFork co-founder Cory Webb went through the fatherly motions while the real hero, Carly Webb, delivered the couple's third baby. Actually, as of the writing of this blog, Carly is still doing work. The rest of us waiting for Sadie Webb to arrive.
This gave me the opportunity to re-experience something I discovered a little more than 7 years ago – that the Hillcrest Cafeteria serves pretty decent food at even better prices.
To make my point, the plate of food in the picture with this blog includes fried catfish, mashed potatoes and okra, a little cup of ranch dressing and a Diet Dr Pepper. Comfort food defined. Incidentally, the cup of ranch dressing takes the place of tartar sauce. Self explanatory, right?
The food for the money was every bit as good as I remember. That plate cost me $8.09. I forgot to grab a piece of pie, but I still probably could have had it all for just over a $10 bill.
The only difference between 7 years ago and today was the venue. Hillcrest has built a beautiful new hospital near Interstate 35. I'm sure the new one is aesthetically and technologically superior to the old building. However, the new cafeteria lacks the charm of the old cafeteria.
When my friends Jeremy and Robin Webb (Cory's brother and sister-in-law) brought their first child, Luke, into the world in 2004, I spent the day at the old Hillcrest. This only slightly conflicted with the fact that I had a job at the Waco Tribune-Herald at the time. I compensated by writing a column at a table in the cafeteria. The carpet and indirect lighting and smell of country cooking and the natural wood of the tables and chairs all coalesced to make it perhaps the best writing environment I've ever enjoyed.
I wish I could reprint the column I wrote. You would be moved.
Since that time, I've spent a few days in hospital labor and delivery waiting rooms. Three years ago, my sister Chaney and her husband Ian Cockrell welcomed their son Eli into the world. I was also there when Cory's two kids Lucy and Myles arrived. Then again when our other brother, Tim and his wife Chelsea Webb's boy Sam got here.
All that to explain that I helped corral Lucy, Myles and Sam on Friday morning in the Hillcrest waiting room, working up an appetite for another lunch in the Hillcrest cafeteria.
The moral of the story: if you ever have friends at Hillcrest, for any reason, go see them and don't forget about the opportunity for quality dining and value.
