Coconut Cake at Sam's Original Restaurant & BBQ in Fairfield Texas

Years ago, sometime near the turn of the century, on a road trip from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to Houston and Galveston, something motivated a freeway exit to a place called Sam's Original Restaurant & BBQ.

It may have been a billboard mentioning a buffet at Sam's which was what caused the exit from the freeway.

What is definitely remembered is what a pleasant experience Sam's Original Restaurant was, so much so that a return stop was made on the way back north, and again a year or two later, with Sam's as the destination for a birthday lunch buffet.

Sam's Original Restaurant & BBQ is located in Fairfield, Texas, a town on I-45, north of Huntsville, south of Corsicana.

Several things made the Sam's experience memorable. One was the hot out of the over loaf of whole wheat bread, with butter, appearing as soon as one gets seated. The various BBQed meats were memorably good. But, it was the coconut cake that really sticks in the memory. It was the memory of the coconut cake which probably caused the repeat visits, and this from someone who is not much of a dessert fan.

The screencap above is from the Sam's Original Restaurant & BBQ website.

On the Sam's website we learned the charming story of how Sam's came to be....

In the year 1906 Samuel Augustus Daniel was born. Cooking was always in his blood. At the young age of nine he worked for Mr. Joe Roller in downtown Fairfield selling chili and Hokey Pokey. Sammy quit school in the eighth grade and opened his own hamburger stand. People liked his burgers so much that they called them “Sam Burgers.” During the ‘30s and ‘40s he owned several other eating places, including a popcorn and a hot dog stand on the square in Fairfield. In January 1944 Sammy married Doris Wayne Childs. In 1953 Sammy and Doris opened a small BBQ stand on the south side of town on Highway 75.

It was at this little stand, which had sawdust floors, old school desks for tables and surplus army tin trays for plates that Sammy perfected his BBQ sauce recipe. Doris was busy as well, developing her skills at making the homemade pies and desserts that everyone loves.

Sammy and Doris moved their family to Delaware in 1963 where they remained for three years. They missed Fairfield and their friends so they moved back home and opened another restaurant on highway 75 south of town. It was here where they first started making the homemade bread that is so famous.

Anyone in the mood for a road trip to Sam's Original Restaurant & BBQ? Anyone have any idea what hokey pokey is?