By Taylor Boyd
A longtime quiet corner in Dry Pond is drawing customers again.
Stillwater’s Cafe opened last month in the former Dry Pond Cafe building, bringing homemade meals — and a familiar gathering place — back to the community.
Owner Amanda Slate Tate held a soft opening Feb. 13 before officially opening on Valentine’s Day. Since then, she said the response has been overwhelming.
“So many have said they’re happy to have something back open and running right there because it’s so convenient, there’s nothing out there. They’ve been waiting for this for many years,” Tate said.
For Tate, the opening marks the realization of a goal more than two decades in the making.
“I’d went to 10 different locations and got shown the door on every location, but when I got there you could feel it was at peace when you walked in the door, and it was a peace from God. God has literally laid every step of that place out for me,” she said.
Though smaller than other spaces she considered, Tate said the building felt right.
“It’s still that way to this day. Like I can’t wait to get back to work,” she said.
The menu leans into country cooking, with an emphasis on freshness.
“Everything is fresh meat, nothing’s frozen except for the French fries, tater tots, and stuff like that. We do homemade desserts, everything’s homemade from scratch. Everything we do is homemade or from fresh meat, and that’s what I want to be known for,” Tate said.
Early customer favorites include the hamburger steak, teriyaki chicken and the ‘Juju’ burger — a double bacon cheeseburger topped with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.
The burger, Tate said, carries a bit of local history.
“If you’re familiar with the Dry Pond Cafe prior to me, everybody knew the Juju burger. The Juju burger actually got nominated for some type of award in the region,” she said.
Before opening, Tate tracked down the former owner of Dry Pond Cafe to learn more about the name.
“The Juju burger was named after her father who had passed away. His name was Junior but everybody called him Juju. I had to ask her, ‘what is a Juju burger.’ Because everybody begged me to bring the Juju burger back. She said it was just her daddy’s favorite cheese, and that’s how she named it,” Tate said.
The restaurant’s name also has personal meaning.
Inspired by Psalm 23 and the song “Still Waters (Psalm 23)” by Leanna Crawford, Tate said the name came to her while driving home from looking at another location.
“We started this mission of finding a location in September 2024. He kept asking me, ‘what would you name your restaurant.’ I said I have no idea. I said God will tell me one day,” she said.
“I’d heard it before, and I said right there’s the name of my restaurant,” she said, and explained that because the predecessor was a cafe, “we just went with Stillwater’s Café.”
Stillwater’s Cafe is open Wednesday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.
For more information, visit the cafe’s Facebook page.
