Austin Steak House, Best Steak In Austin And Meat Market Austin

Hill's Cafe has been an Austin landmark on South Congress Avenue for almost 60 years. When the Goodnight family built the orignal 20 seat coffee shop next to the Goodnight Motel in 1946, South Congress was then known as the Old San Antonio Highway. The family patriarch, Charles Goodnight, was perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. Charles Goodnight was a cowboy, an Indian fighter, a Texas Ranger, a Confederate solder and in 1866, he and Oliver Loving drove the first herd of cattle northward along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. The characters of Woodrow F. Call is based on Charles Goodnight and Augustus McCrae is based on Oliver Loving in Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove. It was Charles Goodnight that invented the chuckwagon, which was first used on the initial cattle drive in 1866. It was from this chuckwagon that the Charlie Goodnight tradition of fine steaks began at Hills's Cafe that is still carried on today by the current owner and Austin radio personality Bob Cole. Besides steaks, Hill's Cafe is well know for their hamburgers and live music.