BLUE WILLOW CAFE

Rediscovering the comforts of home

Burton’s Blue Willow Café offers from scratch options with a French flair.

Anew hotspot in an historic location, Blue Willow Café is housed in the freshly renovated building that was once the iconic Burton Café. Opening their doors in February of 2019, the new diner quickly established a solid foothold of their own in downtown Burton with Chef Tammie Mills at the helm.

“I’ve always been connected to food,” shared Tammie. “I come from a big family with seven kids. We always have large gatherings and there’s always good food. So, for me, food was always home and comfort – the love language for us. I’ve always cooked and had an inclination towards that. When I moved to Texas, I quit my job to be home for my kids, but they didn’t really need me, and I grew bored. Took me twenty years, but I finally made it to culinary school.”

And it’s that passion for family and food that shines through brightly in every plate that comes out of the kitchen at Blue Willow Café.

“Everything starts from scratch,” said Tammie. “It’s a lot of hard work but I think I was raised that hard work is what you do; it’s what our purpose is. I love getting up when it is quiet, and I make the bread fresh every day. I get up at 4 a.m. and I have three hours to myself to bake, set the menu, and get ready for the day ahead.”

In addition to a varied menu that features locally grown ingredients whenever possible, Tammie also has expanded her business to include service for larger gatherings both in and out of the café.

“We do a lot of special dinners targeted for our clients and catering for small parties,” added Tammie. “We’ve done private dinners, bridal showers, wedding receptions for small groups, and we’ve even done a couple of weddings, preferring to stay with groups of less than fifty guests. We also have plans to do more at the café itself. In April, we will start our Fifth Friday hot dog social. It’ll be kind of a low-key neighborhood social on our patio area; a way to connect people right here in Burton. I hope it will give a consistent opportunity for everyone and anyone to hang out and bond every month that has a fifth Friday in it.”

Recognizing that she could not stand alone, Tammie has found a kinship with other restaurant owners in Burton that has proved instrumental to Blue Willow Café’s success. “Burton restaurants do try and support one another,” said Tammie. “Andre from Brazos Belle still comes by every week when he gets his mail to check on me and make sure I'm holding up and answers questions if I need it. Carl from Neon Moon and I have a barter system; I feed him, and he keeps me caffeinated. And Lily and Celeste of Los Patrones have been great to have as neighbors. I love seeing more women-owned businesses in town, whose owners are mothers as well, doing what they are passionate about. I think Burton is rising up as a team and as a united front with the new business coming in. We want to see healthy growth while keeping Burton the place that we love. We really are lucky in a town so small to have some great options with owners who are dedicated to quality.”

Blue Willow Café is located at 12513 West Washington Street and online on Facebook and Instagram.