Eats & Drinks | Lakes Trail | Life | Trails
Stories and Sandwiches at Glen Rose’s Storiebook Cafe
Glen Rose is billed as the Dinosaur Capital of Texas, but the Central Texas town of about 2,700 is much more. Situated on the banks of the Paluxy River, it offers a charming small-town atmosphere, which tends to attract quaint, small businesses such as the Storiebook Café.
Storie Sharp moved to Glen Rose twelve years ago from Sonora, where she had been the editor of the Devil’s River News. Sharp joined the staff of a newspaper in Glen Rose called The Rose, and spent four years there as a feature writer.
“I fell in love with this little building and thought it would be the perfect little bookstore and coffee shop,” Sharp said. “Glen Rose didn’t have one, and I loved going to them and the whole feel of going into a little bookstore. I love to write, and love to read.”
The little building she refers to was originally a 1940s car dealership constructed of native rock. Crabtree Chevrolet Co., which featured a one-car showroom in half of the building and a service station in the other, offered tires, tubes, and repairs.

Sharp’s original goal was to focus on new books and offer a daily sandwich special. But the café quickly surpassed the book portion of the business. “I was going to have one soup and one sandwich a day, and I started that way,” Sharp said. “But people could not follow the rules, and they would come in on Wednesday and want the special that was on Monday. So we started a menu, and that continues to grow because people want the specials that are not on the menu.”
The Storiebook Café offers a variety of sandwiches, soups, and pasta, along with daily specials. According to Sharp, her most popular items are the Reuben and the ABC sandwich, featuring avocado, bacon, and cheese. However, the Wednesday special is starting to take off.
“It is called a Chickadowich,” Sharp said, laughing. “Chicken, avocado, and made like chicken salad, with a little cilantro, a little lime, and mayonnaise. People love that one.”
Tourists are a big part of the Storiebook Café, which also means lots of children visiting Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Dinosaur Valley State Park, and Dinosaur World. “People know we are a family place,” Storie said. “We have a playroom where kids can play dress up as their favorite character. We do grilled cheese sandwiches in the shapes of dinosaurs, and they get a dinosaur cup they can take home.”

Glen Rose has a rich literary history, having been the longtime home of memoirist John Graves. Best known for the award-winning Goodbye to a River, Graves was a prolific writer and conservationist. His Somervell County home, Hard Scrabble, became the subject of his 1974 Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land.
Pick up either of these titles, along with your favorite sandwich, at the Storiebook Café.
The Storiebook Cafe
502 NE Barnard St.
Glen Rose, TX 76043
(254) 897-2665
facebook.com/TheStoriebookCafe/
Hours:
Mon.–Sat. 11 am–3 pm
Closed Sunday
Glen Rose CVB & Visitors Center
100 NE Barnard St.
Glen Rose, TX 76043
(254) 897-3081
glenrosetexas.org/visit

