The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

Depot Junction Cafe celebrates 25 years of country cooking


A train runs through it


Debbie and James Stephens opened the Depot Junction Café in Watertown 25 years ago this Friday. “We don’t put out a big fancy plate with a sprig of parsley on it. We just give you good country cooking at reasonable prices,” said Debbie about the restaurant that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.KEN BECK

Debbie and James Stephens opened the Depot Junction Café in Watertown 25 years ago this Friday. “We don’t put out a big fancy plate with a sprig of parsley on it. We just give you good country cooking at reasonable prices,” said Debbie about the restaurant that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.KEN BECK

The choo-choo train high on the wall has been rolling through Depot Junction Café for 23 years. But the restaurant, the real Watertown chew-chew, has been rolling out good country cooking for 25 years.

Debbie and James Stephens opened their iconic eatery July 13, 1993. It was their hands-on response after Mayor Mike Jennings threw down the gauntlet to a core group of Watertown citizens.

It proved no easy task as it took the couple four to five months of hard labor before they served the first meal.

“We went to a community meeting, and Mayor Jennings was presiding. Business was slow here. Snow White and the Country Barn were the only two places to eat in town,” reminisced Debbie. “He put out a challenge. ‘Everybody go home and think about it and come back with ideas of how we can build this town back up.’

“We left the meeting and looked at this building. Sharon and Bob McComb had started their bed and breakfast. They owned the one building and had plans to put in a soda shop. We asked Sharon if this building was for sale, and she said she would sell it.”

After completing her route during the school year, bus driver Annajane Cherry stops at the Depot Junction Café several mornings a week for breakfast and conversation with a couple of other drivers. She recently came in for a burger breakfast with her sons, Kaden, left, and Dalton. Dalton went for a more traditional selection of pancakes, eggs and sausage.KEN BECK

After completing her route during the school year, bus driver Annajane Cherry stops at the Depot Junction Café several mornings a week for breakfast and conversation with a couple of other drivers. She recently came in for a burger breakfast with her sons, Kaden, left, and Dalton. Dalton went for a more traditional selection of pancakes, eggs and sausage.KEN BECK

The Stephens bought the structure, which dates back to the late 1800s, as well as the building to its left, and then rolled up their sleeves and poured on the elbow grease.

“We worked day jobs in Nashville and would come home in the afternoons and work till bedtime. We gutted the building on the left,” said Debbie.

“One day, some people were walking by and they stopped and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ We told them we were going to have a restaurant. They laughed. We looked at each other and thought, ‘Why are they talking like that?’ Guess who got the last laugh?”

Since the structure sits on Depot Street and James had worked for the L&N Railroad when they were married, the couple decided to use the train theme. Two years after they opened, James built the track, all 240 feet of it, high around the interior red brick wall. (If the train is not running, just ask, and someone will turn it on.)

James Stephens, Watertown’s “Pie Man,” is seen here holding a chocolate meringue pie and a cherry pie he whipped up on a recent morning. He is also the engineer behind Depot Junction’s scrumptious fruit cobblers.KEN BECK

James Stephens, Watertown’s “Pie Man,” is seen here holding a chocolate meringue pie and a cherry pie he whipped up on a recent morning. He is also the engineer behind Depot Junction’s scrumptious fruit cobblers.KEN BECK

Depot Junction Café now fills three buildings. Two of the rooms once housed Patton’s Hardware and Paint Store. Other businesses that operated here once upon a time included a livery stable, barber shop, machine factory, furniture store, dentist’s office and pool hall.

Describing the atmosphere of the restaurant, Debbie uses words such as “hometown,” “family” and “country cooking.”

She says, “We don’t put out a big fancy plate with a sprig of parsley on it. We just give you good country cooking at reasonable prices.”

The breakfast menu, served until 11 a.m., offers pork chops, steaks, country ham, sausage, omelets, pancakes, hash browns, biscuits, gravy and grits, with plates that run from $5 to $8. For lunch there are conductor and diesel burgers as well as a carload of sandwiches (club, ribeye steak, grilled or fried chicken, grilled cheese, country ham, catfish and bologna). Veggies aplenty and a loaded salad bar also await those who wish to stay on the light side.

James and Debbie Stephens show off a fresh batch of Depot Junction’s famous yeast rolls. The recipe originated with Debbie’s mother, the late Lois Huffines, who made the rolls for students in the cafeterias at Shop Springs School, Watertown Elementary School and Watertown High School back in the day.KEN BECK

James and Debbie Stephens show off a fresh batch of Depot Junction’s famous yeast rolls. The recipe originated with Debbie’s mother, the late Lois Huffines, who made the rolls for students in the cafeterias at Shop Springs School, Watertown Elementary School and Watertown High School back in the day.KEN BECK

For larger appetites, diners may go for steaks, beef tips, chopped steaks, chicken, BBQ, shrimp, catfish, frog legs and country-fried steak.

The desserts, made fresh daily, include pie and cobbler of the day, hot fudge cake, banana splits, milkshakes and ice cream.

On a recent weekday morning, Annajane Cherry, a 2002 Watertown High School graduate who is ready to begin her 10th year as a bus driver, drops in for breakfast with her sons, Dalton and Kaden, who attend Watertown Middle School.

“I come for breakfast three times a week during the school year after I finish driving my route,” said Cherry, who places an order for a hamburger, her normal breakfast request. Kaden follows suit, while Dalton chooses pancakes, sausage and eggs.

“They make pretty much whatever you want. Sometimes we get pancakes with apples or a pizza. They will make about anything. We seem to be pretty picky, but they fix it however we ask. The food’s great, and Miss Bobbye is always here in the morning to wait on us,” said Cherry before biting into her burger.

Besides the regulars and tourists who stop for a bite, Depot Junction has served its country cuisine to numerous country music stars including Tom T. Hall, Kellie Pickler, Chris Young, Aaron Tippin, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and the bearded guys of “Duck Dynasty” fame. And scenes from the movie “Pure Country 2” were filmed here.

Debbie grew up in Shop Springs and attended Shop Springs Elementary School and graduated from Lebanon High in 1971. James grew up in Watertown and graduated from Watertown High in 1968 and then volunteered for the United States Army and served in Vietnam.

The couple has been married 46 years and have a daughter, Kelly Boles, and three grandchildren: Kaitlyn, 13; Davin, 12; and Abby, 9, who attend Watertown schools.

James worked at DuPont 15 years, and Debbie was employed at Genesco for 24-and-a-half years. She now serves as legislative assistant to State Sen. Mark Pody.

Debbie shared that James has gotten the two things he always wanted: a successful business and a farm. They have horses, chickens, cats and a dog on their farm a few miles out of town. Their hens supply fresh eggs for the restaurant.

Both agree the biggest challenge of running their café is finding good employees, the kind that can operate the business when they are away. Currently, they have 10 on staff. Debbie’s sister, Bobbye Troupe, manages the restaurant during the day, while Dawn Patton runs the kitchen. Over the years, the majority of their employees have been teenagers, and they estimate they have hired more than 200 Watertown High students since that first year.

However, if you come to Depot Junction for a Sunday dinner, you’re most likely to find Debbie and James in the kitchen cooking or washing dishes.

Said Debbie, “I believe if you are gonna expect somebody else to do the job, then you should be able to do it, too. We both work here on weekends. Saturdays and Sundays are our busiest days.”

Among the most popular orders on the menu are catfish, hamburgers, chopped steaks and hamburger steaks. James serves as the dessert chef as he bakes killer cobblers and meringue-topped pies. He favors the coconut pies and says he learned how to make them by watching his mother.

Debbie’s favorite foods here are the grilled pork chops, the chicken and dressing and all the vegetables, and James like the chicken and dressing.

The yeast rolls have been a smashing success from the roll out. They were concocted by Debbie’s mother, the late Lois Huffines, who cooked here 17 years and brought along the recipe for the same rolls she cooked for hordes of hungry students over the years when she was the cafeteria manager at Shop Springs School, Watertown Elementary and Watertown High.

The Stephens will celebrate Depot Junction’s silver anniversary with specials Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A reception is planned from 2 until 4 p.m. Saturday for all former employees and “anybody else that wants to stop by.” Bring your appetites and be ready to make like the train and go chew-chew.

The Depot Junction Café is located at 108 Depot St. in Watertown. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, there will be specials on the menu Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A reception will be held from 2 until 4 p.m. Saturday for former employees. Hours: 6 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 6 a.m-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Phone: (615) 237-3976. Find the restaurant on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DepotJunctionCafe/.

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