"So goodbye okra and chicken-fried steak
I'm off to explore a different plate.
Farewell to my favorite taco stand
I'm headed north to a frozen land.
Where spring is late and winter goes on,
And we've Yankee Pot Roast to keep us warm."

It happened rather quickly.  Our High Pointe home sold in less than three months' time.  And suddenly, with little time to spare, my husband and I are packing up and moving to Michigan -- of all places! 

Michigan is where I grew up and those of you who know me understand that part of me has always wanted to move back.  I was a reluctant Texan, moving down with my husband (an Oak Cliff boy) toward the beginning of what was, until last summer, the hottest summer on record!  Now here we are moving back north in mid-January.  Crazy, huh? 

Dallas County, specifically the "Best Southwest" area, is where we raised our kids and owned two homes in the space of 28 years.  We've shopped and dined, worshiped, worked and played here.  We will miss our friends and neighbors in Cedar Hill but . . . live goes on.

And hopefully, this site will go on.  I am looking for someone to take over the management and editing of it.  Could that person be you?  Do you have a heart for this community?  Do you live or work or dine here?  Do you have some basic html skills or perhaps already have blogging experience?  Do you like to write and communicate with people?  If you already follow CedarHillEats on Twitter or Facebook and have written one or more restaurant reviews you're already a potential candidate! 

Technical support is available and there'll be help to get you started.  Keep in mind that running CedarHillEats.com is a community service.  No money is made from it unless you decide to pursue advertisers, which is always an option.  (Even then, the money you make will probably be minimal.) 

If you're interested in finding out more, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it me.   In the meantime, the site will stay online in maintenance mode and you're welcome to continue to use it to rate and review Cedar Hill restaurants. 

I wish you all the best in 2012 and hope to see Cedar Hill grow and prosper in the years to come!

Yours for more Cedar Hill Eats,
Jill

Update:  As of January 15th we have a new manager for CedarHillEats!  Kudos to Rebecca S. for being willing to take over the site and accompanying Twitter and Facebook accounts.  As soon as she gets set up learns the administrative stuff you'll be seeing updates to the site.  Hang on to your knives and forks because I have a feeling there's good CedarHillEats ahead! 

Dick has been working in restaurant management and ownership for decades.  His downtown Dallas "Cafe Esprit" (1700 Pacific Ave. at Ervay) has been serving up sandwiches for almost twenty years.  Prior to that he had a managerial hand in Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta restaurants such as the Sailmaker, Railhead, Tolbert's Chili, and Hoffbrau.  His own "Woodway's Cafe" was a favorite hamburger place with the downtown Dallas lunch crowd in the 1980s. 

It was also in the 1980s that Dick met Teril, his wife of 26 years.  Today they have two college-aged daughters, both graduates of Cedar Hill High School.  It was important to them as a couple to gear their business around their family and so most of the time while the girls were growing up Teril stayed home and "did the books."  The family moved to Cedar Hill from Carrollton about fourteen years ago. 

It had been the Woodwards' desire for some time to open up a restaurant in Cedar Hill.  Finally last February, despite a difficult economy, they opened "Dick's Uptown Cafe."  Dick says, "We've tried to combine a little of what we did in both places downtown."  And that means his famous taco salads and specialty soups, like tortilla.  It also means that a lot of expertise goes into his latest endeavor on Uptown Boulevard.

What makes Dick's different than some of the other restaurants in town?  According to the Woodward's it's "hometown appeal."  They are not part of a chain, but locally-owned and "hands on."  Teril says, "Dick likes to get around to each table and greet people."  The regulars who come in for breakfast can testify to that.

Everything at Dick's Uptown Cafe is made fresh and to order.  Besides catering to your special requests, they also provide a catering service.  The restaurant has daily and weekly specials, takes call-in/pick-up orders, and has regular gift card drawings.  Come in on your birthday and get a free meal.  And every day, everyone age 65 and older gets their beverage for free!

Located at 610 Uptown Boulevard in Cedar Hill, (between Walmart and the new city government building, but on the other side of the street) Dick's is open daily for breakfast and lunch.  Visit their website, or download a pdf of their menu from here.  Look for them on Twitter (dicksuptowncafe) as well as Facebook and register for their e-mail club to be alerted of specials for the upcoming week. 

If you've never met Dick or dined at any of his other restaurants, perhaps you've seen Teril about town.  In 2000 she opened the UPS Store (near Radio Shack and Pizza Hut), and successfully ran that business for seven years.  Currently she works part-time as the Director of the Education Foundation for Cedar Hill Schools, a non-profit organization that supports the local school district through fundraising and providing additional resources.