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I was browsing the newspaper The Texas Jewish Herald dated October 11, 1934 and came across a business ad for Kaphan's Restaurant located at 700 Waugh Drive. This restaurant came after their 7900 South Main Street location? I never knew they had another location on Waugh Drive. Kaphan's reopened tonight in their beautiful new home at 700 Waugh Drive. Same policy, same cooks, same genial atmosphere. Weldon Burke and his Tropical Serenaders Dine, Dance, and Make Merry from 8 P.M. Until 3 A.M.

I was browsing the newspaper The Texas Jewish Herald dated August 15, 1929 and came across a business listing for Kaphan's Shadowland located on Old Main Street Road past End O' Main Hall. Very cool find! I've never heard of the term Shadowland added to the restaurant's name. Must have been the original name when it was located on OMS? The South Main location had an address of 7900 South Main Street. The Kaphan's Shadowland restaurant may have been located at 7900 Old Main Street?

Kaphan's on South Main at Kirby (where the CVS is now) was a big favorite of my family's. We had so many major celebrations of family events there, and my grandparents ate there almost every Sunday after church for decades. Not only was the food very good, but the service and staff were oustanding -- there were a number of waiters that had been there close to 50 years when the place finally closed down around 1993-1994. There was one waiter in particular that had been serving my grandparents, mother, and rest of the family for several decades, and he knew us all by name. I remember my last meal there in December 1992, when I was home for Christmas after my first semester of college. Mom and I had driven down to Houston on a Sunday morning to meet my grandparents for church and to celebrate my grandmother's birthday and deliver their Christmas presents. We had that particular waiter that day, and when he saw me he said "Master Steven! How was the first semester at Austin College?" I hadn't seen this guy in several months but he knew all about what I was up to from my grandparents. There was also a guy who worked there who wore a white suit (sort of a Marvin Zindler style) who always brought around a skillet of these hot crab ball appetizers. Those things were always so good. To this day many of my cousins talk about all those Sunday dinners we ate at Kaphan's and how the staff there always treated our family like royalty because my grandparents had eaten there so often for so many years. I still miss that place whenever I drive by the pharmacy that's there now. You just don't find restaurants with that kind of personal service much anymore.