Much has been written about the esteemed Gage Hotel because of its checkered 80-year history. But who knew that one man, who last helmed a restaurant in tiny Buda, Texas, just south of Austin, could create a menu that might surpass even the Gage’s historic grandeur?

Much has been written about the esteemed Gage Hotel because of its checkered 80-year history. But who knew that one man, who last helmed a restaurant in tiny Buda, Texas, just south of Austin, could create a menu that might surpass even the Gage’s historic grandeur?

Chef Paul Petersen is that man, and luckily for dirt-deviled, road-weary travelers to West Texas, Café Cenizo at the Gage Hotel in Marathon sets a perfect stage for his culinary masterpieces. He speaks of each dish with the kind of intimate knowledge of food that even some farmers don’t have. “There’s a big difference between homegrown and store-bought, and when we’re doing heirloom tomatoes, those things might not be the prettiest things in the world when they come off the vine—though I think they are—they’re meant to taste like a tomato.”