Meriwether Cafe & Bike Shop, Rocheport
February 2022
Located directly on the Katy Trail with an umbrellaed patio and interesting menu, the Meriwether Café & Bike Shop is delightful for breakfast or lunch—whether you’re biking the trail or not.
According to owner Brad Landolt, the menu is simple scratch with few exceptions. Local producers are continually sourced, and menu items change with the seasons while retaining the most popular dishes. Chef Max Crowley, who formerly worked at a Columbia restaurant, oversees the kitchen.
My sister and I were impressed by the seasonal miso-peach salad combining local peaches, melon balls, tomatoes and chopped cucumber drizzled with a miso-sherry vinaigrette. Not on the menu long, it’s definitely worth looking for. The Southwest black bean burger incorporates roasted local sweet corn as a vegetarian alternative to the flavorful and popular Meriburger. Vegetarians will find the vegetable and house-made hummus sandwich satisfying and filling. With any meal, the buttermilk pancakes are a must— plate-size, fluffy and scrumptious. Also deserving accolades, homemade cookies are baked daily and make a perfect snack on the trail. Additional baked goods rotate through homemade pop tarts, chocolate truffles, apple crumble bars and more. All breakfast and lunch items are available daily, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The café is closed on Wednesdays.
“We’re happy to serve a hamburger for breakfast to hungry bikers, and we offer quite a few vegan and vegetarian items,” says Landolt. “During the pandemic we started using a contactless menu, which gives us the ability to instantly change things up. If chef wants to run a French toast special on Sunday, we can easily add it.”
Of course, most diners are cycling the trail, either on multi-day trips or pedaling the 15 miles from Columbia to have breakfast before heading back. Others drive to Rocheport, rent a bike and ride a section of the trail before rewarding themselves at the café. Breakfast offerings include the hearty and extremely popular Louisiana Purchase that fuels hungry cyclists with two pancakes, sausage or bacon, home fries and eggs.
Landolt lives in Columbia with his wife and two children. For many years, his career was in the restaurant industry as a general manager. Enthusiasm runs deep for the area and his business, which he purchased in August 2021.
“Rocheport is an idyllic little town with a much different pace than my former career,” he says. “I started as the café’s general manager, but I quickly realized that Rocheport is a special place and a wonderful community.”
Visit MeriwetherCafeAndBikeShop.com for more information.