Jaime Sudderth, owner of The Trading Post Wine Bar & Grill in Bee Cave, devotes much of his and his restaurant’s resources to the community.

Sudderth might cook at a benefit for Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas one night and whip up lunch for an arts board meeting the next day even though The Trading Post isn’t open for lunch.
“I will always help out. I will always contribute,” he said.
The man who likes to give got something back for his efforts with a first-place nod at the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Lake Travis on Oct. 28 that followed the chamber’s annual golf tournament at Flintrock Falls Golf Club.
Voters feasted on an assortment dishes from several area restaurants and picked The Trading Post’s firecracker shrimp, ahi tuna sashimi and bruschetta as the best of the bunch.
Feeding hundreds of people rapid-fire style at tastes is nothing new to Sudderth who has won awards at similar competitions.
“It is a different ballgame. It can be intimidating to some,” he said.
His decision to cook on site paid dividends but also added to the pressure.
“We wanted our product to be as fresh as possible. I was cutting sashimi almost to order. For a one-man show, with me doing that, it can get a little squirrely,” he said.
He and his family that included wife, Jen, and children Jaice, Jaiden and Jaimeson along with mother-in-law Jane Coco appreciated the first-place recognition, but they went into the competition with the goal of enjoying the evening and were surprised by the outcome.
“It was just our way of getting involved and getting some exposure. To be honest, I didn’t expect to get [the award]. I thought there was some great food out there,” he said.
The extra effort Sudderth and his family put in during the Taste of Lake Travis reflects the work that goes into each night’s service at The Trading Post.
The restaurant cuts its own steaks and fish, smokes its cheese and bakes its bread. Everything, except for the ice cream, is made from scratch, Sudderth said. The mantra “Taste. Taste. Taste” is an obsession in the kitchen before sending a dish out to diners. If it’s not outstanding then it’s not served.
The menu features filet mignon and rack of lamb, and the wine list stacks up with many fine restaurants in the area, but the word “pretentious” won’t be found anywhere.
“By no stretch of the imagination are we fancy. We don’t have any chefs here. We have a handful of people who take pride in what they do. They treat it with respect,” Sudderth said. “When you come into the restaurant you can tell that there is a sense of appreciation. We care about what we do.”
One of the first things diners might notice is that the restaurant’s operation is largely a family affair.
Hostess Jen Sudderth greets everyone as they walk through the door. Their children often make salads and desserts or help bus tables and clean outside. The Sudderths’ two daughters dressed up as cupids for Valentine’s Day and handed out chocolate-covered strawberries and roses to women in the restaurant.
“We want people to feel like they are a part of this family. They can come in here and make themselves at home,” Jaime Sudderth said.
The staff bends over backward to accommodate any request. Moving tables together, allowing dogs on the back deck, staying open late to allow diners to finish a late meal and running out to buy a wine bottle, bringing it back and pouring a glass before the meal is finished are commonplace.
“We are not in the business of telling people no,” he said. “We do whatever it takes.”
They host a date night on Tuesdays when parents can bring their kids in to watch a movie and munch on popcorn while mom and dad enjoy some time to themselves over dinner.
“We like to say the babysitter’s on us. We have a good time,” Sudderth said.
The owners also have fun with the décor. What The Trading Post intentionally lacks in sophistication, it makes up for with charm and personality.
Much of the style comes from handmade cedar carvings that came from the Sudderths’ Spicewood home or from friends. Jen’s black-and-white photographs hang on one wall, but she would be the last person to say she’s a photographer. Jaime did much of the contracting work on the restaurant before it opened. One end of the bar is 4 inches lower than the other.
“It’s character. We find out how old she is every day,” Jaime Sudderth said of the location he estimates to be roughly 80 years old and talks about much like a ship captain would describe his vessel. “She talks to us. She groans, she moans — every bit. But you appreciate the fact she’s still here and protects us from the rain.”
They opened the restaurant in January at the intersection of RR 620 and Texas 71 in what was previously Jim Bob’s Barbecue and before that a general store. The location’s cooler where meat was cut and hung is now another dining area, and marks on the walls show where stacks of feed bags used to be stored.
An appreciation for the location’s history is the reason why The Trading Post’s name has stuck and the sign remains despite its use changing, but Sudderth is on a mission to tell the public that it’s not their grandfather’s feed store.
“That’s just not who we are anymore. We are trying to create our own identity,” he said.
Happy hours, live music by Latin group Cienfuegos on Thursdays and blues-funk singer Garrett Lebeau on Fridays and an eagerness to contribute to the community are just the beginning of plans to stand out from the pack.
For information, call 428-5727 or visit www.tradingpostbeecave.com.