Color me happily surprised
By Kathy Edwards McFarland
Sometime back in August, a familiar banner unfurles on my Facebook homepage … Sweetwater Grill & Tavern is coming back! I had to check it out.
My guy, Steve and I drove down to the familiar corner of Hickory and Walnut to find Agua Dulce closed … and the layout for a new rattlesnake on the Walnut Street side wall. Yay! Facebook, for all it’s “fake” news shared accurate information.
“The partnership bringing back the restaurant consists of Jimmy and Karen Meredith, the original founders and owners; Stephanie Reinke, Karen’s daughter; and her husband, Ron Reinke; and Joey Hawkins, a local restaurant owner,” according to the Denton Record-Chronicle article by Staff Writer Je
Eric Vellekamp of the Dallas Restaurant Group is the new General Manager. He’ll run the restaurant and is working on new menu items and cocktails.
Live jazz will once again be a staple at the restaurant on Tuesday and Thursday nights, with the original Sweetwater Jazz Quartet (Jim Riggs, Neil Slater, Ron Fink, and Lou Carfa) playing monthly.
“We want to give them a home back here, and they’re ready,” Karen Meredith said. “We have such a wealth of jazz musicians in this town, so they’re excited and we are, too. That was kind of me and Jimmy’s social life, coming to listen to jazz.”
The full newspaper article can be read at –

Jimmy and Karen Meredith stand outside their soon-to-open restaurant, Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, located at 115 S. Elm St., in Denton. Photo by Jake King
I so very happy, dear Readers, to bring you such wonderful tidings.