About Us
Small Town, Big Dreams
Chef and Owner, Austin Stouder first stepped foot in the formally known Wabash Bar and Grill in the summer of 2010 after catching a last minute flight from Cleveland, Ohio. He was headed here in hopes of creating his dream and becoming his own boss.
Benefiting from a long resume including work with the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians and learning top notch cuisine from numerous chefs at Four Star hotels in Ohio and New Hampshire, he knew he could create a giant success.
He had been in contact with the Stouder family in the area who had located the place sometime back. Immediately realizing its potential, he and his father Ronny Stouder purchased the building in September of 2010. Naming it ‘Austin’s On The Trail’, work was set to begin in early October.
The opening date was set in stone, December 1st, giving them only two months to completely remodel a restaurant that had been closed for 5 years. Austin recruited several friends and family from Ohio to take a big chance and come to Silver City to live, and work at his new restaurant. With friends from the military, Andre and Justin, and family such as his brother, Jason and his brother’s dad, Bob the work began.
Spending countless hours in the building, they painted it front to back, top to bottom. They reconstructed the entire floor support system, built a brand new walk-in cooler, re-wired, re-plumbed and revived every piece of equipment in the building.
Raising the sign with a forklift and mounting it to the front of the building just two weeks before opening, felt like they were almost there. The doors to Austin’s On The Trail opened, as planned, on December 1st, 2010.
Every seat was filled, every plate was beautiful and every person had a smile on their face. As one man said, “We’ve needed something like this for a long time. You’ve finally brought good food back to Silver City.”
