Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Mages.
Hi Dan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My path to Old Coyote Café began in the classroom. I have been a teacher and professor for nearly 25 years, teaching philosophy, religion, and critical thinking across educational institutions. My journey in academia has led me to approach hospitality as an ever-evolving practice grounded in ecological sensitivity and philosophical reflection.
That same spirit of inquiry carries through beyond the classroom. As a lifelong traveler and seeker, I’ve explored diverse cultures and landscapes, learning from the ways communities around the world connect food, land, and meaning. These experiences drew me toward hospitality not just as service, but as a way of honoring humanity and the ecosystems that sustain us.
Eating from the land we live on restores our connection to nature and harmony. Old Coyote Café grew out of this belief: that food should be offered in a way that honors the land and the living systems that sustain us. My studies of ancestral wisdom, especially immediate-return hunter-gatherer societies, inspire this vision. Their example reminds me that when we honor the land and allow animals to forage as nature intended, we not only preserve the ecosystem but create food that nourishes our bodies and enriches our lives.
That ethos pulled me into hospitality alongside my partner Roland Barrera, who founded some of Orange County’s most iconic venues, including Westend and Casa Cocktail Lounge, the OC’s first password required speakeasy, bringing more than fifteen years of experience in construction, event production, talent booking and DJing. After he temporarily closed his Costa Mesa restaurant during the pandemic, he needed a fresh start. He saw me kayaking down the Colorado on Insta and reached out. I invited him to jump off San Diego’s Three Sisters Fall and as I leaped off the top and he backflipped, we realised we both love play, the outdoors, hikes, everything active and shared a vision for a place where people could reconnect with nature. I helped him relocate to his cousin’s Texas ranch with multiple road trips where we hiked Angel’s Landing in Zion, hot springed in the Rio-Grande, and together began developing The Heavens ATX, a thirty acre aircrete domed resort just east of Austin that combines ecosystem vibrancy, holistic health, art, music and the region’s largest all‑natural resort pool with served by sit‑down farm‑to‑table restaurant. His technical and creative chops, paired with my mission-driven storytelling, helped us rally friends and family to back the project.
As the gardens at The Heavens ATX flourished we found ourselves with more food than we could use before the resort opened. To keep our harvest from going to waste, we bought a thirty‑one foot 69’ Airstream Sovereign, borrowed a neighbour’s propane tank firetruck smoker from the early 1900s, built a rustic stage and launched Old Coyote Cafe roadside the FM 535 Hwy. The menu stays true to our core principles: no industrial seed oils, all organic ingredients, and everything grown on our land or sourced from nearby farms. We fill our tacos with non‑GMO grass‑fed brisket, smoked queso, beef chorizo, nopales and eggs from our hens and round out the offerings with seasonal empanadas, pressed juices, aguas frescas and organic beer and wine.Through Old Coyote Cafe and The Heavens ATX, we’re creating experiences rooted in nature and sustainability, inviting people to slow down, connect with the land, and nourish themselves and their communities.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road at all. In fact, it sometimes feels like if something can go wrong, it will. We’ve faced a three-day freeze that destroyed our water lines and faucets. We’ve wrestled with solar inverter failures, and on top of that, someone stole our gas generator. There have been stretches where we were scrambling to fix infrastructure by day and trying to keep the business running by night. And like any small team, we’ve dealt with staffing issues when key people left or weren’t available, leaving us short. In the moment those struggles felt overwhelming. But each challenge pushed us to dig deeper into what mattered and build more resilient systems. What keeps us going is knowing that we’re providing something real and nourishing, farm-fresh, organic food and a space aimed for regenerative permaculture. Those values guide us through the hard times. They remind us that we’re stewards of the land and that caring for it is really the same thing as caring for ourselves.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Old Coyote Cafe is our farm-driven roadside kitchen and music hangout on the edge of our gardens outside Austin. The name comes from a local legend: a lone coyote often spotted at dusk carrying a coral snake, not just once, but twice, read by neighbors as a guardian spirit of wisdom and resilience. We cook in that spirit, close to the land and true to our motto: Eat Local, Live Free.
What we do / what we’re known for
We serve what used to just be called food, but we now have to specify that it’s non-GMO, seasonal, organic, produce which we grew ourselves or sourced locally from a restored 31′ 1969 Airstream Sovereign with a vintage smoker and a small stage. We’re seed-oil-free, all clean ingredients, and we keep the menu simple: farm tacos, empanadas, pressed juices, yaupon and herb teas, and a short list of natural beverages, and occasional live music at sunset.
What sets us apart:
Soil-up hospitality: our gardens supply the kitchen; nearby ranches fill the gaps.
Clean craft: no industrial seed oils (we render our own beef tallow).
Sense of place: food that tastes like this land, served in a setting that feels like a front-porch jam.
Community first: farmers, families, and musicians share the same table.
Every bite is the real deal, 100% organic, non-gmo, fresh ingredients you can actually pronounce, sourced straight from our farm and neighboring markets. no seed oils, no shortcuts, no bullshit, just real food, quality you can taste.
We are open for pop-ups, private events, and community nights. Come for the farm-fresh food, stay for the music, and leave with a full heart.
What does success mean to you?
Success, for us, means guests leave more nourished than they arrived and the land is healthier at the end of each season than at the start. We follow a simple chain of care: what’s good for the soil is good for the plants, and what’s good for the plants is good for us. That’s our compass. We seed, tend, and harvest in ways that give more than they take, building living soil, welcoming pollinators, keeping water clean, and letting flavor follow ecology. If the garden hums, the plates sing, and people gather to slow down, laugh, and feel at home in a place that’s being well-stewarded, that’s real sustainability, and that’s success.
Pricing:
- Organic Tacos $5–$10
- Two Empanadas $10-13
- Farm Grown Yaupon & Mint Tea $5
- Fresh Pressed Aguas Frescas $7
- Beignets $7
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oldcoyotecafe.com
- Instagram: @oldcoyotecafe
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Old-Coyote-Cafe-61564375933399/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/old-coyote-cafe-cedar-creek?osq=Restaurants
