09/21/2026
Fresh walls, fall flavors, nearly 200 enchiladas—and one family recipe making its long-awaited return
Hi Friends!
After a few unusually quiet days at Stomping Grounds last week, I am very happy to say that we are back to business as usual this week.
Now, from the outside, a closed café might look suspiciously like a few days off. I assure you, we were not sitting around drinking coffee and admiring the empty room.
While some much-needed repairs and painting were happening around us, I finally faced down a summer's worth of bookkeeping that I'd been successfully avoiding, prepared Friday dinners out of another restaurant's kitchen, finished up our sandwich recipe book for the gals, and somehow managed to carve out a little time for my family.
But hey—we did it.
After a great couple of years at the Book Café, I suppose we're still experiencing a few growing pains. Slow and steady growth isn't always obvious while you're living through it. Sometimes you don't realize just how much a place has grown until you have to stop, catch up, patch a few things, and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls.
And speaking of paint...
Our wonderfully named Mango Madness Orange walls have a fresh coat of paint.
Maybe you've always noticed that our walls were orange. Maybe you thought they were more of a rust or burnt orange. Or perhaps you've been coming here for years and are now thinking, Wait...the walls are orange?
Well, you'll probably notice them this week.
You'll also notice something new hanging on one of those freshly painted walls: Duaiv's The Red Café (2000), a painting my father sent me some time ago. See Duaiv’s The Red Café (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/duaiv-the-red-cafe)
There is a certain amount of comedy in me discussing any of this because, for those who don't know, I am horrifically colorblind.
My family has accumulated years' worth of stories involving my questionable relationship with color—usually resurfacing whenever I'm expected to coordinate clothing, particularly for family photographs. Nothing quite restores a person's humility like confidently identifying a color only to have the entire family inform you that you are nowhere close.
So whether I can fully appreciate the color coordination or not, our Mango Madness walls are now home to The Red Café.
Seems appropriate enough to me.
Last week's cold, cloudy, wet weather is giving way to warmer, clearer days, and we're heading into some of those cherished Montana fall afternoons that always seem far too short.
Even better, we're entering peak season for some of my favorite foods: apples, grapes, figs, squash, beets, Brussels sprouts... We are going to eat well, my friends.
Before getting back to routine, though, we managed to squeeze in one last little family escape.
We took the kids to Bozeman this weekend to celebrate my sister's birthday. There was something particularly cozy about sitting in a warm hot spring at night while a little rain fell around us, then retiring to a big cabin filled with kids and cousins, ending the evening around a bonfire making s'mores.
We even managed to fit in the Museum of the Rockies and check a couple of foodie stops off my list along the way.
After the week we'd had, it was exactly what we needed.
We worked hard, played harder, and now we're returning rather happily to our old friend: routine.
Maybe that's part of what makes these little breaks so important. Stepping away—even briefly—has a funny way of making you appreciate the ordinary things waiting for you when you come back.
And for me, that's all of you walking through those doors again.
The walls are fresh, the coffee is brewing, and Stomping Grounds is back.
It's good to be home. ☕🍂📚
🌆 Community Highlight
🎪🎨 After School Art for Kids: Monster Circus!
📅 Begins Wednesday, September 23
⏰ 2:30–4:30 PM
📍 Crooked Line Studio — Billings
🎨 Ages 7–12 | Six-Week Session
With Halloween creeping closer, this week's Community Highlight is for some of our younger artists! Crooked Line Studio is kicking off its six-week Monster Circus after-school art session, where kids get to dream up a big top filled with monsters and bring their creations to life through puppets, papier-mâché, clay, carving, and more. Rather than everyone making the same project, the program encourages kids to use their own imaginations and experiment with different materials and techniques—and at the end, they'll celebrate everything they've created with their very own art show.
The Monster Circus meets September 23 & 30 and October 7, 14, 21 & 28, with space limited to 12 kids per session. And for families whose kids don't get out of school until 3:00, Crooked Line notes that they can still participate.
📚 Library Events
🦊🎬 Teen Thursday: Zootopia Movie Night
📅 Thursday, September 24
⏰ 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 Teen Corner — Billings Public Library
🎟️ Ages 12–18
Thursday nights at the library are for the teens! Teen Thursdays are weekly drop-in evenings where ages 12–18 can hang out, play games, meet up with friends, and enjoy a different featured activity each week. This Thursday, they're breaking out the popcorn for a special showing of Disney's Zootopia (2016), along with themed crafts to enjoy during the evening. No complicated plans needed—just stop by the Teen Corner, grab some popcorn, and settle in for a movie night at the library. 🍿📚
🍲 Soups & Salads of the Week
🍠🥥 Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup
Smooth, creamy, and completely vegan, this colorful puréed soup combines naturally sweet sweet potatoes with rich coconut milk and aromatic red curry. The coconut lends a mellow sweetness while the curry brings layers of savory spice and just a gentle touch of warmth. Cozy enough for fall without being too heavy, it's a bright change of pace from your traditional bowl of soup.
🥩 Beef & Barley Soup
Sometimes you just want a good, old-fashioned bowl of soup. Our Beef & Barley is loaded with large chunks of lean, tender beef, hearty barley, potatoes, carrots, and a bounty of garden vegetables, all simmered together in a dark, rich, aromatic beef broth. Hearty, savory, and wonderfully satisfying—this one's built for soup season.
🍇 Autumn Grape & Gouda Salad
September grapes get their turn in the spotlight this week! Local mixed greens are topped with sweet red grapes, aged Gouda, toasted pecans, crisp cucumber, and thinly sliced red onion, then finished with our bright house lemon vinaigrette. Sweet grapes, nutty cheese, toasted pecans, and fresh citrus make this salad crisp, colorful, and just autumnal enough for these beautiful early-fall days.
✨This Week at SG Book Café
🍖 Ham, Fig & Gouda Baguette
We're taking advantage of another favorite fall flavor this week: figs! Our featured sandwich starts with a crusty baguette layered with savory smoked ham and nutty aged Gouda, warmed together until the cheese begins to melt. We finish it with a touch of sweet fig preserves, tangy Dijon, and fresh mixed greens. Sweet, salty, savory, and just a little sophisticated without getting too fancy—it's a simple combination that lets every ingredient do its job.
✨ Café Lunch Special — $9.99
Enjoy ½ Ham, Fig & Gouda Baguette, a bag of chips, and your choice of:
🍠🥥 Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup
🥩 Beef & Barley Soup
🍇 Autumn Grape & Gouda Salad
A little sandwich, something on the side, and plenty of fall flavor for just $9.99!
🥐 From the Pastry Case
We're leaning fully into fall baking this week. Cinnamon, walnuts, cranberries, apples, caramel, chocolate—basically, all the flavors that make it increasingly difficult to walk past the pastry case with only your coffee.
🤎 Cinnamon Walnut Muffins — Monday & Wednesday
Soft, tender muffins filled with warm cinnamon and crunchy walnuts, baked until golden for a simple, cozy fall treat. Nothing overly complicated here—just cinnamon, nuts, and a muffin begging to be paired with your morning coffee.
🥨🍫 Caramel Pretzel Fudge Brownies — Tuesday & Thursday
For those who prefer their treats a little more indulgent, we're bringing out rich, fudgy chocolate brownies with crunchy pretzels and caramel. Sweet, salty, chewy, and crunchy all at once—because sometimes choosing between chocolate, caramel, and pretzels simply isn't necessary.
🍞 Cranberry Nut Bread — Friday
We're finishing the week with slices of Cranberry Nut Bread, filled with tart cranberries and crunchy nuts for a sweet, slightly tangy quick bread that feels right at home with a hot cup of coffee on a September morning.
🍎 Crumb Apple Caramel Cake — Available All Week
And this week's dessert may be the most autumnal thing in the building. Our Crumb Apple Caramel Cake starts with a moist, tender cake layered with brown-sugar-sweetened apples, topped with a buttery cinnamon streusel crumb, and finished with a generous drizzle of rich caramel. Apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and caramel—if fall were a cake, we're pretty sure this would be it.
🚚 Friday's $10 Take-Out Special: Chicken Enchiladas with Beans & Rice
It's been a while, friends.
There is actually a very practical reason you haven't seen my Chicken Enchiladas on the Friday menu lately. Back when Friday dinner meant making a dozen or two orders, knocking out a few pans of enchiladas was pretty easy-peasy.
These days, we're creeping toward 100 Friday dinners.
And let me tell you: rolling nearly 200 enchiladas is no longer easy-peasy.
But it's been long enough. It's time to bring them back.
Most of you know these simply as Oscar's Chicken Enchiladas, but the truth is, they were never really mine. These are the enchiladas my mom made for us when I was growing up, and enchilada night was always a good night. We'd leave the table full, happy, and probably having eaten more than we needed to. My grandmother made them much the same way, and so did my great-grandmother.
Depending on which generation—or which member of my family—you ask, they've accumulated a few names over the years: Chicken Enchiladas with Green Sauce, White Girl Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Tortilla Casserole... take your pick.
Around here, we'll just keep calling them Oscar's.
Each dinner comes with two flour tortillas generously stuffed with tender braised chicken, with cheese and corn tucked inside, then smothered in our homemade green enchilada sauce, covered with more cheese, and baked until hot, melty, and bubbling.
We're serving them the way this dinner deserves to be served—with refried beans and rice alongside.
And for those of you who believe no plate of enchiladas is complete without a little something extra, you can add a side of our roasted tomato salsa to finish things off.
It may take us a few more hands—and a whole lot more rolling—than it did when I first started making Friday dinners, but some meals are worth bringing back.
📲 How to Order
☕ Dine In – We’re back! Come see us inside the Billings Public Library.
🥡 Take It To Go – Call ahead and we’ll have your order ready.
🚗 Free Local Delivery – Available Friday with our $10 Take-Out Special.
📞 Call or Text: 406-894-8464
📧 Email: [email protected]
🌐 Order Online: stomping-grounds-book-cafe.square.site/home
Friday Take-Out Specials are available for café pick-up or FREE local delivery.
Pick-Up: Friday from 11:00 AM–2:00 PM
Delivery: Friday afternoon beginning around 2:30 PM
After-hours pickup is also available. Your order will be safely stored in our café refrigerator, and library staff will be happy to assist you.
And with nearly 100 Friday dinners finding their way out of our kitchen these days, preordering is always appreciated!
Last week gave me a little time to think about growth.
Sometimes growth looks exciting. More customers, more Friday dinners, new faces walking through the door, and familiar ones who have become friends.
Other times, growth looks like bookkeeping you haven't touched all summer, walls that need another coat of Mango Madness, a sandwich recipe book that finally needs to be written down because you're no longer the only person making the sandwiches, and realizing that a Friday dinner you once made for twelve people now means rolling nearly 200 enchiladas.
It's funny how that happens.
And maybe that's why this week's enchiladas feel especially appropriate.
Everyone around here calls them Oscar's enchiladas, but they're really my mom's. And my grandmother's. And my great-grandmother's.
Something that started at their tables eventually found its way to mine—and somewhere along the way, it found its way to all of yours.
That's a pretty remarkable thing when I actually stop to think about it.
Maybe that's what good food is supposed to do. Recipes get passed down, tables get bigger, and eventually there's room for people at them who weren't there when the story began.
Last weekend I got to sit around a bonfire with my own kids, their cousins, and my family eating s'mores. This Friday, I'll be standing somewhere near a mountain of tortillas making a dinner that reminds me of being one of those kids myself.
I'll take that trade.
So we're back this week—fresh walls, familiar routines, beautiful Montana fall weather, and plenty of good things to eat.
It's good to have all of you back at our table.
With gratitude,
Oscar ☕🍂📚
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