Spotlight On: Trax Restaurant and Cafe

Ambler Patch: When did you open your business?

Trax Restaurant: 1998

AP: Who is your ideal client or customer?

TR: Someone who enjoys good, fresh food in an inviting indoor atmosphere or garden dining.

AP: What makes your business unique from others in your field?

TR: Trax Restaurant & Café is a cozy BYOB in the old Ambler Train Station. A neighborhood gem serving tastefully American cuisine with an emphasis on fresh, organic ingredients. Trax has 45 seats inside the old frame station, which sits alongside the R5 tracks. The cozy space has several intimate window-side nooks. When the sun is shining, the BYOB (bring your own bottle) also seats 30 outside, in its award-winning garden.

Chef/Owner Steven Waxman opened Trax in the restored Ambler train station in 1998, after many years in his family wine business. Chef Waxman’s early career in the wine industry took him across the globe from Napa Valley to Burgundy – sampling fine wines and eating outstanding regional cuisine. Those early culinary experiences coupled with apprenticeships in restaurants along the East Coast motivated him to open his own restaurant, where people could enjoy food as extraordinary as the wines in their private collections. His goal was to prepare a menu that would satisfy the most discriminating palate – his own.

Whenever possible, Chef Waxman gets ingredients from small, local purveyors that he knows he can trust – a nearby Korean fresh fish market, a local butcher, Maple Acres Farm and other nearby farms. Some of the herbs and vegetables are even grown in the restaurant’s award-winning garden, which won a "Community Greening Award" from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The restaurant is open for dinner on Tuesday through Saturdays. Trax is available for catering and memorable private parties during the day or in the evening, 7 days a week.

AP: What’s your most popular item? 

TR: House Smoked Baby Back Ribs
 with Tangy BBQ sauce, spicy Texas slaw; Free Range Chicken, 
Pan Seared with Rosemary Caper Sauce; Filet Mignon, 
Pan Seared with Mushroom Brandy Sauce; Veal Sirloin, 
Pan Seared with Shiitake Mushroom Cream Sauce; Lamb Chops

AP: What make’s your community special?

TR: Award-winning garden – where people can dine & where we grow vegetables that we use on the menu

AP: Where can customers find your specials?

TR: On our website, www.traxcafe.com

is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. with their prix-fixe menu available Tuesday through Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with reservations. To find out more about Trax, visit them on their website, Facebook page, or on Twitter.