You may know Doris Mitchell as the proprietor of the Uptown Cafe here in Italy, but she is also known as the ‘Citizen of the Month’ for January. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer person!

Doris has been the owner of the Uptown Cafe for over twenty years. She has been dishing up all kinds of goodies and ‘down home’ cooked meals served with a smile.

Doris is a vital part of our community. Where else can you get together in town to visit with friends and enjoy a great meal? Band booster events, dinners for funerals, class reunions, spaghetti dinner fundraisers just to name a few have been and are held at the uptown Cafe.

Doris’s cafe was also rated among the top forty Texas cafes by the Texas Monthly magazine. “The Uptown Cafe is the social hub. Our waitress (and the owner’s daughter) pulled up a chair, and suddenly we found ourselves chatting a way. It helped that she was toting an excellent burger, thick char-broiled meat served with juicy tomato slices, pickles, and lettuce on a buttered and griddle- warmed bun. Homemade fries are a dying breed, but not at the Uptown Cafe, where they come spicy, beer-battered, fresh-cut, or classic,” quoted from the November 2008 issue of the Texas Monthly magazine.

When asked what she thought about being chosen as the Citizen of the Month, Doris replied, "I am glad I was chosen and I feel very honored.

Her children are Sandy Eubank, Ray Don Mitchell, Brenda McConnel, Susie Majors, Steve Mitchell and Laurie Stroope. Doris has seventeen grandchildren and twenty great grandchildren.

“My favorite thing about Italy is that it is a small town and you know most everybody. I love being here in Italy. I don’t want to live anywhere else. I want to thank everyone for your friendship and your patronage over the years,”

Congratulations Doris Mitchell!