Fredericksburg – Fredericksburg is synonymous with Texas wine and just southwest of town, you’ll find a restaurant that relishes in recommending reds from all over the Lone Star State. “We have the nation’s largest all Texas wine lists. In fact, that’s all we do is Texas wines,” said owner Ross Burtwell.
Burtwell created Cabernet Grill, a hearty hill country restaurant that happens to have a few fine places to stay just a few steps from the front door. “It’s a bed and breakfast style lodging. We have two different styles. We have eighteen hundreds log cabins, which actually came out of Kentucky and Tennessee that are transported down here and built back together, log by log. And then just here in the past two years, we decided to expand the property. We’ve added a bunch of rock style cottages, real resemblant of what you find all around the Hill Country,” explained Ross.
If you’re really into Texas wine, this is a great feature for you. “We’re pulling them from every corner of the state. We have over 150 different wines available right now. And here in just the past couple of years, we’ve been honored twice by wine enthusiast magazine as being one of their top wine restaurants for the United States,” explained Ross.
Elizabeth Rodriguez is the wine sommelier and she’s put together this incredible collection of nothing but Texas wines. Why only Texas wines? “I strongly believe in supporting local and you know what Texas wine industry for the longest time just did not have a lot of people who are championing the cause. And the wines had really come along here in the past 15 years or so. I mean, they are producing some outstanding wines that are winning awards all over the country,” explained Ross.
But you need to have some good grub to go with good wine and trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Burt has a crazy concoction on his menu that I had to check off the list, a chicken fried ribeye. “The more time I can spend in that kitchen, getting creative, the happier guy I am,” joked Ross.
It doesn’t stop there, the ribeye is topped with a cream sauce that has lobster, bacon and green chilis in it. “You may never want to have a chicken fried steak on the menu, but our customers kept asking for it, asking for it, asking for it. So I decided, well, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do the upgraded version of it. So out came the rib eye and out came the lobster and poof,” explained Ross.
“You take some lobster and add it to the top of a chicken fried ribeye is a pretty good idea,” said customer Janice Estill. “I don’t like to do anything that’s the same as anyone else. So we’re always looking at a different angle to do things,” stated Ross.
Ross takes a certified angus beef ribeye and breads it up with a combination of flour and saltine crackers. That’s topped off with some homemade cajun seasoning. On to the sauce. “I’ve got some fresh Maine lobster tails right here. We went ahead and we pulled these out of the shell and then we actually poached them in butter. So, we got this great texture going on to a very silky buttery taste. We’ll go ahead and slice that up a little bit,” explained Ross.
Once the gravy is good to go, Ross heads to the fryer. And come together it does. Now it’s time to pair this peculiar dish with a fine wine.
The lobster top chicken fried rib eye with green chili gravy. Of course it wouldn’t be complete without a nice Tempranillo. So we’ve got a little bit of that here to enjoy with our chicken fried steak. Cause we are fine dining this week on The Texas Bucket List.
My list of fine chicken fried steaks in the Lone Star State just got a new addition. It is amazing.
“Oh my gosh. It was amazing. The ribeye was super tender. You could cut it with a fork. It was full of flavor,” said customer Natasha Odom.
Can’t even classify it as chicken fried steak. You have to say rib eye. You can’t just say chicken fried steak. You have to say chicken fried rib eye. “So we got two entrees and then we figured out later that the rib eye, the fried rib eye is the thing to do. So we ordered a third one,” stated customer Spencer Odom.
Even down to the crunchiness that the saltines provide. Every little piece of this amazing dish has been thought out. “The lobster, just that makes it more rich,” said Janice.
Well, if you’re looking for a rare find when it comes to chicken fried steaks come to Fredericksburg to get your lips around a chicken fried ribeye topped with lobster and green chiles right here at the Cabernet Grill. “It’s a blessing. You know, I love living in the Hill Country. I love living in Fredericksburg and being somewhere that has so much focus on good quality wines and such. It’s great,” expressed Ross.