Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

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The Texas Bucket List – Lost Maples Café in Utopia

August 22, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Utopia – An hour and half west of San Antonio, smack dab in the middle of some of the most serene landscapes of Texas is Utopia.  And for locals, that’s exactly what it is. “Just great people, and everyone takes care of each other,” said resident Tabitha Bomer.

“You have to want to come to Utopia, because it’s not on the way to anywhere except Garner State Park or Lost Maples Park,” stated Tacy Redden, owner of the Lost Maples Café.

Tacy has deep roots in Utopia. “My dad was actually from Oasis, Canyon, which is a couple of canyons over, but my mother was raised right here,” said Tacy.

The Lost Maples Café is a restaurant with a really long history.  Built in 1907 as a Mason’s Lodge, it was turned into a café in the 1940s, Tacy took over in the 80’s. “We had the grocery store, and we also had a little meat plant, and he decided the cafe would go really good with our grocery store and meat plant. His aunt was going to come and run the cafe for us and teach me how to run the cafe. So if you know cafe business, you know what happened the first day. She didn’t show up,” explained Tacy.

Tacy had to learn on the fly and it didn’t take long to figure out that people here like comfort food, especially burgers and pies. “The pies are outstanding,” stated customer Cobey Keith. “Our buttermilk pie is something that everybody should come try once,” said Tacy.

But there’s another dish here that’s been on my radar thanks to its really good reputation.  The Lamb Sliders. “Lamb, yeah. No, not doing the lamb. A lot of people like it though,” “The locals don’t like them, but everybody else does,” said Tacy.

“We hear all the locals haven’t tried them,” joked head cook Johnnie Sue. Johnnie Sue cooked us up an order of the little lamb sliders.

This dish starts off with lamb raised right here in Utopia by Tacy herself. “They do. We raised them. So it’s farm to fork, as they say. It’s our own product,” stated Tacy.

Once the lamb is grilled up, it’s but on a sourdough bun with yogurt sauce. Well, this is by far one of the simplest dishes we’ve ever done. Meat, bread, sauce.

The delicate lamb sliders were ready for the taking and after one bite, I could tell the sliders have a nice clean finish. The wonderful taste of lamb mixed in with that feta and that seasoning and that yogurt sauce, is such a nice flavor. “I think we just call it South Texas lamb,” joked Tacy. I don’t know if this little lamb’s fleece was white, but its meat sure is tasty!

“It’s a unique experience. It really is. And the food is good,” said long time customer Paul Goodnight. You’d think the one thing that would be safe in Utopia is a little lamb, but apparently not! “It’s good homemade food,” stated Johnnie Sue.

And, of course, we have to finish things off with a piece of pie. Go with the buttermilk.

So if you’re looking for a unique dish in a unique part of our state, coming to the Los Maples Cafe in Utopia for the lamb sliders is definitely well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week, Uncategorized

The Texas Bucket List – Pint and Barrel Drafthouse in Palestine

August 12, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Palestine – Over in picturesque Palestine of all places, there’s a pub with some serious sandwiches called the Pint and Barrel Drafthouse. “A lot of people told us we were crazy, but then they can’t imagine the town without us, now,” stated owner Chris Keller.

Chris is the crazy man behind the Pint and Barrel Drafthouse in the old town part of Palestine and his place is pretty unique. “It was built as a garage for the Palestine Electric Company, so it’s a garage, it was a barn, and we’ve managed to de-barn it a little bit, but it’s still pretty barn-y,” joked Chris.

Chris moved to Palestine to pour his soul into this watering hole found by his father-in-law a few years back. “He sent me a text of this building, for the picture of this building, and said, ‘Hey, you want to put a pub here?’ Why is this not a pub,” explained Chris. After years of searching for the perfect place, this nearly 100-year-old building turned out to be the perfect place for a plethora of pints.

Chris has had a fondness for frothy beer his whole life and has worked from the sales side to even brewing beer at St. Arnold’s in Houston. “Still, after running the business for almost seven years. Yeah, brewing was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s a lot of physical labor and I mean, imagine doing a triathlon and having to stop in the middle of it and do math, right,” said Chris.

Now he gets to enjoy a cold beer amongst the trees of east Texas while surrounded by at least half a dozen churches within half a mile of his place. “There are a lot of churches in this town.” That church right there, actually, I had to measure my front door to, and we had an extra 20 feet.” Just to make sure. But, come to find out, the pastor, I met him actually at the bar, he was sitting with his wife up there at the bar,” explained Chris. Fortunately, the faithful and found a place of fellowship at their friendly neighborhood pub.“We went to the Church, and all throughout the pews were our regulars, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I know you people. That’s great.’ I didn’t have to meet very many people for the first time going over there because I already know them,” joked Chris.

Now it seems Chris knows just about everybody in town. “We’ve become the living room of the town, really this is exactly what a pub needs to be, a place for the public to come up here and meet and talk,” stated Chris.

But then there’s the food and that’s what takes the Pint and Barrel to a whole new place. “I’ve never had anything that was bad here,” customer Dollinda Toole.

Now the reason the food is so fine here has to do with head chef Scotty Mick. “Whatever Scott wants to do, I’m like, “Just tell me how much it costs, so I know how much to charge, that’s all I’m going to say,” said Chris. “I love to cook and please people, and feed people, and make peoples’ bellies happy,” stated Scotty.

Scotty wanted to feature two of his famous dishes, the Green Grilled Cheese and Three Little Piggy. “You got to get yourself a three piggy. That’s our pulled pork sandwich, with fried spam and bacon,” stated Chris.

Scotty first cooked up the green grilled cheese by toasting two pieces of sweet sourdough bread, spreading on some mayo while adding muenster cheese, onions and tomatoes.  On top of that is their house made spinach and artichoke dip. That’s covered with provolone and allowed to melt all together. “You just want a real good melt on that cheese, you want it all to ooze out of it,” said Scotty while heating up the sandwich.

Then it’s time for the Three Little Piggy. While toasting the buns, Scotty busts out the pork he’s proud of. “This is my baby right here. I smoke usually every day, except Mondays and Tuesdays. So, what we’re going to do is, basically put a nice, healthy amount of meat on the sandwich.”  That heap of meat ended up being nearly three quarters of a pound!

After warming up a preposterous amount of pork, Scotty starts slamming the sammich together. “We’re going to shoot a little bit of this, this is my world-famous secret barbecue sauce that I make almost daily. Nobody even knows, not even my wife knows the recipe on this,” joked Scotty.

Then comes the fried Spam. And that’s topped with three pieces of bacon. “That’s the three piggy, and that’s what you’ll get when you come here, you will get that sandwich exactly like you see it right there,” said Scotty.

Well, we obviously have a preposterous amount of food here in Palestine, and we’re going to start with a smaller offering, the green grilled cheese. Looking so nice and quaint next to that big old pork sandwich, but this is not lacking in any flavor.  “Something totally different that I’ve never had before, and the soup that goes with it. It’s to die for,” said customer Dollinda Toole

Onto the star of the show, The Three Piggy. Well, I’ve got the perfect escape hatch, my mouth. So many different textures when you bite into that sandwich, the pulled pork, nice and soft, the spam, a little grilled, and then that crunchy bacon. That is the most ridiculous pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever seen or eaten. “I can’t do the three piggy, that would take me like a week to eat,” said Dollinda. “I like their sauce, and it’s just really slow cooked, it’s tender and juicy and melts in your mouth,” said customer Sheila Staples.

Well, after you have The Three Little Piggy, you’ll definitely huff and puff, you’re not going to blow any houses down either.

“It’s in Palestine, it’s a small community, you just have to come, you have to experience it,” said Kay.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week

The Texas Bucket List – Patillo’s Barbeque in Beaumont

June 30, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Beaumont – When it comes to BBQ in Beaumont, the oldest name in these parts is Patillo’s. “My grandfather had this place built in 1950. Prior to that, we were in downtown Beaumont,” said owner Robert Patillo. Mr. Patillo is the 4th generation caretaker of this old school southeast Texas BBQ joint that has all sorts of soul.  The first thing that hits you when you walk into the Patillo’s in the smell of BBQ smoke soaked into the walls. “You walk out smelling like barbecue,” stated customer Gabby Cavazos.

While Patillo’s may have a pit that’s been blowing smoke since the 50’s, the tradition of Robert’s restaurant goes all the way back to 1912 when his grandfather Jackson Patillo started the family business in BBQ. “Very few people, they have to be newcomers but the old families here in Beaumont know the Patillo’s.  And with that name, we are about the only black family in Beaumont with that name. Some people say it was Portuguese. Somebody wanted to say it was Spain. Then some say Italian. And then I really haven’t gotten with ancestry to find that out,” explained Robert.

The lineage that matters here is the line of BBQ men that the Patillo’s have put out for over 100 years.  “Commitment. That’s what it is all about. Being committed to your business in order to make it successful in order to survive in it,” stated Robert.

Patillo’s is the oldest family-owned BBQ joint in the state and Robert started working here with his grandfather Frank in the late 50’s. “He believed that hard work makes a good guy. I worked for $3 a day. You got here every day at eight o’clock. I didn’t get here at eight o’clock. He hit that door at 10 after he would tell me, to go home. Only once that happened,” said Robert.

While there may be one way to describe the BBQ here. “Old school.  Very much so. We have the old brick pit we’ve been doing that way since we’ve been in business,” stated Robert. Robert is being modest.  There’s so much more going on here thanks to an incredible combination of soul food, Cajun cuisine, Tex-Mex flair, and Texas BBQ coming together to have an influence on everything from the sides to the sought-after sausage links. “The links have been our, I’m going to be honest with you, I think that’s really our salvation through the years, because they’ve been the same. We make them the same as we did years ago,” expressed Robert. But it’s not simply the sausage that has kept up the stamina of Patillo’s.

“A person wants to live in this world. They got to have, you got to have to believe in that, man. That’s all I can tell you. You know, so many down days, it’s just rough. I can attribute that to my success. And good employees too,” explained Robert. Pitmaster Quincy Akers has been here since 2007.  “I was looking for a job and my cousin, his nephew, told me about it. He was like, ‘Hey man, you want to come here and get a job.’ And I came and talked to Mr. Rob and I’ve been here ever since,” explained Quincy.

“I was like, it’s a privilege and I’m blessed just to be working for him, he teaches me a lot of stuff, man. I, everything I know about it and hear it from this man right here. Everything,” stated Quincy.

Quincy didn’t waste any time putting together a plate with two of the most popular meats at Patillo’s for me, sausage and ribs, sort of the specialties here at Patillo’s.  The ribs have a nice sturdy bark with tender pork in the middle. It didn’t take long to taste the old school flavor that’s been carefully crafted. “They’re tender, but they don’t fall off the bone tender, but it’s kind of a happy medium to where it’s not messy everywhere,” said Gabby. The bark on the rib holds all that pork together and then you get to the meat and it is smoky.

The sauce is definitely not your typical barbecue sauce. It’s almost like a spicy Cajun flavor and more of a beef broth that really coats the meat and just adds a whole different flavor profile to ribs here in Southeast Texas. “I don’t know how long they cook it for, but it’s good,” stated Hector.

And then what Patillo’s is known for, sausage. Cooked in-house and coarsely ground with an extremely unique spicy flavor and texture like chorizo.  Very unique and extremely flavorful, truly like nothing I’ve ever had anywhere in the Lone Star State! “It ends up going fast because it’s just so good,” stated Gabby.

Well, if you’re ever looking for some bodacious barbecue in Beaumont or some sausage that will seriously spice up your life, coming to Patillo’s in Beaumont as well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“I’m very proud of it. I mean that we have continuously been here, you know? I thank God for the blessings. You know. Thank God. It’s been a smooth ride and hey, if the good Lord calls me home tomorrow, I have no complaints,” expressed Robert.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week

The Texas Bucket List – Zito’s Deli in San Antonio

June 14, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

San Antonio – On the northside of San Antonio, on the shining lights of Broadway, is a sandwich bistro with a big following.  Zito’s Deli is not a dive by any means but it is a bit difficult to find but you won’t be disappointed.

“I love that it’s hidden over here by the airport in a kind of this little divey restaurant, in a kind of area that’s not that great, but it’s my secret little hideout,” said customer Allison Singleton.

Brad Zito is the second generation of sandwich makers at the business that began in 1974 with his father who hailed from Rhode Island. “There was one deli, an Italian deli here in San Antonio, and he wanted to open up another one,” said owner Brad Zito.

Brad’s father passed away in 1996 so Brad ran Zito’s with his mother till 2015 when he finally let her retire at 93. “Yeah, she would still probably be working, but we wanted her to at least enjoy the last few years of her life,” stated Brad.

As for Brad, he’s always been a part of the business and even managed to find a spouse in between sandwiches. “I mean, I always worked here my whole life, but after college, I started working here and met my wife at my Callaghan store, got married and three children later,” said Brad.

From Reubens to roast beef, Zito’s has got a zany number of subs but there’s one sandwich they take seriously.  The Serious Sandwich. “The Serious is our signature sandwich that my mother created. It’s like the cousin to the muffuletta. She wanted a signature sandwich and my father had all the ingredients, put all the ingredients here and then she took what we had and created the Serious,” explained Brad.

“If there’s a place that has a Serious sandwich, you better try that Serious sandwich,” said customer Mike Hockersmith. “Y’all are going to have one, right,” asked Allison. Seriously? Of course!  Brad took us to the back to get started.

“We sell approximately 100 whole Seriouses a day. A whole Serious is enough for two people. So we have to prepare the day before. The salami side will have provolone cheese, ham and salami. And then on the other side of the sandwich, we’ll have what we consider the cheddar side. And that’ll have a cheddar and another type of ham. And that goes on the flatbread,” explained Brad.

“We got the onions, olives, tomatoes, and then our signature spices. We have Italian blend spices that we blend here ourselves. Then our shredded lettuce. We want to have it, especially when they’re to go,” Said Brad.

The Serious sandwich is seriously huge. We’re going to pick it up and it’s almost like a cross between a quesadilla, a pizza and a sandwich, all wrapped up into one little package and the flavor of the Serious sandwich is sensational.

“This is right up there with greatness for me. This makes a day a good day,” said Allison.

The flatbread is a unique take on the Serious sandwich because then you get to save a little bit on the carbs, but you get all that meat. “We’ve been coming here for many, many years and really it’s the Serious sandwich that keeps me coming back,” said Mike.

When I grew up in Round Rock, we had a little sandwich place called Alvin Ords. It was my favorite hangout back in the ’80s and this sandwich tastes a lot like it. “I try not to tell anybody about this because sometimes it’s best to just keep your little secrets to yourself,” said Allison.

All those ingredients finely chopped really do come together to make an excellent flavor. “It’s got everything in it. You really don’t need anything else,” stated Mike.

Well, if you’re ever in San Antonio looking for a sandwich with a zing, come into Zito’s. It’s well with a stop on The Texas Bucket List.“It felt really fulfilling to continue on and to hear customers thank me for continuing on the tradition,” expressed Brad.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week, Uncategorized

The Texas Bucket List – Progress and Provisions in Wichita Falls

May 26, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Wichita Falls – Downtown Wichita Falls has been bustling with business since 1882. One of the hubs for business here is over on the corner of 8th and Lamar.  There you’ll find the old Hamilton Building, a cornerstone for companies in this corner of Texas since 1927.  But if you can make your way past the entrance to the ornate lobby and take the side door to a mysterious ordinary hall, you’ll find a latent location with lots of really good food.

Kyle Dalka is the crazy man of Hungarian descent that decided to open his eatery with interesting offerings in this literal hole in the wall. “When we opened, we really only expected to get a lot of the building traffic, but we’ve grown such a clientele from across town even,” explained Kyle.

Kyle grew up in an Indiana town but then he grew up tall and he grew up right, and he left for Texas where the stars are big and bright. His first stop was the Capitol City.  Unfortunately, Austin was just not the place for Kyle. “I loved it. It’s great. It’s expensive. Me and my wife were having a kid. I was 21, so it was just not possible at the time, sadly,” said Kyle.

So why Wichita Falls? “So at that time, an article had come out about (Wichita Falls) being the cheapest place to live for a big city. This was supposed to be a stopping point. In 2 years, we were going to get our bearings straight and move to a bigger city again. And we got stuck here,” said Kyle lovingly.

Kyle kicked off his own culinary creation in a food truck but then moved to the Hamilton building in 2018. “This had been a great restaurant space for two other restaurants that are still locally owned here. It’s been an incubator for some restaurants to be able to go on and do bigger things,” said Kyle.

Kyle is on track to do the same thing thanks to his creative culinary twists on totally terrific dishes. “We’re trying to do things that everyone can have some knowledge about, but then flip it on its head,” said Kyle.

Today, we’re trying two of those marvelous mishmashes. The Korean chicken sandwich and the Waldorf Salad. “People will just go crazy over the salad. It’s nuts,” stated Kyle.

Considering our sizable stature, it was comical to see together in Kyle’s itty-bitty kitchen but that didn’t stop Kyle from getting things started with the sandwich. “Everyone eats a fried chicken sandwich. We just dip ours in a Korean style barbecue sauce with a jalapeno lime aioli, lettuce, quick pickle, cucumbers, and cilantro,” explained Kyle.

Kyle dips breaded non-GMO chicken into a secret combination of Korean urbs and spices. “This is one recipe that we hold near and dear to our heart. Everyone who comes in here has to work here a little while before they’re actually able to make it,” said Kyle.

Once fried up, it gets placed on a toasted brioche bun with aioli, hydroponically grown lettuce, locally grown cilantro, and quick pickled cucumbers.

Next up, the chicken for the Waldorf salad.“We marinade it in a ton of lemon juice, garlic, oregano and olive oil,” said Kyle. While that cooks, the salad is sorted with a variety of ingredients, from local lettuce, Granny Smith apples, fresh red grapes, aged white cheddar that comes from Waco, and candied pecans. “So this is where it changes. We also add avocado and it just comes with a side of our white balsamic.”  Considering the dressing was green, I had a few questions. “We use a bunch of herbs in it, so chive, basil, thyme, white balsamic, shallot, honey, salt and pepper. And then we emulsify it with some of that Texas olive oil,” explained Kyle.

“I pretty much know where the good salads are and this is one,” said customer Tara Rice.

You got that chicken marinated and cooked to perfection on top of that incredible bed of lettuce, and all the flavors coming out of that dressing. All those fresh herbs just make an incredible difference. “The best salad you’re going to get in town,” said customer Martin Kipp.

Easy to say, the Waldorf is worth checking into.  As for the Korean fried chicken sandwich.  “It’s very different. I’ve never had it anywhere else,” said Tara.

The chicken has an amazing flavor with a little spicy and then you get into those cucumbers and that jalapeno lime aioli, and it just puts a whole other twist on that Korean chicken. Sort of like a little bon mi me flare with a Texan kiss.

“This adds a twist on the spices, so it’s fantastic to try something new with a different spin on it,” said customer Karen Bivonn.

You might remember the great fast food Chicken Sandwich Wars of 2019. This blows it out of the water. “Good food, it’s original, it has its own spin on things,” stated Martin.

Well, if you’re looking for some unique food in Wichita Falls, just find the Hamilton building and come on in the side entrance to Progress and Provisions, a perfect stop on The Texas Bucket List! “You’re going to get food here that’s local, fresh and something you probably never had before,” stated Kyle.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week

The Texas Bucket List – La Sirenita in Freeport

May 1, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Freeport – Before you find yourself on the sunny shores of Surfside Beach in southeast Texas, you have to intersect through a few industrial areas going through Freeport.  Sitting smack dab in between those plants is a place you’d never expect to find here.  La Sirenita Seafood N Grill.

“It’s a great experience to come here and eat,” stated customer John Boridy. “It’s just a great hidden place,” said customer Milan Miller.

Ivan Alvarez and his wife Herminia are the fine folks who have a fondness for fresh seafood and owners of La Sirenita which is housed at a location that used to be the place to go to for fresh bait. “Even to this day, people think this is a bait shop. They stop by, they come out of their car with their buckets. They’re looking for bait,” joked Ivan.

Ivan has spent the better part of his life at this little restaurant since his stepfather bought the place in 2000 and opened a restaurant called Willie Joe’s.  “When I was a kid, I didn’t see myself back over here doing what I grew up doing when I was a kid. It’s crazy, but it’s a blessing, most of all, to be able to do it again,” stated Ivan.

Cooking wasn’t the chosen career choice for Ivan, his first path in the labor pool took him down the pipefitter path. “The plants are usually where everybody goes. That’s where the money’s at. So I was working in the plants for a lot of years,” explained Ivan.

But Ivan decided to take the leap into the restaurant business.

“Exactly. Yeah, it was scary at first. The first year was the toughest. I even told my wife, ‘You know what, maybe it’s not for me. Maybe I should just keep doing what I’ve been doing forever.’ And like I said, she’s my backbone, she’s always supported me. She told me, ‘No, Ivan, you got a gift. You keep pushing and keep grinding it out. You’re going to get somewhere.’ She was right, you know,” said Ivan.

Well we had to see what Herminia had so much faith in, so Ivan gave us all he got with the Big Daddy basket. “Let me go ahead and throw in the crawfish in there,” stated Ivan. As the bountiful selection of seafood, including snow crab, shrimp, and king crab boiled, Ivan added a few other goodies. Mushrooms and boiled eggs. “They’re a big hit, actually. People love them boiled eggs in there,” said Ivan.

Once the seafood crustacean collection was cooked, we headed in the kitchen to kick things up a notch. “So this is my own seasoning that I make. And right here, we got a little bit of cayenne. Some people love it real spicy, so we throw a little cayenne in there,” explained Ivan as he doused the seafood in spice.

“And this right here, oh man, this is what people go crazy for. It’s our signature house butter. And we put this on everything,” explained Ivan as he heaped on two big globs of butter and shook up the mixture till it was ready to go.

After having a hard time figuring out what to try first, I went with a mushroom. It’s easy, you can pop it and my first reaction, that butter sauce is ridiculous.

“Oh, all that butter and garlic, it just amazes. The flavor is amazing,” said customer Milan Miller.

I can’t even call it garlic-butter sauce. There’s so much stuff going on inside that butter. You got some spice, you got garlic, you got the parsley, just bringing flavor in all sorts of places.

“I’ve been all over south Louisiana, I’ve been all over Texas, and this is really a special crawfish place,” said customer John Boridy.

“I mean, if you really want to sit down and get messy, and greasy, and buttery, that’s what you need to do. That one time,” said Milan.

Well, whether you’re craving crawfish, king crab, snow crab, sausage, mushrooms, corn, covered in butter, come in to La Sireneta in Freeport, TX. It’s well worth a stop, on The Texas Bucket List!

“I feel like I had a lot of doubters that didn’t think I was going to get the restaurant going. Especially like you said, the location we’re at. There’s a lot of challenges. For you to even be here right now, it’s a true blessing. And we work really hard to be where we are right now, so it means a lot,” said  Ivan.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week

The Texas Bucket List – Topwater Grill in San Leon

April 25, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

San Leon – Smack dab in the middle of Galveston Bay and Dickinson Bay, you’ll find April Fool’s Point on a peninsula in San Leon, where savory seafood is sought after. “It’s not too fancy and it’s just relaxed, flip flops and Hawaiian shirts,” said owner Robert Jackubas.

Robert grew up on this point after his parents moved here from Houston in the mid 70’s.  “It was way more commercial in the very beginning. We unloaded shrimp boats, oyster boats, fishing boats, sold all the fuel for our area, and now it’s turned into more of a restaurant,” explained Robert.

Robert loves owning a restaurant and loves to spread happiness. “Being on the water every day and meeting all the different people. They’re fantastic. The happy ones are happy and the unhappy ones are still happy,” said Robert.

Despite Hurricane Ike destroying Topwater Grill in 2008, Robert has recovered nicely thanks to his reputation of having really good seafood. “Fried shrimp and Galveston Bay oysters,” stated Robert. “It’s fresh seafood right from the Gulf,” said customer Pat Casey.

One of Topwater’s most popular dishes? “How about fried shrimp,” said Robert. You are correct and they go through tons of shrimp each and every month. “Close to 900 pounds of shrimp every week,” stated Robert.

I was up for a little smorgasbord of seafood so Robert rallied some really good recipes including oysters diablo, pan seared oysters and royal red shrimp.

First we prepared the pan seared oysters which are freshly shucked oysters get breaded and thrown on the grill with some blackened seasoning.  Those get placed on a plate with squash and crawfish etouffee.

The oysters diablo consists of oysters  covered in hot sauce, sauteed jalapeno and garlic, bacon, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and placed in the oven.

And last but not least, we inquired about their unique shrimp, the royal red shrimp. “We found these on a vacation in Key West, Florida, at one of our favorite restaurants down there, and the nice guy told us what they were, they’re Royal Red shrimp. They catch them in two places in the world; one is in the Texas Gulf Coast from Texas to Key West, and also Argentina. We get them for both places. So deep, they’re almost a mile deep underwater, and they were unheard of. Now, you can find them almost everywhere. They taste like a cross between Alaskan King crab and lobster, in the shape of a shrimp,” explained Robert. Those are simply prepared with seasoning. “Here’s our secret recipe that we don’t tell anybody. It has so many ingredients, it has Royal Red shrimp and old Bay seasoning,” said Robert.

This Oysters Diablo, covered in those jalapenos and garlic with cheese is melted all over that oyster is divine. Two of my favorite things, jalapeno and garlic make for an amazing flavor and you combine that with those cheeses and that fresh oyster and I would definitely say the oysters brought me out of my shell!

The texture on that shrimp is amazing. It really is like a lobster. It’s not chewy or squishy, it just breaks apart, and the flavor, it’s like the texture and flavor of lobster. No wonder these shrimp are so far, way down in the ocean, they’re hiding from us!

Finally, the pan seared oysters with a side of crawfish etouffee, you can never go wrong with that either. We may be out on April Fool Point, but mama didn’t raise no fool, this food is fantastic!

“I would just tell you that they’re not going to beat the food for one. The price is really good, but the hospitality is off the chart,” said customer Larry Birchfield.

If you ever set your sights on San Leon and you’re looking for some serious seafood, Topwater Grill will reel you in, because it is well worth the stop on The Texas Bucket List!

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week, Food

The Texas Bucket List – Moontower Pizza Bar in Burleson

April 6, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Burleson – Just south of Fort Worth, we found this fine pizza joint that happens to have a pie as big as the metroplex! But before we got to baking, we took some time to get to know the owner of the Moontower Pizza Bar, Amber Rouse.

“Well, we wanted to open up a restaurant, like a bar restaurant, but there wasn’t pizza down here,” said Rouse.

Amber and her husband Paul opened up the Moontower Pizza Bar in 2016 and this is a stretch from her former profession. An accountant! “This is a 24 hour a day, seven days a week kind of job,” said Amber.

Now Moontower isn’t named for the pie in the sky, instead it’s an homage to the famous towers in Austin that happened to be in a pretty well-known movie set in the Lone Star State, Dazed and Confused. “Now, if you could find me Matthew McConaughey, I would love to have him come in. Matthew McConaughey, if you’re watching,” joked Amber. Would McConaughey get pizza here?  It’d be a lot cooler if he did.  “Well, who doesn’t love pizza,” joked Amber.

Now Moontower has your symbolic slices of pie but if you want to get something a little bigger, there’s a few options.  “We make a full moon, which is a 30-inch round pizza. And then of course the Bus. Eight feet by 32 inches,” explained Amber. I’m 6” 2”, this pizza is more than a foot and half taller than me! “Nobody realizes how big it is until it’s there. And then they’re like, ‘Oh wow!’,” said Amber.

Why create such a monstrous pizza?  Well to get put into the Guinness World Records Book of course. “When you were a little boy didn’t you want to be in the Guinness Book? All of us 80s kids, for sure all went to the library and looked for the Guinness Book. So why not want to be in the Guinness Book? And we are actually in the Guinness Book,” said Amber.

Getting into Guinness took more work than just making a massive pizza.  Turns out there’s quite a few steps to take before being considered. “You have to have it on your menu for a year before they’ll even come and look at it. And you have to have sold at least one. So we did have it on the menu for a year, and by the time Guinness came, we’d probably sold three or four. But after Guinness came, it was an explosion,” explained Amber.

To make this monstrous pizza, Amber starts off with four and half pounds of homemade dough and she makes that dough do what she tells it! This part of the process is the most tedious and takes the most amount of time.  “So there is no perfection to an eight foot pizza. You can’t throw it in the air, can’t toss it. It’s all just a little bit of love and massage, right? Just kind of get this pizza to do what you want it to do.” explained Amber.

Next up is the sauce.  Five pounds of homemade marinara sauce. That’s followed by ten pounds of cheese. When this is all said and done, how much does this thing weigh?  “I really do want to say it weighs close to a hundred pounds. It’s heavy. The dough gains weight, I feel like,” said Amber.

And we’re breaking the bus up into four different sections of toppings, but pepperoni is a must. Once it’s covered, we get to cooking. Cooking eight feet of pizza takes a little time but who doesn’t love watching cheese get all ooey and gooey!

“The pizza is amazing,” said customer Jenna Flores.

“She has her own recipe for the crust and there’s no crust like it. I’ll cut the rest of the piece away just to get to the crust,” said customer Andy Pickens.

“Because it’s the bomb. That’s old fashioned saying I know, but it just is,”said customer Sharon Rydie.

Our first pizza ever on The Texas Bucket List and I don’t know how we’re going to top this.  I definitely feel like I’m living every college kid’s dream! Well, it’s safe to say that pizza’s all right, all right, all right.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week, Bizarre, Food

The Texas Bucket List – Cabernet Grill in Fredericksburg

March 23, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

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.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week

The Texas Bucket List – The Gypsy Joynt in Galveston

February 18, 2021 by Shane McAuliffe

Galveston – There’s nothing like life on the island and when you stop by a particular restaurant on the outskirts of the strand, it seems out of place but it actually fits right in. Jordan Weller family owns the Gypsy Joint. He was born up the road in Webster, his Willie Nelson like hair came later in life, around the time his entire family decided to pack up and roam the northeastern part of the country, but they returned in 2016 to open up the Gypsy Joynt.

“My mom was home with us and cooking every day and always feeding other families you know, and people go nuts for her cooking. So, one day my dad said ‘You know we need to make some money on this.’,” explains Jordan.

Their first restaurant was in North Carolina and after years of success, something called them back to the Lone Star State. So the entire family came back and now you’ll find all of them, and I do mean all of them, working together on some seriously localized craft cuisine.

“My wife does the baking with my mom, my younger sister does the baking and a lot of the prep work, I do all of the meats, then my dad’s on the line cooking, we’ve got an older sister running the front,” Jordan explains.

The Weller’s feel like peas in a pod in this particular predicament and this restaurant’s success can be attributed to, you guessed it, dear old mom.

“It’s different than a lot of things you’ve probably had before, a lot of different ways to prepare familiar recipes, it’s just you know very unique,” said one customer.

There is no doubt that the mom is the key to the restaurant’s success. Jordan’s dad, Keith, is one far out father figure who’s got a fine nickname. “They call me Poppy,” said Keith.

But he did want to clear up one misconception. “A lot of people think we’re real gypsies or we’ve had people asking if we’re from Romania and it’s not that,” said Keith. They’re just a really close family!

“We’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years and we’ve raised our kids in the restaurant so you know I’m with my wife, my kids, my grandkids, my in-laws, and so forth at all times all day every day, and I can’t think of anything better in life… I’m blessed to be able to do it,” expressed Keith.

Poppy put together three plates that are pretty unprecedented. First a fine sort of salad with lump crab meat, some fried green tomatoes, watermelon, fresh mozzarella balls and blueberries. The salad was very fresh and light tasting, then the sauce gave it extra little flavor. Then a two-meat burger topped with Muenster cheese, onions, and this too has fried green tomatoes. Don’t forget the lump gram and the yosenabe sauce, sort of their take on sriracha sauce. The beef kicks your taste buds off with a nice spice, the flavors of the crab meat are delicious and the sauce takes it over the edge. Finally, things get crazy with a uniquely named hot dog.

 

“The puff puff pass. You know when you’re craving something you get a hot dog, it’s got peanut butter, some cracker jack, mozzarella, the good stuff,” said Jordan. For this interesting hot dog, Keith takes a fresh baked bun, puts on peanut butter, mozzarella, the dog, bacon, homemade barbeque sauce, and cracker jacks. To say it hit the spot, would be spot on.

So if you’re looking for something nice and light on the island or a big burger topped with crab, or something that just really hits the spot, the Gypsy Joynt on Galveston Island is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List!

“You’re not going to find anything like it anywhere else, not even Austin,” joked Jordan.

Filed Under: All Videos, Bite of the Week, Food

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