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Pampering

Owner Dawn Donalson
Enjoy a visit to the spa or order up massage outcall service. Therapists at Above and Beyond Day Spa are the local experts for pampering you, your friends and family members. Let our top professionals give you a massage, European facial massage, complete spa treatment or a natural manicure & pedicure.  All you have to do is relax. Open 7 days 9-6.  Learn more...
Culinary

Chef Carol Seminara

The goal at Fredericksburg Culinary Arts (FBGCA) is to present fun and useful demonstration style classes that incorporate traditional culinary techniques and Hill Country ingredients. Learn more...

 
Chocolatier Lecia Duke
Look for the large Chocolat sign hanging outside Duke's famous shop on West Main.  Lecia welcomes visitors who stop in and want to learn more about delicate and delicious dark chocolate treats.  Learn more...

Wine

The PREMIERE way to visit Texas Wineries and enjoy Texas Wines in style and luxury! Visit Hill Country Wineries in a limousine coach with the luxury of a limousine. Learn more...

 

TEXAS WINE TRAILS

24 Hill Country Texas wineries are waiting to welcome you, join us for a taste of the good life. All wine trails are self-guided driving tours to be enjoyed at your leisure.  Learn more...

Fishing

Guide
Rick Wilson

Top notch fly fishing services complete with local guide service and a fly shop.  He has been featured in two television shows: Cabela's Americana Outdoors and PBS's The New Fly Fisher featuring Rick as the guide.  Learn more...

 Martin Pursch
The Country Flyfisher Shop is a must visit destination. Martin is a fly tying expert with expert flyfishing knowledge.  Available are handtied flys, equipment, fly rod lessons, and Free local Fishing Maps. Learn more...

Cycling

CycleTexas.com
The Fredericskburg area is a road cyclist's dream, the Texas Hill Country offers many miles of quiet hilly roads, substantially great weather; and friendly, entertaining towns. The central location of the Texas Hill Country makes it easily accessible for cyclists all over the state.  Download area cycle maps...

Hill Country Bicycle Works
can dial you in for wherever you plan to ride. From the entry level rider that just wants to ride around the neighborhood for exercise, to the elite racer looking to dial their fit, we are YOUR bike shop here  to serve YOUR needs.  Learn more...

SEE SCHEDULED RIDE EVENTS Click here...

Contact Options
Music

Hondo's On Main
has a great selection of pub food.  Listen to live music daily.  Just two blocks from Town Creek B&B.  Learn more...

Experience professional family-friendly live entertainment from the golden era of rock n roll in a 392-seat indoor theater onstage at the Rockbox Theater.  Learn more...

Crossroads Saloon & Steakhouse
There are choices for nightlife in Fredericksburg, but Crossroads is one of the few you’ll usually find still rocking after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. A wooden dance floor and live music is a combination that is hard to beat. We feature Blues @ The Crossroads on Thursdays and great artists you won't want to miss on Fridays & Saturdays. Learn more...

Dining

Bistro style dishes. Owners Angela Mancino and Jimmy Ehrlich have over 30 years restaurant experience in Louisiana, California, Hawaii and ultimately Texas.

7 to 3 Mon - Sat
8 to 2 Sun Brunch
6 to 9 Fri - Sat

902 South Adams Street
Fredericksburg, Texas  (830) 997-5904  Learn more...

Chef Ross Burtwell
The Cabernet Grill has been listed as #1 restaurant in the nation by TripAdvisor.com in June, July, and August of 2008.  And it continues to be in the top ten ever since.  All steaks are Certified Angus Beef and have been aged 28-day to assure maximum tenderness and flavor.

On HWY 16 (Adams Street)  Head south 2.8 miles. (Hospital and HWY 2093) The Grill is on the left (Boos LN) right across from the Fairgrounds. 830-990-5734  Learn more...
Unique Places

Trade Days

Shop with Over 350 Vendors where you will find 6 barns & acres of: "Antiques, collectibles, tools, crafts, shabby chic, primitives,ranch furniture, hunting accessories, candles, unique clothing, jewelry, food and so much more."  Learn more...

The Herb Farm

Amenities include a great Restaurant serving delicious comfort foods, a Poets House providing a selection of Personal and Body Care products, Soaps, Candles, Herbs, and native and Perennial plants.  Learn more...

Wildseed Farms Hwy.

Visit one largest working wildflower farms featuring over 200 acres of flowers in commercial production with colorful flowers from spring through first frost.  Guest center with the Butterfly Haus, plant nursery, and garden center. Learn more...

 

Nature

Enchanted Rock State Natural Area consists of 1643.5 acres on Big Sandy Creek, north of Fredericksburg.  The Rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States. Visitors can enjoy primitive backpacking, camping, hiking, technical and rock climbing, picnicking, geological study, bird watching, and star gazing. Bring your own firewood. Rock climbers must check in at headquarters; route maps and climbing rules available.  Learn more...

Pedernales Falls State Park, 5211.7 acres, in Blanco County east of Johnson City.  Activities include camping; picnicking; hiking; river swimming; tubing; wading; mountain biking; fishing; bird watching (checklist available); and horseback riding (Customers must bring their own horses and no overnight equestrian camping is allowed.) River recreation is in a limited area beginning at the Youth Group Camping area and down river to the park boundary.  Learn more...

South Llano River State Park adjoins Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area, south of Junction in Kimble County. The park has two miles of river frontage, a large pecan bottom, and typical Hill Country areas. The 523-acre, wooded bottom land is home to white-tailed deer and the Rio Grande Turkey. The bottomland represents one of the most substantial and oldest winter turkey roosts in the central portion of the state. The roosting area is closed to park visitors from October through March. Observation blinds are provided to offer visitors a glimpse of the Turkey moving to and from the roost. Other animals include wood duck, white-tailed deer, squirrel, jackrabbit, javelina, fox, beaver, bobcat, cottontail, and armadillo. Several exotic species such as Axis Deer, Black Buck Antelope, and Fallow Deer are often spotted in the park.  Learn more...

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Tuesday
Jan222008

Alamo Springs Cafe is a step back in.... well, it's just weird.

DateTuesday, January 22, 2008 at 02:00AM tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Portobello Mushroom Steak Sandwich
Fans of out of the way eclectic eateries are going to be instantly at home at the Alamo Springs Cafe located at 101 Alamo Road, Fredericksburg TX 78624. [They are actually located about 12 miles SE of Fredericksburg on Grapetown Road. phone 830.990.8004]. However, if you should stop and ask a local for directions to the ASC they are likely to say "located next to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area" or "next to the Bat Tunnel". I suggest using a GPS if you are new to the area.

Let me start off this food review by saying that the Alamo Springs Cafe is practicably indescribable. Words like "oasis", "weird", "eclectic", "hippies", "Hank Hill", and "strange" quickly come to mind when trying to delineate what makes the place so unique. The best description of the Alamo Springs Café is to say that in the way Austin is weird the Alamo Cafe is definitely at the western city limits of Austin, and they are proud of it. I'm speaking primarily of the decorating motif and the patrons of course. The food is actually quite normal and good. Plus, many of the patrons I see there I also seem to remember from somewhere in the the 60’s and 70’s. Now I finally found out where they all ended up! I get the same strange deja' vu feeling when visiting downtown Berkeley California. Perhaps the Alamo Springs Cafe is really the cosmic back door to the University Of Texas Campus over in Austin?

ASC serves a variety of low end and high end foods running the gambit from honky-tonk bar food to complete restaurant dinners. Did I mention the word "strange" earlier? Daily Dinner Specials start at 6:00PM each evening where for example the Wednesday night dinner is pot roast with potatoes and carrots and Friday's dinner is Lasagna topped with Alfredo Sauce. But, if you are more into appetizers you might enjoy the Roasted Garlic with Goat Cheese or Fried Avocadoes topped with Salsa or the more traditional Texas favorite of Fried Cream Cheese Jalapenos(no Cheese Whip here).

Icy cold beer It was already mid-afternoon when I showed up for a late lunch and the place was still crowded. I really like sandwiches so I chose the Portobella Sandwich on pumpernickel bread served "all the way". This means it's served with lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, and roasted garlic pods and mild chipolte mustard. I decided to top the meal with a cold beer served in an icy mug. I had my heart set on a Shiner Bock (but was told it was sold out due to a heavy lunch crowd). Disappointed at first, I crossed over to an Amstel Light beer, a taste I aquired while visiting Amsterdam a few years back. There are about different 15 beers on the menu.

The beer arrived first and none too soon. One thing you've got to like about Texas traditions is really cold beer. Check out the picture.... that is beer ice floating at the top created by the super frozen mug. Beer can't get much colder without having to use a spoon to drink with. [Hint: remember this post next July and August].

Don't expect quick deliveries, even on "fast food", at the ASC. My sandwich arrived about the time half of my beer had disappeared. The food was fresh cooked and steaming hot just as I had expected. The portobella layer turned out to be one giant mushroom cap which had been grilled to perfection. It was not undercooked or dehydrated to the rubber stage at all. The whole "cap" was a pleasant surprise, since I had expected "tiny steaks" of crosscut mushroom. The tomatoes were fresh, perfectly ripe, flavorful and thick sliced. The lettuce was nice sturdy leaves of romaine and not chopped iceburg lettuce rabbit food jumble that many lesser places pile on top. Underneath the mushroom cap I found the grilled onions (each ring had nice crusty edges and the slightest bit of crunch still left, perfect) plus the roasted garlic pods and pale mustard.
Portobello Mushroom sandwch with grilled onions.

My original intention before arriving was to order a burger because the ASC's burger was named as "best hamburger in Texas" in the "A Big State Requires A Big Burger" book by Rick Vanderpool. However, when I saw the portabella mushroom menu item I had to try it. By the time I was into the first bite, I was convinced I had made another good Nifty Food Find for lunch review. I must say that the mustard and roasted garlic pods were a perfect addition to the sandwich that seemed to tie all the other flavors together. Overall this was an excellent sandwich and beer combination, perfect for an afternoon lunch. The meal seemed a bit pricey at just over $11 but when I considered the great sandwich, cold premium beer and frozen mug, and the fact there is probably no other place on earth like the Alamo Springs Cafe I was feeling quite happy with life. At least for today, I definately would not have been any more happy had I gone with the burger.

Icy Cold Beer is served at Alamo Springs Cafe
Alamo Springs Cafe is a bit deceiving in that the building looks much more like an Australian Outback Pub than the pretty cool restaurant it really is. Located 12 miles from Frederickburg Texas in the middle of "nowhere" on top of one of the highest hills in the region, it's a great place for sunset viewing on the patio as well as dining. I’ve eaten at the Alamo Springs Cafe many times and each time I come away feeling like I have just visited the lunch wagon in a carnival. I don’t mean this in a bad way either. I am just saying “how many restaurants do you know advertize their location as 1/4 mile from an old railroad tunnel that is home to a million bats” and serves a really great portobella mushroom sandwich? Cheers.
AuthorTimothy Gikas | Comment36 Comments | Reference1 Reference |
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    Response: maroc annonces | annonces maroc | offre d'emploi
    at maroc annonces | annonces maroc | offre d'emploi on December 26, 2011
    [...]Alamo Springs Cafe is a step back in.... well, it's just weird. - Nifty Food Finds - Town Creek Bed and Breakfast in Frederickburg Texas[...]

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