It’s a new year, a leap year. A whole new 366 days to explore the adventure to be found on Texas back roads, on Main Street, and in the heart of Texans who make this the greatest state in the Union.
On my calendar for this year are blogging and photo trips to new craft breweries such as the Karbach Brewing Company in Houston, and established wineries from Bernhardt in Plantersville to the Fairhaven Vineyards in Hawkins.
Minor League baseball will be played for the first time in Sugar Land when the Skeeters take to the diamond at Constellation Field this spring. I plan to be there to cover the action.
I’ll be heading over to Grand Saline to check out the reptilian action at the East Texas Gators & Wildlife Park, paying my respects at painted churches, and continuing the search for the best catfish kitchen in the state. So much to see, so much report . . . 
In 2011 Texas highways led me to some mighty fine food, new friends, little known historical spots, and quirky attractions. Quality time spent with retired railroad man Bobby Jack Middleton in Hearne and Frank the hobo in Tomball was unexpected. The thick chocolate malt that I found at The Diner in Corsicana brought back childhood memories, while hearing first person accounts of the ghosts of Galveston, San Antonio and on The Lex in Corpus Christi was chilling.
Coming face-to-face with “Old Sparky”, the infamous electric chair at Huntsville’s Texas Prison Museum, was thoughtful provoking, and visiting the graves of men who fought for the Texas military during the American Civil War was humbling.
I loved touring the Tee Pee Motel in Wharton with its rows of cone-shaped lodges, a throwback to the day when the family summer vacation was made in a station wagon and Route 66 was more than just a tune on the AM radio.
Sampling Dr Pepper made from the original sugar laced recipe in Dublin was sweet . . . pun intended. The Sterling McCall Cadillac Museum in Warrenton was a nice surprise and exploring the historic Fulton Mansion near Rockport was really cool for a fan of architectural design.
Then there were the churches, big and small. The stained glass at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Round Top was “heavenly”, and the tiny Saint Martin’s Catholic Church on Highway 237 was so . . . small.
The mom-and-pop restaurants that I visited in 2011 were no less than awesome. The T-bone steak at San Antonio’s Josephine Street Café easily went head-to-head with the fried shrimp at the Laguna Reef in Flour Bluff. Barbecue at Holders in Dobbin was just as good as the original “pig sandwich” at the Pig Stand on Broadway in the Alamo City. And, the burger at the Chicken Oil Company in Bryan is still at the top of my list . . . well, at least for now.
My Texas getaways were seriously good in 2011. Maybe this year you’ll hit the road to create your own Lone Star adventures and meet a character or two. I certainly plan to keep on pick-up truckin’ across the state on my own as a Texas trekker. It’s just too much fun not to!
Listen . . . the open road is calling. Can you hear it?
Michael Baxter is the Texas Travelin' Man
Always visit TourTexas.com for Texas travel information, brochures, travel guides and more.
This is a great looking restaurant with great food and service, overlooking Lake Houston. They have a fantastic Sunday Buffet Brunch for $17.95. Not to be missed.
As you can see by the picture, I forgot to get the gravy on the side. They serve it on a bed of average mashed potatoes and top it with a Tasso ham gravy. They top that with fried onion strings. The portion is 5 ounces and that’s plenty.
The next time you find yourself in downtown Humble, make sure you leave time to eat at the Humble City Café. You'll have a great meal. It’s as local as local can get. The building dates back to 1914 and once housed a pharmacy, post office, bus stop, and grocery store. The Humble City Café opened in 1995.
$13.39 or “only half” which is 4 ounces at a cost of $11.39. I got smart and ordered the “only half” (it’s a shame the cost wasn’t “only half”). The meat was thin, juicy and very tender and only had a little grease on the bottom. The white gravy needed help. It was thick, but lacked pepper. Once I added the pepper it was better. The breading was crispy and covered the entire steak and didn’t fall apart when I dug in. The breading could have been more seasoned. You get 2 sides (from a choice of 19 sides) and I chose mashed potatoes which were not worth the calories. I even put butter, salt and pepper on the mashed and it still didn’t help. 
If you want to experience a restaurant that looks like it just arrived from the mid 1800’s, you’re in luck. It’s not far from Sam Houston Race Course and the building was used to build and restore buggies and carriages. There are still several around the building and inside.
Potatoes and onion rings (they were out of green beans). You receive a number and then find a seat. The salad bar, utensils and beverages are way in the back of the restaurant. The salad bar looked very basic. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, peppers, pickles, grated cheese, with several choices of dressings.
If you are in the Seabrook area looking for a Chicken Fried Steak, head to Kemah and T Bone Tom’s and bypass Seabrook. 
Now for Stuffed Chicken Fried Steak. I’m not a big fan of swiss cheese on my food so I was a little apprehensive. The Stuffed Chicken Fried Steak looked great, smelled great and yes, it tasted great. No grease on the bottom of the Chicken Fried Steak and after the first cut, the swiss cheese just oozed out. It was a little overpowering. The small side of mashed potatoes were plenty (especially after I had my fill of zucchini bread). They were seasoned perfectly and the addition of very thin sliced fried onions was a perfect match. Back to the Chicken Fried Steak. They use a flank steak which surprised me as flank steak can be tough, but, I guess if you pound it long enough it becomes tender. It was so tender that I didn’t need the steak knife. The meat was perfectly seasoned as well. The white gravy that came with the Chicken Fried Steak was referred to as a cream cheese gravy. It’s actually a béchamel sauce with cheese added. Very good.
It’s interesting how life goes to extremes. In my search for the best chicken fried steak in Texas I went from finding the worst Chicken Fried Steak to finding the best (so far) within a 24 hour period. I won’t discuss the worst (see The Angry Dog) but I have finally made it to the top of the Chicken Fried Steak mountain. This was my second visit to George’s Restaurant in Waco. I was there over a year ago but didn’t post my results, even though it was very good. This time it was Chicken Fried Steak nirvana.
Here is the recipe. Hickory Hollow had the Chicken Fried Steak as a special so I ordered it. The sign said medium. I paid at the counter got my hand vibrator and found a seat. After a few minutes the LARGEST Chicken Fried Steak appeared after my hand held vibrator went off. I just didn’t realize that their medium was HUGE. You can see by the picture how big it is and that it’s served on a pizza plate.
Here are the Ingredients
Where can you find an old Texaco gas station turned Art Deco restaurant in Dallas? 
This was my 2nd visit to 
One of their own creations is the Armadillo eggs. These are big pickled jalapeno peppers that are stuffed with their homemade brisket and their homemade bbq sauce covered in a seasoned flour coating and deep fried. You get 4 to an order with a side of ranch dressing. They also make their own polish style smoked sausage and serve it sliced with their bbq sauce.
They use top round steak at T Bone Tom’s and tenderize it to the point of being fork tender. The portion size is 7 oz which is just perfect. They season the flour, coat the steak a few times then drop it in the hot oil. The result is one of the best Chicken Fried Steaks to date. The crispy coating was perfectly seasoned and the meat was thin, juicy and tender with no gristle. I lifted the Chicken Fried Steak to sop up the grease puddle, but there was none. 
The dates for Wurstfest’s Golden Anniversary are October 29 – November 7, 2010. The cost for admission is $8.00
A lot of people suggested I go to Neal’s in Spring for their Chicken Fried Steak, so I did. The interior has lots of animals hanging from the walls and it’s the kind of place that you would expect to find a good CFS. Lots of people sitting near me ordered the CFS as I did. You have some choices to make. Every day the CFS is one of two specials. You get the CFS, 2 veggies and dessert for $6.47. This is what I recommend if you have to have the CFS. The other options are a CFS sandwich with fries for $6.29, or the small CFS for $8.99 (4 oz) or the large for $10.99 (2-4 oz patties). You also get a choice of 2 sides.
as my sides, green beans which were average, and their potato casserole which is like a twice baked potato with cheese and onions baked in a casserole. This was the best part of my meal. The breading on the CFS was very good and there was no grease on the bottom. The meat, it turns out is pounded thin and then folded over in some places. If you look at the left patty you can see the hump. CFS’s shouldn’t have humps. Camels have humps. CFS doesn’t stand for Camel Fried Steak. The meat was good and tender. The seasoning was very light on both the meat and breading, but they totally forgot to season the gravy. It was difficult to dip the Chicken Fried Steak in the bland gravy. I even tried to doctor it up, but it didn’t work.
When I read that a Dive in Houston was serving a Prime NY Strip Chicken Fried Steak with Truffle gravy I thought I found Chicken Fried Steak Nirvana. It came close but, I did find a Dive that I will go back to several times for the rest of their unique twist on comfort food menu (and a return visit to their CFS).
A few months ago, when I asked for suggestions on who has the best Chicken Fried Steak in Texas, 
They warn you on the menu that all entrees are prepared in-house and cooked to order, so it may take a little longer than other restaurants. 
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