Our Top 10 Hidden Restaurants in Texas

We're the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. On this episode of TravelEssary, we're going to go off the beaten path a little bit and discuss our top 10 hidden restaurants in Texas. These are your lesser known places in Texas, but our personal favorites!

*Links to our top 10*

#10. Greer's Ranch Cafe - https://www.greersranchcafe.com/

#9. Alamo Cafe - https://alamocafe.com/

#8. Buffet Palace - https://buffetpalace.net/

#7. Backwoods Texas Style Grill - https://backwoods-grill-cross-plains.edan.io/

#6. Runaway Train - http://www.runawaytraincafe.com/

#5. 6 Klicks Cafe - https://6klickscafe.com/

#4. Woody's Smokehouse - https://woodyssmokehouse.com/

#3. Taz Grill and Bar Indian Restaurant - https://www.restaurantji.com/tx/beaumont/taz-indian-cuisine-/

#2. El Michoacano Restaurant - https://www.restaurantji.com/tx/austin/el-michoacano-mexican-restaurant-/

#1. Loco Coyote Grill - https://lococoyotegrill.com/

*Runners up*

*Cook's Fish Barn - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55656-d513686-Reviews-Cook_s_Fish_Barn-Comanche_Texas.html

*Mary's Cafe - https://marys-cafe.wa-cafe.com/

Transcript

We are the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. On this episode of TravelEssary we're going to go off the beaten path a little bit and discuss our top 10 hidden restaurants in Texas. Let's chat.  

Welcome and thank you for joining us for this episode.  This is episode that we're definitely looking forward to. There's going to be a lot of conversations. Hopefully. We'll be able to convince you to travel to one of these places, to one of these mom and pop places. One of these hidden gyms. In Texas.  Disclaimer, we have not ate at every single restaurant in the state of Texas.  

You know, there's a mom and pop store. There's something that's off the beaten path in a smaller community that we just haven't had the opportunity to visit. And if you have one of those places that you don't hear, then please leave a comment, leave something to let us know.  We would love to visit one of those places. 

We love to eat.  Yeah, we definitely left to eat. And everybody has their favorite spots.  These are more of the lesser known ones. 

I think if you ask people their favorite barbecue spots, they're going to give you, you know, some places around Austin, Houston area, or there's a few new ones in Dallas that have been really popular lately. These are more of the lesser known ones. I think. I don't see or hear of a lot of these places. 

Very often, maybe one or two of them are kind of popular, but they're in the middle of nowhere. So unless you're local or you have heard. Like word of mouth, you don't know they exist. So we're really excited to get into them and how we chose it. Is that if we could pick anywhere that we could go eat in Texas right now today, what would we want to eat? 

Where would we want to go? And these were our top 10 places.  

So let's go at number 10. We have Greers ranch cafe located in Stevenville, Texas. They serve up some really good just home food. They serve.  Everything from chicken fried steak, all the way up into your salads. And they have like a little fancy kind of take to it as well as they bring in. The crab cakes.  And Misty had a really good chicken salad. Yeah, it was so good. 

So it was a tomato, a fresh tomato that was flowered. And then they put their chicken salad inside of it. It was so good. They make, I think almost everything there from scratch. I know  even their salad dressings, like their ranch dressing and everything is homemade. From there. 

   It's a really small little.  Little a storefront. Isn't it  yeah, I bet it doesn't seat beyond probably 30 people. Yeah, but when we're in the area, it is one of our favorite places to go. You can either get, like Jeremy said, your home cooked chicken fried steak type of meals, or you can get something really fresh. 

 They have really good salads and sandwiches. It's a really good like American style diner, like a home cook to diner.  It's really good.  

The couple of times that I've been there, I've had the chicken fried steak was amazing. I've had burgers. They were good. I love their French fries. So if you get the opportunity, definitely stop in and check them out. And the staff is always very friendly, always very welcoming. 

It's a very,  child-friendly place as well. We take our kids with us, the whole family enjoys it. They have something for all of us to enjoy.

  So coming in at number nine is the Alamo cafe in San Antonio, Texas off of 10. This place is a Mexican style restaurant and everything was amazing from the chips and salsa that they put down all the way up to tacos. And,  the fajitas and all the other good stuff that they have on their menu. 

I had been really wanting to try puffy tacos and I got to try them at the Alamo cafe. And it was everything that I had dreamed. It would be, it was so good. And , they make their tortillas right there in the restaurant. . They also make their chips right there. Yes. Like there's  a window and you can see them making all of it from where you're sitting. 

So that's really cool.  And they came out so hot and fresh. I don't know how many tortillas I ate that day. I would be embarrassed to admit to how many tortillas I ate while we were sitting there. So I'm glad I don't remember that number. It was so good and they had butter on the table, or you could just dip it in their freshly, made salsa. Uh, they were delicious tortillas. 

There were some of the best tortillas and we got so beyond full that we actually had to travel around San Antonio for a while just to try to like walk off while we just ate, because everything was really, really good.  And we weren't sure, you know, it had mixed reviews, which surprised me after we tried it out, . We were just looking for something different in San Antonio that we hadn't tried. 

That's kind of our rule of thumb. Even if we've been somewhere multiple times, we just try to find somewhere different to eat. And I saw the Alamo and I was like, okay, well it has kind of mixed reviews and there's two of them. So is it a chain? Is it like, I don't know what you would consider it, but we tried it and I. I do not understand why there were so many mixed reviews because it was amazing. 

It was clean. The staff was amazing that might've been one of the best waiters that we've had in a long time. He was so good. And the food was, it was so good. Yeah, we went right after lunchtime. So we like taking, especially on vacations. We like taking those late lunches. , mainly because we're kind of doing the hustle and bustle during the morning time, but you know, usually your wait staff is kind of tired at that point, Tom, but he was really nice and I really enjoyed him, but they also have other stuff. 

 They have chicken fried steak. , they have chicken strips, all that kind of stuff. So if you, if you're, you know, taking young ones, we have one that doesn't really enjoy Mexican food, but she enjoys chicken strips and they had them there for. Well, let's be honest. 

If it's not chicken, she's just not going to eat it at all. It's very true. Very true.  She only eats chicken.  Every now and then we can get to eat a hamburger Patty or something. So yeah, it's like with artistic one, it was really good. Chicken tenders and French fries, but you can't go wrong with small children or special needs kids or something like that. 

And they were really good as well. I can't vouch for. Any of the other items, because I think everything else we got that day with all Mexican food or TexMex and it was all TexMex and it was so good.  

Coming in at number eight is the buffet palace in Austin, Texas. This is a Asian style buffet place. So it has everything from Chinese to Koreans and Japanese. .  Yeah. And they had Thai food. I had some pad Thai. 

I loved the Asian fusion.  It was all these different styles of Asian food and it was really good. And let's be honest when it comes to Asian buffets, none of us have high expectations. We did not go in with high expectations. I cannot tell you how many times I have been thoroughly disappointed by a Chinese food buffet or something of the soar, but we were in Austin for one of your work conferences. 

And we were just looking for something different that we hadn't already had that week. And you, I think we're craving some Chinese food. So I was like, okay, well let's, let's find something that looks halfway decent. Well, this place had amazing reviews, which is unusual whole for eating kind of an Asian buffet. It had such high reviews. 

And I was like, okay, well let's, let's just try this. We'll see how it goes. And we were, we were blown away. It was so amazing.  So, let me break it down to you like this.  Whenever I travel for pretty much anything. If I'm going to a conference or to a class or something, I'm looking for Chinese food. I like Chinese food. 

 I like Asian food. It doesn't matter what it is.  But most of the time, I am very disappointed in a buffet because there's really no flavor to it. It's all kind of bland and it all depends on the sauces that you use to kind of cover up what you're eating. But let me tell you this place had flavor. It had everything. 

So I'm like an egg drop soup person, no matter where I go, that's where, that's how I judge.  The buffet that I'm at, how good is your egg drop soup? It's super simple. It should be really good. This place had the best egg drop soup that I've ever tasted. It was so rich and creamy and it had flavors and they were not scared to add the flavor, to add spice where it needed. 

 They knew exactly what they were doing and. We have a top 10 of all the places that we've eaten at, but as far as like,  Asian style food. This is definitely number one on my list.  They had, , Korean barbecue and they had, which was good. Which was so good. They had freshly made sushi. 

Like they had a whole fresh-made sushi bar. Now we are not sushi people, but everyone that was eating, it said it was really good. And that was one of the things that they had really good reviews on. Like I said, I had the pad Thai, all the noodles I had. Tasted fresh, nothing tasted. Stele or like had been sitting there for a while. 

And like Jeremy said it was all so very good. We tried a little bit of every kind, Chinese, Korean, Japanese. We tried a little bit of everything, things we had never tried before, because it's not something you typically see on a buffet. But  I don't know if there's anything I ate that I did not like, and I'm embarrassed to say this, but I took seven trips back. Because it wasn't that good. I wanted to try everything that I possibly could. 

But they had just the plethora of desserts and.  There buffet was well, diversed really loved it.  

And  it was so clean and so huge. . I don't think it was a storefront. It was a standalone restaurant. Big standalone buffet, restaurant. , which most of the time, when you see stuff like that, the Chinese boob buffets or Asian buffets they're in storefronts. 

And this one was not, which that kind of threw us off guard before we even walked in.  It was very beautifully decorated, inside and outside,  the whole atmosphere, the whole vibe. Was really nice. And   It was very modern Asian themed. I really enjoyed it. I did take a three month old baby with us that day. 

So I did not get the privilege of taking seven trips up. I barely finished the plate or two that I had. Because the baby was being very cranky. It was kind of late at night, but.  Really a great place. It's not. A place. , I would never have thought I would've put an Asian buffet in my top 10. Of all the places that I've been to in Texas, but that place just, it really caught us off guard of how amazing it was.  

Which brings us to the number seven. Backwoods. Out of cross Plains, this is going to be.  A typical home-style mom and pop place. But it is better than most mom and pop places that we've ever ate at. And it's a place that we keep going back to,   if you have an opportunity to go to there, we've already done. I believe we'd done a review on it, or if we've done a clip. Yes on Facebook and on Instagram, we made a little reel of, Backwoods. The last time we went, it was just a couple of weeks ago. 

It's Backwoods, Texas style grill. It's another one of those places that kind of surprises you. It's in a really small town.  It doesn't look like much at all. When you get on the inside, it doesn't look like much. It's has one of the most terrifying bathrooms I've ever visited in my life.   But the food is always worth going back for, and the staff is always really friendly.  It's always so good, their burgers and their, um, 

like their hamburger steaks that we get they're smothered, hamburgers steaks. Are so good. Even  their broccoli and things like that are so well seasoned.  It's always one of our go-to spots when we're going through that area. When we go  towards Abilene or something  we always hit up backwards on the way there.  I mean, they have burgers and sandwiches. They have salads. 

They have appetizers, they have chips and salsa. They have cheese sticks. They have fried pickles, which last time we went there, we got the fried pickles, which was really good. They have stakes. They have entree such as spicy chicken, chicken fried steak. , hamburger steak. So, it's your mom and pop store, , typical home-style Texas, but man, it is so good. 

And the great thing about it is, is because we've gone there several times. We've always ordered something different because we want to try. You know, to see how good a place really is. You really want to try everything on the menu just to see  what their niche is. And , they got it all.  And another thing I'll say about it is have everything on our list. 

It might be one of the cheaper places as far as like their prices are extremely reasonable. I mean, extremely, very reasonable. And they give you a good portion. Yes. I'm not even sure I've ever finished like an entire mill or an entire plate in, I'm usually sharing with a child or two and we still don't finish it. 

But, I love going there because  you're getting hefty. Portions, and you're not paying a hefty price and the food is very good. And just like the buffet palace. They're not afraid of flavor. So they give you good flavor on all the food. They season the vegetables really well. , it's just, it's an amazing place to go to the atmosphere is kind of different because  you're  in their downtown area, which is, kind of older. 

And so it does have a unique feel to it. A bathroom is kind of scary, but it is other Ms.  Here's a really cool little place to go, and they do have a few tables outside. If  you go on those occasional.  Spring evenings or fall evenings where it's reasonable outside in Texas, that you don't mind sitting out there, but it really is a nice place to go. 

And this is the first one on our list that is in a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It's in cross Plains. If you're not in the area, you've never heard of this place, but it's worth going to, it's worth making a day trip or, , if you want to take all 10 of these places and just kind of make a little circle around Texas, I highly recommend it for the food. 

It's worth it.  

Coming in at number six.  The runaway train cafe in Brownwood, Texas. This place is. Unique, starting from the outside, going in.  Whenever you first arrive at the place. You're actually at a train cart. That they have turned into a sit-down restaurant. So whenever you walk in, they have the tables and the chairs there. And the waiting staff greets you at the door. 

Oh, they're the most amazing staff anywhere. They're so super nice. Anytime that you go, I'm there waiting on you hand and foot. They're making sure that you're comfortable as possible helping you out with whatever you need. And  it's probably the smallest menu.  That is on our top 10 and maybe the smallest restaurant. 

Definitely the smallest restaurant. But amazing food. Everything from their burgers. To their chicken strips to their salads  if it was between them and Backwoods,  The runaway train has them by just a hair.  But runaway train is really good. It's like a fifties style themes, diner. 

They have like the red bar stools that you can sit at.  It's in a train car, so it's very narrow. And it's just one drain car. So it's not very large, but we actually live not that far away from it. And every year for birthdays are teenagers asked to go to the train. It's one of their favorite places to eat. They're French fries. 

They're potato soup. , those are my go-tos when I'm there, because they're amazing. But they have like shakes and things like that too. 

Oh, and  the bread that they put on their burgers.  I think they make it in-house , I'm not sure, but it's some of the best. Bread. They have like cheese and jalapenos and stuff in their buns. So good.   And every single time that we go, our son always gets their BLT.  Which I wouldn't put, like in my top 10 favorite foods, but it's definitely in his, and he goes there and gets it every single time because it's that good. I can't tell you how many times , or how many pictures we have of us. At the runaway train, because again, our kids love to eat there for their birthday lunch. 

Every year we let them pick where they want to go for their birthday lunch. And we have done so many photo shoots inside and outside of the runaway drain. 



And , it's a unique experience. If you have small children or teenagers,  you're walking inside of a train car and  it looks so neat. 

It's not attached to a building or anything like that.  You just see a train card. It's all easy. And our kids always enjoy that experience.

And if you're not from.  The brown county. Or the surrounding counties you've never heard of this place. And. If you don't know exactly where it is, you might get lost because  it's way off the beaten path. And it is.  It's worth the drive. 

It's worth the time and the effort to go hunt this place down.  

We might be a little bit partial to it because we do live close by and we eat there quite often. But even whenever I was considering every place I've ever eaten in Texas. I would still want to go to the runaway train. It's still one of my favorite places. I mean, we have other mom and pops here as well. 

 That are good.  But it doesn't make our top 10, but this one does, which, you know, everyone, especially a no matter what kind of city that you come from, you have your favorite place to go to. You have your go-to restaurant. And this is just ours and it made the list because it's worth it.  I don't know if I've ever heard anybody say anything bad about the runaway train. 

I'm sure there might be people out there that are, but you know, it's good because everyone here that lives nearby loves it. It's one of their favorite places. The only thing that I've heard is especially during the week during lunchtime. You can have a little bit of wait time if you don't hit it. Right? 

Because there are so many people that go there and that they  order in because a lot of the bigger factories are located in that area. And so is the hospital. So they get a lot of the doctor's offices. They all order their food. And so sometimes depending on what day it is,  the Thursday or Friday lunchtime. It's a small weight whenever I'm in a small way. 

It's like 10, 15 minutes. It's not that long, but the wait time is there, that's the only bad thing that I've ever heard. To me that just tells me of how good it is. If that many people are wanting to eat there.  , it is a small place. So it doesn't seat very many, but if there's a huge weight line, which a lot of times when we go in the middle of the week at lunchtime, yes, there are people standing out the door waiting for somewhere to sit. 

But to me, if a place has something like that, that just tells you how good it is.  

Uh, number five, we have six clicks cafe. Which is in halo, Dez, Texas. It's in the San Antonio area. But the address is not going to come up San Antonio, but if you put it on there and put San Antonio, you'll find it. And again, I will link the website in the show notes.  

This place is. I own and ran by veterans and they are big supporters of veterans, a big supporters of their community. We went there. We actually got to talk to one of the waitresses in depth about, you know, kind of how it all came around and how she came down there. And, , she was looking to move to the San Antonio area and she was looking for a place to work. , And  she got the interview and she went into it and she found out,  what they do there. 

She was like, this is a place I have to work at. And it is a really awesome place.  Great staff, great food. I can't speak enough about the food and how good that it was.  Actually did a review on Google.  That was my first review that I've ever done on Google because the place was so good. So it was just something I had to do because, you know, be it being a veteran, uh, just wanted to support them just a little bit more. , and the food , was good. 

And I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and just everything that they had, the plethora of food that they had. Was just so good. They had everything from fried mushrooms, chicken fried steak. , Gator bite. So they got some Gator over there.  , of course your typical hamburgers. And just.

Other amazing food, like the catfish platter and of course salads and all the other kinds of stuff. And it was.  It was good. 

I had their Cajun pasta and it was D delicious. It had just the right amount of spice. I sometimes get a bit frustrated when I go somewhere and it's typically a food that's supposed to be spicy and there's no spice to it. Like if I'm eating gumbo or anything Cajun or,  if I'm eating anything with salsa or anything that has the word, like jalapeno in it or something like that. 

And it's not spicy, I get very disappointed, but this had just  right amount of spice and it was so good.  And they have,  huge breakfast. Menus and stuff too. And their portions are again very large. And this is another place that I didn't think was too expensive

And I think we all agreed that while we were in San Antonio of everything, we tried that week. 

That was our top place. While we were there. Absolutely. It was definitely one of our top places. I mean, even whenever we have the, the Alamo cafe, it's still didn't, which made our top 10 list as well. It didn't hold up to six clicks cafe. Because it was just that good. And I'm actually sitting here on my phone right now and just scrolling through the pictures that are attached to it on Google. And it's making me very hungry. 

Every single one of these pictures. Look. Amazing. It looks like every single one of these was taken by like some professional food photographer and it's just people leaving reviews is all it is.  That's how amazing this place is. Like every picture is making my mouth water.  

So whenever we went Misty got the Cajun pasta that she's already talked about. Our son got the guacamole burger. Our daughter got the chicken fingers. And I got the chicken fried steak and all of it was so good. Matter of fact, it's just one of those places that aren't typically the places that we go. , we kind of order all individual and we don't try to copy each other because we want to eat each other's food. 

And so we tried everyone else's food and everything was just, it was so good.  And the burgers are massive. They're pretty big.  Out of our list,  they have the second biggest burgers of our top 10. Yes. I mean, there's a reason that this place made our top off.  Because it's just that good. It's amazing. 

So if you're ever in the San Antonio area,

it's definitely located north or somewhere in San Antonio. I don't know. But now I'm craving it again.  It's so good. 

Coming in at number four. Woody's smoke house.  In Centerville, Texas right off of 45. So if you've ever driven 45 and you've gone through Centerville, And you haven't stopped at Woody's. You have issues you need to stop at Woody's. And the great thing is, is it doesn't matter which direction you're traveling. 

They have one on the north side and they have one on the south side. Yeah. I remember when they're only used to be one.  And it just became so popular and so overcrowded. That they had to put one on the other side, I've actually heard people refer to it as the original Buc-ee's. Like it's the original Buc-ee's. It is. 

 Now, whenever you talk about Woody's.  It just has a different variety.   And I don't want to compare them to, because they're both so different. And. Yeah, because there's so different,  but just the different stuff that Woody's has is amazing. 

And it's all good. Every summer we used to go to camp, to church camp, our youth group. And that was one of our stops to and from camp. And we would load up on beef jerky and cheeses and all kinds of things, and they make everything there. , everything is original. They make everything there and it has the widest variety of jerky and cheeses that I've ever seen. And if any place I've ever been to, they have like Buffalo jerky and elk jerky and Turkey, jerky, and chicken jerky, like any kind of meat. .  If it can be smoked, they have it. Yeah.  And then they have so many different cheeses. 

We always went and got the red Ryan cheese and some Buffalo jerky. That was like our go-to thing.  And our son, it's one of his absolute favorite places. Even as a young child, his favorite thing to get there, it was the pickled eggs. Oh my gosh. I remember those. That was crazy. I was like, what are you sure? 

And he was like, yeah. I was like, okay. And then he opened him up in the car and they were pretty good.  And so that's his favorite thing to get? When we go, they have pickled eggs, pickled quail eggs, like different kinds. They have spicy, they have deal. They have so many different kinds, but he loves they're pickled eggs.  But then they also have a restaurant attached to it as well. So you can go and get barbecue and brisket sandwiches and stuff like that. And then they also have like your, um,  Knickknacks and t-shirts and stuff. And before McKees was even heard of, they had your big, nice clean bathrooms, not to the scale of Bucky's, but for Centerville, Texas, very big, very clean, very nice.  Absolutely. 

I can't talk enough about  their variety, because you know, we've already talked about all the smoked meat and everything of that nature, but you know, they also have.  Loaded potatoes that you can get whatever you want on it. They have pies. They have all sorts of different jams and stuff that they it's all homemade. 

They have different sauces. It is. Oh my goodness.

Maybe we shouldn't have made this podcast before lunch. 

 It's kind of a novelty for us to go there.  If we're within 30 minutes of that place, we're going to go, like, even if we have to detour for 30 or 40 minutes off of our normal road trip path. Which we have done before. We're going to Woody's. I believe one time we were coming back. From.  I, I don't remember, like Alabama or something.  There's so many times we've detoured. , we really like winning.  We were, we were coming back and we were taking another road.  And it was getting at that point of kind of a break time. 

We needed to stop,  to  stretch our legs a little bit. And we were like, Hey, what's close. And we were like, well, 45 and we're like 45. Whereas what he's at. You know how far away from we from Centerville and we were able to make the trip and it was, it was a wonderful time that our,  detour that we took total was absolutely worth it. Our family could spend a good hour, at least in Woody's. 

So it gives everybody time to stretch the legs and get out and eat and grab snacks for the road.  It's I mean, again,  I hate to keep comparing it to Bucky's because they are so very different. But then they are similar. In the variety and the style. 

What is, is more of your country? Texas themed. I don't know. It's I don't know how to explain the theming of Woody's. It's a country smokehouse. Perfect. That's perfect and exactly what it is. Whereas Buc-ee's is a convenience store.  It's a very amazing convenience store. And I love me some buckies, but what is, is like, The homegrown version of it.  Okay.  

It's it's the homegrown version of Buc-ee's it's the original it's. 

It's so good. And I don't know if I would detour 30 minutes to go to a Buc-ee's. No. I would detour maybe 10. Maybe 10 minutes for a Buc-ee's, but I would happily detour 30 to 45 minutes to go to Woody's.  

Which brings us into our top three. So if you thought those were pretty amazing. Wait till you hear these coming in at number three. So number three is in Beaumont, Texas. And it's the Taz Indian restaurant. I think it's called the Taz grill and bar.  , Indian restaurant. This is not one of Jeremy's favorites. 

Now we all did enjoy it, but I would've put it number one if I could have, but we had to compromise. I love Indian food. Indian food is my favorite. And living where we live in the center of Texas. There's not very many places that either serves or even has decent Indian food.  It doesn't taste authentic. 

It's not very good. Or it's just non-existent and the part of the world that we live. And so when we went to Beaumont, Texas, I got to pick that night. I think the restaurant, and of course I was like, oh, this Indian food has really good.  Reviews, let's try it. And so we went and I loved it. 

I loved it there. Garlic butter, non, oh my goodness. I could just eat that with some. Chicken tikka masala or some butter chicken all day long. It was so amazing. Okay. So I.  I don't want to say that I'm against Indian food. 'cause  I really like Indian food, but it's also one of those things where it comes into flavor flavor has to be right to really enjoy Indian food. 

And sometimes what most of the time. It isn't done because they're trying to, you know, Pacify someone else's pallets and I'm like, no, we came here for Indian food. Give me the authentic food. I don't want to taste. You know, some water down version, gimme the true stuff. And they brought it. And I love the way that the Indians served their dishes.  Everything is just open everything's, you know, you, you order the family style, it's family style. 

So, they bring out these big dishes of all these different portions and then you get to pick and choose what you want on your plate. Which is kind of how we tend to eat anyway, we all order something different and we're just kind of like, oh, I want some of that. I went some of that. So that works for our family. 

Very well.  I mean, but this place  they had the flavor, you know,

she's already talked about the naan bread, but the sauces that they had, that you could dip it in, or you could put on it were amazing. And they all complimented each other very well. And yes, although it's not definitely my number one. It's definitely in the top five. And there's a reason that it made the top three.  Because it was just that good. 

Now we did have a small, bad experience while we were here.  I'm not sure what their temperature was set at inside. But it was a little warm.  But that didn't stop the food from being amazing. And from us overeating.  It was more than a little warm. We were sweating inside of there.  It was summertime in Texas. 

Maybe their AC was broken. I don't know. But  we were sweating and when we left, we all kind of felt a little like, Ooh, maybe we shouldn't have ate so much because we got so hot and we felt like we overate. If it was cooler in there, I probably would have ate more than I even. Absolutely. Absolutely. 

And the only,   Downside, other than it was hot that day. I imagine it's not like that every time. , the only downside to that place, it is very pricey.  It was our most expensive mill that week while we were there.  It was very, very pricey. Delicious, but for us pricey, we tend to try to be,  budget savvy. When we're traveling, we have several kiddos. 

You were eating out a lot.  When we stayed there, we were in a hotel, so we couldn't get groceries and things like that. Like we could in an Airbnb. And we were eating out a lot and this one was probably two of our other mills put together, at least on the price.  Absolutely. Just doing a quick recap of everything. 

I mean, it was.  Average entree. You're probably going to spin 18, $19 easy. Yeah. And we got several plus a few sides. Cause I mean, there were six of us, five of us. I don't remember how many wins. There were quite a few of us. And so. We had three hungry teenagers. When we went.  And  it was definitely delicious and definitely worth it. But do keep in mind. 

This one is not as budget friendly as some of the other ones that we have mentioned. But you are going to a specialty restaurant. With some special food. So.   In my opinion, it is absolutely worth it. It was really good.  And the staff was amazing. Of course there was only like one or two other people when we went there because we went right before the dinner rush. And so we got top notch,  service 

 and to put this in perspective.  This is our number three.  And we're still talking about, oh, well, you know, we did have this small little thing. It was a little warm.  But the food overcame everything and still made our top three because it was that delicious. And like I said, it's just so rare that you get good Indian food.  In this part of the world. Yeah. 

 If you're in Texas period, Indian food is not the one that automatically comes to your mind of where you want to eat. Right. But.  Just venturing out and trying different stuff and,  eating different types of food. This is definitely one of those go-to places.  So number two on our list. Which we got to try very recently actually. Is an Austin, Texas, and it's El Meecho. 

Ikano. . It was one of those places, again, that just totally took us by surprise. And I'm not gonna lie when we pulled up to the place. We weren't sure we were going to go inside. We almost left right away just because of the way that it looked. Now, if you put that in and you put in Austin, Then it will definitely pull up. 

 It's actually not in Austin, it's in Del Baya, but if you put in Austin, it's like it's close to there by the airport. I believe. Yes, it's right there by the airports. It's off of 71. And.  it is definitely what looks to be a hole in the wall. It just looks sketch. It does look sketch. But.  If you have the opportunity to go there. Bypass all the low spot pass where you're located. Yeah, go inside and eat the food. 

Yeah, because if we hadn't went in, we would have missed out on the best Mexican food we've ever had. And the experience.  Both of those combined was amazing. , I think there might've been one other couple of one other person that was in the restaurant. So our waitress was actually the owner of the restaurant in. We sort of asking questions about, Hey we're where did this location come from? 

Hey, was there a football field? That's been.  Abandoned behind you. What's the story what's going on. And she said that her family. I came over and like her grandfather is the one that started this place and they actually said that, ,  which one Friday night lights. Was recorded behind them.  And that's one of the football field is abandoned because they just built it for that specific thing.  And.  

Just kind of the history of how long and how multi-generational that restaurant is and how everything was kept authentic and the recipes and the food that they have.  Was amazing. It was so good. I have some barbacoa. The best barbacoa I've ever had. And I live in Texas, so I've had some good barbacoa, but this was, oh my gosh. 

So good. It was so good. I think I made myself sick off of it and it was large portions. And very, very reasonably priced. Very reasonably priced. I had the, I think the chicken fajitas that night. And they had flavor. Of course, everything comes down to flavor but the flavor was amazing. 

Even their chips and salsa, their salsa. Oh my goodness was incredible. And that's just the appetizer to get you like going in a Mexican food restaurant, but there's salsa was a step in above all the other hot sauce that I've ever tasted. And in Texas. Oh, we do typically call what is TexMex Mexican food. 

Okay. So we had the Alamo cafe in our list and I wouldn't really call that Mexican food is very much TexMex.  It is TexMex all the way, but this was true Mexican food and it was so delicious, their rice, their beans. Oh, my goodness. Everything was so good. And our waitress was amazing at, I believe it was her and her husband. That owned it and they were so amazing. 

And you know, it's good when we were the only white people in that place that tells you like several people came in and out and picked up orders. We were the only white people. And that tells me that it was a really good Mexican food because that's how I judge the Mexican food places in the area where we live too. 

I wouldn't be one of the only white people, because then I know that it's going to be true and authentic Mexican food. And it's one of those places, you know, we have a lot of TexMex places around here and how we typically judge, one of those places is okay, what do the chips taste like? What's the hot sauce tastes like. 

And then it goes straight into beans, beans, and rice. Because if you can't get the beans and rice, right, you you've messed up all the other plates. But their beans and rice were amazing. And I am not a beans and rice person as far as like, that's all I want to eat. But there that's all I wanted to eat because it was that good.  And typically people go to Austin. It is a food destination. 

There's not a lot of great things. I love about Austin, to be honest, but food. They do have really good food places in Austin, and most people are going to send you to places like their famous barbecue places all over Austin. This was. I don't, I don't know how popular it was or it wasn't. There wasn't very many people there. 

It was kind of off the road a little bit. It, it looked really sketchy. It's not barbecue. It's not famous. It's not well-known but it is definitely one of my favorite places. Not only in Austin, but in all of Texas to go eat. 

And we travel to Austin. Quite a bit mainly for my job, but. We do go down there on occasions. And if we ever get the opportunity and by, I mean, opportunity is if we have a meal that we can choose in Austin.  We will make the drive from one side to the other, just to go eat at this place. 

Yeah. I think we actually have an opportunity coming up here in the next few months or so, and I'm very much looking forward to it. Yes, that will definitely be one of our restaurants. We go back and eat for sure. Yeah, I don't always like to retry the same places over and over, but I think that one's just a must.

And I will post some links down in the show notes hit up. Austin. Austin is very touristy area. I know a lot of you want to travel  or do travel to Austin. I eat there. You will not be disappointed. And if you're in the Austin area, And you haven't been to this place or you haven't heard of this place. 

Go check it out. Go see how true we are when we tell you it's it's the best in your area. I promise you it's the best in your area. 

 Before we get to our number one. We do have two honorable mentions that almost made this list and just the location that we're at in central Texas. If we don't mention these. We're probably going to get in trouble by somebody. Um, someone's going to throw some stones. If we don't mention.  Is there a local favorites? 

Not necessarily mine, but everyone else would just be absolutely aghast. If we did not mention these.  

So we have cooks fish barn. And this is a catfish specialty place. That it's off 36 out of Comanche. And it is literally in the middle of nowhere. I think it's completely surrounded by pastures. Yes. And.  If you drive by it and you've never heard about it, you're like, oh, that's just weird. Because it looks like a bunch of buildings that were put together. For some strange reason. But it's a restaurant and 

they do serve some of the best catfish. That I've tasted and it's a buffet style. So. If you like catfishing. You can go eat all you want while you're there.  And they're only open on the weekends, which are several of our mentions are like that. And , we'll post it in the show notes. 

So you'll know. But they don't just have catfish. That is their main reason that people go, but they also have chicken strips for people like me who do not eat catfish. And French fries and hush puppies and anything that you would normally want was a catfish dinner. It's all you can eat. And I believe it's.  Either Friday nights or Saturday nights that they have live music all night as well. And  I remember one time we went and we were sat and right next to the little platform where they were singing and playing, and we couldn't even hear each other. 

But when you're on the other side of the restaurant, it's nice a little atmosphere, but if you're sitting right next to this thinking, we were like, what did you say.  Yes, it is a live band. So that is acoustic drums without a cage, without a filter. So the drums can get very loud and we just happened to be sitting right next to them. All of our family and friends. Absolutely love this place.  It's not one of my favorites, but I think it's because I just don't like catfish and I grew up. Going to this place all the time. And so it wasn't.  It's not a novelty. 

I guess a lot of people look at it as a novelty because it's only open on the weekends. It's all you can eat. For one set price. And the live band, the atmosphere is a very communal type atmosphere. , it's a place you go for fellowship for sure. It's a place you go and you meet people. You talk people. If you go, you're going to probably run into people that, you know, everyone within like an hour.  Or so from that place, we'll drive there almost every weekend to go, like people will go there every weekend. 

So, unfortunately Misty is not a seafood person or any kind of fish person, or I, on the other hand, I love catfish. And so I can speak on the catfish and in my opinion, and this is some of the best catfish. In the area for sure.  ,  Another honorable mention that we must speak about is Mary's cafe in Strawn, Texas. If you've never heard of strong that's okay. 

It is a small six man community, less than a thousand people. But it does have Mary's cafe, one of the original Mary's cafe and it is.  In my opinion, really good. I've had the opportunity to go several occasions  and  they do have some really good chicken fried steak.  I've only been able to go once. And while the portions were enormous and I mean, like two or three people could have split one plate. While the portions were massive. Some of the biggest chicken fried steak I've ever seen in my life while it was massive.  I cannot speak for the quality of the food. 

It was not our favorites. Me and all three teenagers were not very thrilled with the taste of the food.  But it was one of those places again, where you have mixed reviews. You have people who swear by it. And then you have people that think it's overrated.  I I've only been the one time and it wasn't a good experience. 

I am willing to give it another try.  But it's hard when there's so many other good places that, you know,  

So some of those other good places brings us into our number one. Loco. Coyote grill and Glen rose. And I promise you. If you do not have GPS or a garment or an app to get you here, you will get lost. Or you think that you've gone too far and you need to turn around because there's no way that a restaurant would be that far out of town.  But  it is. And it's worth the drive.   The biggest portions we have ever received. On a plate and we've already talked about several places that have big portions. 

This, this is massive. I ordered a burger that I was, I honestly thought that I was going to have to deconstruct. Just to eat it because my mouth couldn't fit over it.  They usually serve the burgers, like with these big, huge steak knives, because I don't think they're meant to be eaten like in one go  you have to cut it up.   But I accepted the challenge and I squashed it down as best I could and tried my best. 

And I still had a deconstructed because it was just that massive. Now, granted, this is another one where big portions also come with a big cost. But the flavor and the rustic atmosphere. It's not like cooks where it's kinda like, I don't know if I want to go there or some of these other ones where, you know, might be sketchy or something like that. 

It looks, I mean, I don't really want to make this sound bad, but if you ever watched a movie or you watched a TV show that had like a biker's club.  It looks like that in the middle of nowhere, but the food. Oh my goodness. The food is amazing in every way. 

 This is also one of those places. That's only open a few days a week.  Sometimes they have live music and stuff outside. 

So a little forewarning, if you want to visit the inside is it's fairly small. There's not a lot of seating. There's outside seating as well. And depending on what day you go, what time of the year, you can have , an hour long wait. Just to even get seated and then to get your food, could it be another 30 minutes or so this is a place where you're going to go with friends on a date, or even with your family, that you're going to go and spend the whole evening, like  you're gonna make a whole evening of it because it's going to take up your whole evening. You're going to drive there. 

It's in the middle of the nowhere. The drive is kind of long, no matter where you're coming from, the drive is going to be long.  You're going to wait a while. You're going to sit. A while. And then with the huge portions of food, it's going to take you a bit to eat. . It's a place you want to take your time and visit and just enjoy the evening.  This is definitely going to be one of those that half a day minimum you're going to spend either traveling or eating and just enjoying good fellowship. And good people.  But. Go on Google. 

Search this place. Find it. It's worth it. The portions are massive. I got a burger and then I made the mistake of. Ordering a side as well, like of onion rings. 

And both portions were bigger than what I could finish either one of them. 

 But they also have other amazing stuff. That's there. They have front peoples, which I believe we ordered before, which were amazing. Some of the best fried pickles. They're seasoning was really good.  So if you get the chance to spend a little bit time, go make some great memories. Go have some amazing food.  This is so high on the list. 

Like we were sitting here going, Hey, what are, what are our favorite places? And we started. You know, just thinking and reminiscent about all the good places and some of the places we thought about. After research and a little bit more, they had had closed down. Which probably would have made the top 10 in this, but our number one without a shadow of a doubt without ever really even having to think beyond. You know, where do we want to go? 

Like if we were to leave right now,  where would we travel?  You know, travel time, money. Wasn't a thing. Where would we go?  

Local coyote. Is one of those places above and beyond all the others. One of the other great things about this place, one of the other reasons why it's our number one. , is because . I think of every place we've ever been inside of Texas. This has that. Country. Texas atmosphere like it has that friendly. Texas atmosphere that you're just not going to get anywhere else. And it's so diverse. You could go in. You'll see a cowboy with, you know, boots and a cowboy hat sitting on one side. 

You'll see a dude with a suit on, on the other side, you'll see girls in dresses  bikers and leather backers in leather. All different attire, all different backgrounds. Everyone goes to this place because it is that good.  And it speaks volumes to how good it is. Whenever it doesn't matter what background you're coming from. 

It doesn't matter where you live  everyone is drawn to one location.  

So check it out. Don't be afraid to make that drive. Get out there. Go eat some, oh my goodness. Some of the best food you will ever eat, and it doesn't matter what you're looking for. If you're looking for barbecue, they got it. You looking for some good. Home cooking chicken fried steak. They got it. 

You looking for some burgers or a salad? No matter what you're looking for, they got it. And it's amazing. Check them out.   If you're in Texas and there is something we haven't mentioned, that is your favorite lesser known area. Let us know we want to visit. We really like food. We will travel and make weekend trips just to try a food place it's not out of the picture for us. So if there's something, let us know, share it with us, but we really want to try it. 

 Join us next week. We're going to be talking about Austin and beyond.