I made a quick overnight trip but due to family obligations didn’t get to eat at all the places I wanted to visit.
I picked up US 90-A just west of Houston; I think it follows the route of the Old Spanish Trail. It’s been very dry; the landscape was mostly brown, the trees mostly bare, the highway not in as good a shape as it was a number of years ago when I traveled this route, but my spirits brightened considerably when I pulled into the parking lot of
Besetny's Kountry Bakery in Hallettsville, on 90-A just a few blocks east of the intersection of US 77.
The name Besetny is not prominently displayed (and not at all on the exterior of the Schulenburg location) but all the employees were wearing either Besetny t-shirts, caps or aprons.
I knew my aunt was expecting me for lunch but this sign was sorely tempting.
I didn’t even get to see any of the offerings but picked up some kolaches and bread for my aunt.
These are the items (other than the bread) which it was determined would not make it to my aunt’s house, a blueberry kolache, an iced cake donut and a sausage and sauerkraut pig-in-a-blanket.
Most kolache shops in Texas would refer to that as a sausage and sauerkraut kolache but Besetny’s calls theirs pigs or pigs-in-a-blanket. It was very good; there’s a half-section of a very good, coarse ground sausage inside, probably from a local butcher shop, and a smallish portion of mild sauerkraut. The blueberry kolache looked a little dry but wasn’t but the best thing was that donut; it was excellent and I wished I’d bought a couple.
Off we go on the last leg of the trip over. At my aunt’s house, we visited in the kitchen, finishing off more of the kolaches with some coffee before I remembered I wanted to get a picture. These 2 were all that were left: an iced poppy-seed bar and an iced apricot cream bar with coconut. They lasted until the evening meal. I ate more pastry that day than I normally eat in a month.
I had really wanted to visit
Kloesel's Steak House in Moulton but knew I wasn’t going to be able to talk my aunt into it. I’ve never been to Kloesel’s, which I guess has been there for years, but read about it last summer on a local board. I guess it would be a good road food destination with all it’s charm but what makes it really interesting is that the menu includes Akaushi beef from the
HeartBrand ranch near Harwell, a few miles away. I’ve been able to find Heartbrand’s burgers, wieners and beef sausages in Houston but none of the better cuts and I really wanted to try one. The poster on the other board knew the owners of Kloesel’s and said not to expect big-city sophistication as far as the sides but they will do a good job with the steaks. Maybe I’ll make a special trip just for that some day soon.
On the way out the next morning I swung through Shiner to stop at
Patek's, a small grocery and meat market and smokehouse on the east side of town.
It’s in the shadow of the big church so you can’t miss it.
Patek’s makes some very good sausages; in the back of the store at the meat counter you can find a wide variety (actually, on this visit, there was only a small selection). I really like Patek’s dry sausage and wieners; they’re probably the best I know of from sausage makers in this part of Texas. The wieners are skinless but all beef and very good. This time I also picked up some Shiner beer brats and ring bologna that I’ve never tried before. They call their wieners Shiner dogs.
Actually the wieners are out of my freezer which is why there's some frost on them.
I went on up to I-10 for the trip back to Houston, passing right by Kloesel’s before I realized it but too early for lunch. Instead I headed to Frank’s, right at the intersection of I-10 and US 77 in Schulenburg. Frank’s has been around for about 3/4 of a century; there’s a picture of the original location in downtown Schulenburg on the wall of the big restaurant. They moved out on the Interstate years ago to survive but they don’t just cater to passersby, the place will be packed at meal times with locals, too, partly I guess because it’s just a familiar destination but also because they do a pretty good job with the staples of Texas roadside cafes and also pay some homage to local favorites. A lunch special everyday of the week is this German sausage plate with German potatoes and your choice of another veggie; I stayed with the theme and got sauerkraut. This was accompanied by a small side salad and tea or coffee for $8.79, a good price.
I’m sure the sausage comes from a local meat market or smoke house, possibly City Market, which is just a half mile away on 77, across from the Schulenburg location of Besetny’s; it was very good, as were the potatoes. I thought I remembered they served a home-made sauerkraut but I don’t think that was; for some reason the menu says nothing about why these items are offered.
I didn’t think to ask for a take-away menu so I’m not sure if there are any other local specialties but you can buy bags of kolaches from Wiekel’s in La Grange and also some bread from there plus breads, brownies, jams, etc., from Frank’s kitchen. Not to put Wiekel’s down or anything, but if you don’t have the time to run up to La Grange and get some fresh kolaches, I’d recommend just heading down 77 a half mile to Besetny’s.
I also forgot to take a picture of the building.
<message edited by dexmat on Tue, 02/17/09 3:10 PM>
