Small town, friendly staff, great food. Grilled sausage bites opened the evening; they were served with a standard BBQ sauce. We also has fried green tomatoes; these were served with ranch dressing. Both starters came out hot and delicious.
Dinners included a glazed ham steak with a Texan root beer sauce. The RB is reduced to a syrupy, flavorful sauce for the perfectly grilled ham steak. Chicken fried fteak is "hand breaded, fork tender and a Texas size portion." As good as advertised. We were both in the mood for creamed corn and mac & cheese. The hit of the evening: chicken & dumplings, a Thursday night special. These dumplings are neither light nor heavy. They are the perfect companion to the chicken and gravy. Sides include an enormous batch of sweet potato fries and green beans.
Dessert presented the usual problems... so many choices, so little room. There is a separate room, the Pie Room, which has them all on display, along with a baker who's willing to answer questions. The choices numbered at least 20! We went with Black Forest pie, peppermint patty pie and millionaires pie. That last is an interesting combo of pineapple and nuts mixed into, and topping, a cream cheese-style filling. These non-standard choices were all very good and brought the staff to our table to display their pride. And we agree, they have much to be proud of!
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When people start bragging on how fantastic the food is at a local eatery, my skepticism gauge goes off the chart. When they tell me the best thing about the restaurant is the dessert, I'm in. When they tell me I may not be able to finish the dessert, I scoff and say "let's go."
The Texan Café boasts "The Best Dang Food in Hutto, Texas." That claim is getting harder and harder to back up because of the population growth, but since this is the only place I've eaten at in Hutto, I support the claim 100%. Hutto's claim to fame is the Hutto hippo. In 1916, a circus train made a stop in Hutto. A hippo got loose and was found wallering around in Cottonwood Creek. A decade later the school officially adopted the hippo as the school mascot.
Friends who live in nearby Georgetown bragged on the Texan Cafe's chicken fried steak and absolutely raved about the apple pie. My wife had never had chicken fried steak before! I have to say, it's not something I would normally order, but when in Texas, you don't mess with Texans. I ordered my dessert before the meal to get the server's commitment that there would be some left for me. Since the pie shop does a booming business of its own, I was reassured there would be enough of the "skillet brandy apple pie."
We chowed down on the chicken fried steak and it was delish. Side dishes are changed regularly and posted on the board. Among the group, we had mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, Texas-style beans, baked potato and more.
When it came time to enjoy the dessert, Sandra started deciding who would share my dessert. I finally had to get rough with her and set the woman straight. "If I came all the way to Hutto, Texas for some damn fine dessert, I ain't sharin' with nobody, nohow!" The apple pie is served in a hot skillet, topped with vanilla ice cream and a brandy sauce. OMG – it is fantastic. The best part is the melted ice cream with caramelized brandy-flavor sugar left in the skillet. As the others struggled with spoons to get the last bit, I just grabbed a straw and went at it. If you're too proud to scrape the skillet to get this part, don't order this dessert. I said it before, I'll say it again: don't mess with Texans.
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