Vacation, Had to Get Away

This past weekend we took a little trip outside the Metroplex to celebrate our impending 1-year anniversary of bondage, er I mean marriage. We drove out to Granbury, which is only about an hour away, and spent one night. It turned out to be a culinary adventure as well as a good time away.

We stayed at the Inn on Lake Granbury in a room with a beautiful view of the lake. The room was huge and cozy with a 4-poster bed. It also satisfied our technological wishes, with a VCR/DVD player and Wi-Fi access. Breakfast was tasty, if a bit on the splurge side. Tasty snacks and wine were out in the afternoon for some post-sunbathing by the pool noshing. We were pooped from having been out in the rather warm countryside touring some fine wineries.

First stop was Bluff Dale Vineyards, just outside of Granbury. They had quite a selection of both reds and whites. Grapes are grown in west Texas in the higher elevations near Lubbock. We tasted all but the Merlot (which had been exhausted the previous weekend), even the port and cream sherry. We surprised ourselves and bought a bottle of the Chardonnay - mainly because it didn't taste like normal Chardonnay. We couldn't help but buy some of the port (not their production) which we predicted would be quite tasty over ice cream.

On down the road a bit towards Granbury, we stopped in at the Barking Rocks Winery. What a charming place and what a great guy running it! Tiberia, the vintner, works the whole operation. We loved Cellar, his friendly dog as well. We tried all the reds and whites, and even his newest venture, the Viognier grape. He so kindly let us have some of the new vintage unfiltered and raw. Then he led us into the fermentation room and had some of his Sangiovese that has yet to be bottled. It was fabulous. Here we purchased his Casena - a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon and a very easygoing entry-level 2002 Cab. We had the Casena with Easter dinner the next day. Tasty! Tiberia occasionally hosts dinner and wine pairing events. They sound just awesome. He is the one who gave us the tip on our dinner that night.

We toured the downtown square a bit - but only found anything interesting in a foodie shop - go figure. (drunken spatula shopping!) We then retired to our lovely air-conditioned room at the Inn and had some of the afternoon libations. Well I stuck to water and hubby had the Dr Pepper, vintage 2005. But the cheese and crackers and hummus were mighty tasty.

Later that night we drove back out to Bluff Dale for dinner at a place called "Let's Eat". As you can see from the picture, it was a small...ahem, quaint...place. The vehicle out front was the standard mode of transportation.



We had been so worried about how we looked that we changed clothes, only to find that we were grossly overdressed. I wish Tiberia had let us know a little more about what to expect. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the chef, Curren Dodds, or the fabulous meal we had there. It was a very short menu but I quickly gleaned that you could get lots of grub that wasn't on the menu if you asked and Curren had it. They ran out of 2 specials while we there, that's how popular the place is, even if it seats 35 people as a high estimate. Hubby had the New York Strip on corn hash and I had the grilled pork chops with savory bread pudding and green beans in a bourbon sauce. They were both great, and about 1/3 less than you'd pay at any place in the Metroplex. The Strip was huge! I started my meal with some butternut squash soup that was good, but too salty. The savory bread pudding was great but hard to figure out what was in it as it disintegrated under the chops and into the sauce. The bourbon sauce was perfect with the chops, with apple juice as the perfect sweetness. I thought hubby's hash had too much rosemary but he enjoyed all of it. I couldn't even finish my entree so we decided not to have the apple pie a la mode that was dessert that night.

We went home fat and happy, only to eat MORE on Easter Sunday.

Let's Eat
Bluff Dale, Texas
254-728-3635