Browns on Hard Knocks

The Gipper

I will let a guy from Northeast Ohio (Steubenville) have the last word on this:

Tour2ma

@the-gipper said:

And tell me this if you know Tejas so well....I am thinking of taking a Texas road trip in November.....as I will probably be staying in SA for 2-3 days for a football game. From there I am thinking of driving up to Abilene, then to Wichita Falls, then up into OK for a stop, then back over to Lake Meredith, then to Amarillo and Lubbock, down to Odess/Midland/San Angelo before heading back to SA.

What recommendations/suggestions do you have?

lol... you're road tripping the one area of Texas I have not spent time in (and I have no desire to do so)... the panhandle. But in San Antonio I might have a place or two you've not hit visiting your daughter.

Do the scenic loop in the hills NW of San Antonio... but watch your speed... especially though Grey Moss. Neat winding road of old homes with some spectacular views of the city.

Speaking of Grey Moss... check out the Grey Moss Inn... tad pricey (except for their amazing wine list where the mark ups as fairly reasonable), but fantastic food including "wild game" specials most nights. Foods are grilled using a round, outdoor pit over Mesquite (what else would they use?). Ask about their Zin Din... I've attended three and made a great friend there.

For cheap and grubby check out the Tip Top Café in San Anton proper. Best Chicken Fried Steak I've ever had and onion rings to die for...

No San Anton trip is complete without at least one meal at La Fogata... huge, open air Mexican restaurant.

Some folks also have to have at least one breakfast at the Gunther House, but it's not worth the wait IMO. The better option is to visit it (interesting mini museum) and buy some Pancake and/or Waffle mix... both are awesome.

Day trips include:

Wine country concentrated north of the city. Two fav wineries are Becker's (east of Fredericksberg past the wildflower farm) and Texas Hills (Johnson City). I especially love Texas Hills wines, but Becker's is special as it had a B&B on the property in a renovated 1800's cabin. Spent a honeymoon there.

November will likely be too late to catch the colors, but if Fall comes late to the area check out a great little Texas park named "Lost Maples". Maple tress are likely common where you live, but they have no business growing in central Texas. Yet somehow there's a valley with a hundreds of them.

Westside Steve

Rudy's Barbecue. ...

Even better than Sonny Bryant's.

WSS

Mudfly

I've been doin Texas about 10 times a year since '97....same 2 or 3 places,& the same people, everytime, so I have limited exposure outside of Dallas and my associates...

But the one thing I will say....Dal/FW airport is a massive hellish evil porthole to nowhere.....never ever land there unless you plan on staying a while.......

I will also say that Texas....love it or hate it.....is not nearly as homogenized as the rest of the country....to me, so many places feel exactly the same......but not Texas.....when you're there, you KNOW you're there....

hoorta

@diehardbrownsfan said:
Okay, here's something. If I were really loaded I would chose to live in Manhattan. Case closed. No city in the USA comes close. But I'm not really loaded so its not relevant.

LOL- as they say to each their own. Even if I was making $10 million a year, you couldn't pay me enough to live in NYC.

@westside-steve said:

Rudy's Barbecue. ...

Even better than Sonny Bryant's.

WSS

Great stuff Steve- I always keep a bottle of their barbecue sauce in my 'fridge. http://www.rudysbbq.com/page/home

Mudfly

@hoorta said:

LOL- as they say to each their own. Even if I was making $10 million a year, you couldn't pay me enough to live in NYC.

Ha!....you got that right!....I hate "cities" in general....hate the congestion - traffic - hectic pace - lack of green....(everything reallY)

Though I imagine people tend to like where they live and thats why they live there....just a hunch..

But...for me...it's lots of green space, nature and fresh air, coupled with a nice slow small town atmosphere...and no traffic or lines....and people who actually have a minute to stop and say hello......THATS how I like it.......

miktoxic

OR

you could have the best of both worlds. 12 miles north of the biggest city. a 20 minute car ride. a 40 minute train ride. you've got all the nature in the world...all 4 seasons, water at your front door. 5 hours away north and south of other big cities which offer the best in everything from schooling to fooding.

grew up in a small town atmosphere and ended up in one. hey it ain't sandusky but after being back there many times in 30 years i'd rather take my chances here.

wargograw

@hoorta said:

LOL- as they say to each their own. Even if I was making $10 million a year, you couldn't pay me enough to live in NYC.

Great stuff Steve- I always keep a bottle of their barbecue sauce in my 'fridge. http://www.rudysbbq.com/page/home

Next time you're in Austin, grab a lawn chair, cooler, and some bros and go to Franklin's BBQ in the morning. The line is 3-5 hours but it's the best stuff in the world.

I love Rudy's. I go there at least once a month. But the delta between Rudy's and Franklin's is as big as the one between Chili's and Ruth's Chris. Hell yeah, I love Chili's. I could eat Chili's every day. But it ain't Ruth's Chris.

Zombo

@miktoxic said:

OR

you could have the best of both worlds. 12 miles north of the biggest city. a 20 minute car ride. a 40 minute train ride. you've got all the nature in the world...all 4 seasons, water at your front door. 5 hours away north and south of other big cities which offer the best in everything from schooling to fooding.

grew up in a small town atmosphere and ended up in one. hey it ain't sandusky but after being back there many times in 30 years i'd rather take my chances here.

It takes you 40 minutes to go 12 miles on a train? Is the train pulled by donkeys?

Z

miktoxic

Zombo said:

It takes you 40 minutes to go 12 miles on a train? Is the train pulled by donkeys?

Z

well when you're stopping every 3 mins.......

Canton Mike

A few years ago, we visited my Son & his Family in Boerne, Texas, a little north of San Antonio, over the end of May. My "special treat" from him was an outing to the original Rudy's BBQ & Country Store. In addition to the normal fantastic Texas hospitality, they went the extra mile for this old 'Nam Vet.

As we stood in line to place our order, a lady came up & asked me if I was a combat Vet. When I said "Vietnam", she said, "Your meal is free. Thank you." Rudy's picked up the tab for ALL combat Vets for something like 2 weeks around Memorial Day & I can't describe what that meant to me.

Is Rudy's good? I will NEVER go back to Texas without heading to Rudy's! Great food & even BETTER people!

Mike

miktoxic

i got a twin brother that lives outside of dallas in a town called The Colony (sounds like something out of a stephen king book) and i've yet to go visit him. but when i finally pull my sorry ass out there i want to find that place that has the 'Steak Challenge'. i mean this steak looks huge and if you can eat it in a certain time you get it for free. place looks cool with a huge cowboy outside etc. but how come they don't pave parking lots in TX? seems like everything is just dirt and rocks.

hell i lived in Mesa, AZ and they paved the parking lots.............

LondonBrown

@the-gipper said:

I will let a guy from Northeast Ohio (Steubenville) have the last word on this:

haha that is brutal

Tour2ma

@westside-steve said:
Rudy's Barbecue. ...

Love Rudy's... even played for them in a golf tourney many moons ago. But I think my fav overall BBQ joint was Cotton's in Robstown, TX. Heard it burned down a few years ago, but I think they rebuilt in Corpus.

Great thing is you can have many favorite BBQ joints as there are a lot of things to BBQ and I don't know of any that are the best at everything... everything being the basic brisket, ribs and sausage.

And then there are the specialties like BBQ Duck at Goode & Co. and BBQ Crab at Sartan's (which sadly I think is gone now).

Mudfly

One thing I definitely noticed is them guys in Texas love to dry rub their meat.......

I prefer mine soaked in sauce....

Tour2ma

Most common that I've seen in Texas is a dry rub followed by basting with sauce...

When I think "dry rub" I think Memphis. There Corky's features dry, but also serves "wet" which I prefer. Of course that's pork BBQ which I love dearly.

Somewhere out east of Memphis there's the original Bozo's (only affiliated with the clown through a lawsuit of use of the name). Best wet pulled pork I've had.

Canton Mike

@tour2ma said:

Most common that I've seen in Texas is a dry rub followed by basting with sauce...

When I think "dry rub" I think Memphis. There Corky's features dry, but also serves "wet" which I prefer. Of course that's pork BBQ which I love dearly.

Somewhere out east of Memphis there's the original Bozo's (only affiliated with the clown through a lawsuit of use of the name). Best wet pulled pork I've had.

I split a rack (wet & dry) at Corky's & I preferred the dry rubbed ribs with sauce on the side for dipping. They also have smoked sausage & cheese as an appetizer that is flat out KILLER! I highly recommend that to any BBQ fan.

Mike

miktoxic

@hoorta said:

LOL- as they say to each their own. Even if I was making $10 million a year, you couldn't pay me enough to live in NYC.

for $10 million a year i'd live in your closet.

too much city for you? for a cool $2 mil you could live up here and have the best of both worlds.

don't get me wrong, i like the sound of crickets and the glow of fireflies. but to have that it doesn't mean you have to live in mayberry. i think i'd go crazy now after years of 'over-socialization' to be back in sandusky where you can't get food delivered after 9pm or go to a store after 10 because nothing is open except the gas stations. screw that.

but i do miss the drive-thru liquor stores, lol.

Flugel

Zombo, on 26 Mar 2015 - 8:47 PM, said:

It takes you 40 minutes to go 12 miles on a train? Is the train pulled by donkeys?

@miktoxic said:
well when you're stopping every 3 mins.......

That's what I call Phil Taylor horse power. That train doesn't have an oxygen mask on it - does it?

miktoxic · Zombo, on 26 Mar 2015 - 8:47 PM, said:

@flugel said:

Zombo, on 26 Mar 2015 - 8:47 PM, said:

It takes you 40 minutes to go 12 miles on a train? Is the train pulled by donkeys?

That's what I call Phil Taylor horse power. That train doesn't have an oxygen mask on it - does it?

nope. just a train full of cattle......

you can get an express though if you don't mind getting up at 5:30am.