Burnet County
A FEW HOURS' drive from Texas' trendiest cities (including Austin, San Antonio and Fredericksburg), the Highland Lakes of Burnet County offer simple outdoor pleasures and old fashioned forms of family fun.
ELYSE GLICKMAN visits the Highland Lakes region in Texas.
ROADS CRISSCROSSING THE BUCOLIC region that was once home to the late US President Lyndon Baines Johnson look almost as they did 50 years ago, except for a few needed additions such as computer repair shops. Old churches and government buildings dominate the tiny downtowns with low buildings and a handful of strip malls. However, within those modest structures are diners and coffee-shop institutions with customers as devoted to their continued success as they are to their churches. Their strong suit is food that's simple, substantial and timeless. Intermixed with those stalwart eateries an ambitious pool of winemakers and craft brewers have set up shop.
While there are many cute cottages and lakeside resorts in the area, Canyon of the Eagles Resort stands out as the type of resort mid-20th century families visited when they wanted to get back to nature. Lodging options include cabin-style guest rooms, campsites and designated areas for RVs. Wi-Fi is available but cabins are deliberately television-free, ensuring guests unplug and enjoy the resort's many outdoor adventures.
Owner Cindy Bower proudly describes the sprawling property overlooking Lake Buchanan as a “900-acre mini national park,” where on-site activities include numerous hiking trails and themed guided hikes, sunrise yoga, stargazing in the resort's Eagle Eye observatory led by astronomer Jim Sheets, and Saturday “Shake, Rattle, and Coil” shows with resident naturalist Robert and his cast of Texas Hill Country critters. The game room contains actual board games, which Bower says are intended to encourage travellers to have conversations face to face and not via text or email.
Although simplicity is the guiding philosophy at Canyon of the Eagles, its Overlook Restaurant, under the direction of General Manager and chef Matthew Wayland, is the spot where Texas and Tex-Mex classics are updated with contemporary verve and products sourced from the Highland Lakes region. Wayland's cooking is informed by food trends coming out of places like Austin. The breakfast flatbread is topped with all of the fixings one would find in a Texas diner breakfast, from scrambled eggs to sausage, bacon, potatoes, and salsa fresca, but dressed up with a cosmopolitan cheese blend of Saint Andre, cheddar and jack. Blueberry pancakes get a new twist with blue corn batter, while TexMex inspired Migas is upgraded with artisanal smoked chorizo.
Wayland's dinner signatures, often paired with award-winning Texas wines, have made Overlook Restaurant a favourite special
…Simplicity is the guiding philosophy at Canyon of the Eagles…
occasion venue for area residents. His signature is a Chicken Fried Wild Boar cutlet topped with jalapeño cream gravy, adding a shot of culinary adrenaline to the chicken-fried steak that's a diner staple throughout the state. Two other items that can never go off the menu, even with a change of seasonal sides, include a pan-seared, potato-crusted black cod and a ten-ounce achiote marinated steak with green chile-bacon scalloped potatoes.
In any direction from the Canyon of the Eagles base camp you'll find eateries specializing in Texas-sized portions of comfort food. Mama's Home Cooking is known for its blackened catfish and chicken-fried steak with a generous choice of sides, as well as its addictive deep-fried jalapeño rings. The “hometown buffet” at Highlander House of Buffet & Steakhouse features fried chicken and barbecue ribs to rival the gentrified versions created by hipster establishments in New York and Los Angeles.
Trailblazer Grille is worth a visit for live music sets on a par with Austin venues. The expansive menu is a show in itself, with chicken pot pie as the stand out. Its croissant-like crust holds a creamy but surprisingly nuanced chicken and vegetable filling. The hash brown casserole, sold as a side but a meal in itself, is also worth the calorie splurge.
Other much-recommended picks include Opie's BBQ (specializing in mesquite smoked brisket, paired with spicy corn, butter beans, or a tater tot casserole) and the Blue Bonnet Café which has been fixing dessert pies since 1929.
A Different Gold in Those Hills
Over four decades ago, Northern California wineries put everything on the line to gain respect and prestige amid the wine producers' establishment — and prevailed when Napa wines were besting French wines in international competitions. Today, with Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, and other California wine production areas standing as the establishment, Texas Hill Country's wineries are heading down the same trail. Burnet County also has world-class, small-production beers that would wow beer lovers who think they've tried everything.
Work to accomplish that dream has been underway for a while. While Napa's wines were making their way onto prestigious wine lists, Ed and Susan Auler found themselves getting into the game when they travelled to France in 1973 to scout special cattle breeds for their ranch and ended up exploring Reims, Burgundy, the Rhone, Bordeaux and Loire. Two years later, with the support of Texas A&M and Texas Tech Universities, the Aulers set up a test plot on a corner of their Fall Creek Ranch to experiment with wine growing. Fall Creek Vineyards was officially established in 1980.
The Aulers spent much of the decade researching the success of growers and winemakers in Napa and Sonoma and working with noted wine consultant André Tchelistcheff to perfect the growing and winemaking processes. They also found time to establish a Wine & Food Festival in 1986 with the intention of promoting the Texas Hill Country as a wine region. The efforts were a success, as Ed's application to the US government for the Texas Hill Country wine appellation was granted.
In the living room of the couple's Wine Country Inn visitors can meet director of winemaking Sergio Cuadra, and sample hearty pours of the winery's award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Merlot wines, as well as a couple of exciting new releases, with artisanal cheeses. All grapes used in the wines are 100 percent Texas grown, in soils Ed compares to some of the those he encountered in France.
While Blake and Karen DeBerry, like the Aulers, converted their cattle ranch into a winery/vineyard, their inspiration sprang from a 2012 wine tour of Australia. In 2014, soon after the couple planted their first vines, Torr Na Lochs Vineyard & Winery was officially established. In 2015,
the couple opened a new tasting room and patio, just in time to introduce their expressions of Tempranillo and Fion Deargs. Torr Na Lochs also cultivates Syrah, Malbec and Petite Sirah varietals with sustainable farming methods.
The young winery has hit the ground running, with several of its estate-produced wines winning medals at both the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo 2017 Rodeo Uncorked Wine Competition and the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
Like many beer-loving young couples, physicians Dave and Quynh Rathkamp traded in their day jobs for brewers' equipment and a dream. However, their mission transcended the challenge of successfully creating a portfolio of Belgian-style brews running the gamut from refreshing IPAs to hearty dark ales. Their Save the World Brewing Company is America's first 100-percent philanthropic craft brewery. While Quynh emphasizes that the company's mission emerged from their “shared Christian values,” the non-denominational charities (including Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels) supported by their proceeds mean that beer lovers of all faiths can pause for the cause and enjoy the beers and fun ambiance of the tasting room.