My sister had her rehearsal dinner at Hilltop and got married at Becker. It was a good weekend.
What’s this “78642 The Bar” next to Grape Creek tasting room like? We’re staying in the place above it. It looks cool, but reviews are mixed.
I’ve never heard anything about it one way or the other.
If you’re looking for Tex-Mex food at any point, especially breakfast, Hilda’s is great. It’s the only place I’ve ever been able to buy a chile relleno breakfast taco.
Tacodeli (not Fredericksburg, I know) used to make a lunch special chile relleno taco on occasion. Man, that was really good.
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I’m all for threadjacking in the name of chile relleno. My hands down favorite chile relleno in Houston (also not Fredericksburg) is at Pico’s Mex Mex. I welcome all competitive suggestions for me to try.
Chile relleno is my litmus test for a restaurant that I may return to. Oddly enough, I had a pretty good chile relleno at a po-boy place on Montrose near Westheimer a few years ago.
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Cheese enchiladas are my litmus test for good Mexican. A good chile relleno, though, ain’t a bad substitute.
FWIW, I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about the Becker wines. Nothing flawed, just not necessarily wines to my palate.
In my experience the best thing to do in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is to keep driving.
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I went to high school in southern Prince William county. Half of our scholastic district was in Stafford County. When we went that 15 miles south for sports events, it was like we were teleported to Mississippi.
Re: 78642 The Bar, I went 4 times, 2017-2020. Appetizers and drinks. 2.5 stars.
Late to the thread, but I met some friends from Houston here a few months ago, a couple of their wines were quite good, and it happens to be next door to where you’re staying:
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My litmus is basic beef fajitas. I figure if a restaurant can fuck up grilled beef, chips, queso, tortillas, guac, salsa, and charro beans then I don’t really need to go there again.
It’s pretty impressive how many manage to fail at it though.
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Lefty, I love Slate Theory! Julie and I went for lunch in April 2023, after my stroke. Fantastic! We had the cheese-and-meat board (and a pairing of wine).
Nice! My friends had been to several wineries over a couple of days on a anniversary/birthday/no kids/whatever extra long weekend and that was the one they wanted to go back to and meet me at, after we had bbq at Eaker.
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So… returned from Fredericksburg after the weekend, and it was great, as expected. The town itself has not changed much since I last visited, but there are A LOT of wineries in the area now. We toured three of them. Texas Wine Collective (which includes Brennan, Lost Oak, and McPherson) was pretty cool. They had a lot to choose from. Kuhlman Cellars was fantastic. It was my favorite spot we toured. Finally, we hit up Augusta Vin, which is a gorgeous facility, thought a little fancier and more upscale than the others. Sadly, about 80% of their crop this year was destroyed by a hailstorm a few weeks ago, so they’ll be scrambling for grapes. Of course, we purchased a few bottles from each.
The Museum of the Pacific War is YUGE! Yes, you could absolutely spend an entire day there.
As for dining…we did August E’s (where I taught the bartender to make a third man), Vaudeville (which is kind of an odd underground place), and Cabernet Grill. I thought Cabernet Grill was great, one of the best steaks I’ve ever had, and they had a great selection of mostly local wines. We had the Hilmy Petit Verdot Reserve. We also ate lunch and breakfast here and there (Texas Sunrise, Milagro, Auslander). And perhaps my favorite joint was the Lincoln Street Wine and Cigar Bar. It was indeed my kind of place…friendly, laid back…with live music every night and a great staff and cool bar dog named Cooper. We went there every night.
Finally, on the way up we stopped at Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye. It was also a cool, laid-back place. We didn’t take a tour, but just sat at the whiskey shack and sampled a bit.
All in all, a great trip. A few other notes…I guess I hadn’t realized that New Braunfels had turned into such a congested, snarling sea of traffic and people. I think I’d rather drive through Houston at 5:00 pm on Friday than through there at 10:00 am on a Thursday. And it’s amazing how much “cooler” 103 degrees in Fredericksburg is compared to 95 in Houston. As long as you were in some shade, sitting outside was no problem at all. It honestly felt pleasant most of the weekend.
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Kuhlmam!!! We went 6 times - 5 times before my stroke and 1 time after. It was awesome.
Are you like the Rainman…remember exactly how many times you’ve been to every bar?
Tough to hear Kuhlman lost so much of their crop. After our recent heat waves, several of the growers I work with in Contra Costa think they’ve lost >30% of their crop. The old saying in farming that Mother Nature bats last is unfortunately far too true sometimes.
And God bless you, sir, for doing the Lord’s work and spreading the gospel of the Third Man. I’ve taught two bartenders here in Napa how to make them (as well as a Lion’s Tail). I feel like the world is a better place now.
Really glad you had a fantastic weekend celebrating the anniversary. Sounds like a really trip.
Glad you enjoyed the trip, sounds like did it right and had a fine time.