Road trips are all about the food. You drive all day or all night, trying to get from Point A to Point B. There has to be something to look forward to besides more highway hypnosis. Taking a road trip in Texas could be a full time job. The state is huge! Besides the obvious BBQ joints, we discovered a few little hidden gems along the way.
If you want some really good southern comfort food, I suggest you stop in Burnet, Texas. Burnet is about an hour outside of Austin, Texas in the central part of the state. It’s a sleepy little town with historic southern architecture heralded from days gone by. The town square is made up of mom and pop shops, artisan crafters, plus retail boutiques. Nestled in the center of downtown, is an unassuming restaurant called Tea-licious, which, luckily, encompasses all of the above. It’s a restaurant, a tea room, and a general store that also sells handmade quilts and quaint jewelry. They are famous for their gourmet sweet pickles that owners Sam and Vickie McLeod have produced for over 30 years now. The pickles are served with most of their lunch or dinner menu options and are also packaged to go. They are so popular, they now ship them all over the country. Be equally cautious before trying their sweet peach iced tea. It’s highly addictive and perfect for sittin’ on the porch in the rockin’ chair watchin’ the sunset, ya’ll. The french dip sandwich is one of their best-sellers. It’s pretty tasty and loaded up Texas style with mounds of roast beef on a grilled sourdough onion role with Provolone cheese. If that is not southern enough for you, then you can always order the chicken fried steak sandwich on grilled sweet sourdough. It’s what Texas would taste like if you could eat it. Out of all the meals I had in that area, this one was the most memorable. I still have withdrawals for the sweet pickles and peach iced tea as well. I think it’s time to plan another trip!
