El Zason's of New Braunfels

Cheese makes everything better.  I often have cheese added to my Tex-Mex breakfasts.

El Zason's Tapatio is a little hole in the wall on Texas 46 just east of I-35 in New Braunfels.  Great place for reasonably-price and tasty Tex-Mex food.  The portions there are large.  You will not leave this place feeling hungry.



Country & Egg:

Country sausage is scrambled in with eggs and served with refried beans and potatoes.  I had cheese loaded on everything.  Look at their potatoes ... pan fried until brown.  Not that white anemic look to potatoes in other Tex-Mex restaurants.



Chorizo and Egg and Cheese Burito:

A large grilled flour tortilla is filled with pan fried chorizo sausage and egg.  I had the cheesy center added to the wrap.  The photo doesn't do justice to the size.  Chorizo, egg, and cheese is my Tex-Mex favorite.



Mancanchada & Eggs:

This is dish which varies in heat from one restaurant to another.  Note: the hot sauce is on the beans and not the mancanchada.  Taste your food before adding the sauce.  Mancanchada is dried beef, tomato, and jalapeno peppers cooked into egg.  Note: there is not much egg in this mixture.  It's mostly beef and jalapenos.  This is one of my second favorite Tex-Mex dishes.



Three Tacos for $3.50:

You can have any two-ingredient tacos for $3.50.  Great deal for great tacos.  Above are from left to right, bacon-egg taco, chorizo-egg taco, and bean-cheese taco.  Yes, the egg counts as an ingredient.

Please excuse some of the photos.  The collecting of photos for this post spanned from my old phone (no longer manufactured  to my Apple i-Phone 6.  The i-Phone takes better photos than most cameras that I have owned.

Wurst Fest Potato Pancakes of New Braunfels

Please excuse the photo quality.  It was taken a year ago with my old phone.  Wurst Fest is New Braunfels' equivalent to October Fest, but in November.

The New Braunfels Rotary has the most popular dish (and the longest line) for Wurst Fest -- potato pancakes!  And they have the process down to an assembly line to keep up with the demand for their great cakes.

My guess is that the dough is premixed.  Here one of the volunteers is dropping a glob of pancake dough in the shallow fryer.

The bottom side of the cakes float downstream to the flipper, another volunteer, who flips the cakes to cook them on the other side.  Note that the Rotarians have two lines of fryers to keep up with the demand.

Golden brown on both sides, this is a dish to die for.

Inc: Tomatillos Cafe & Cantina, San Antonio

Enchiladas!  That's why I come to Tomatillos in San Antonio.

Tomatillos is located on Broadway which runs parallel to US-281.  Just about any exit will take you to Broadway.  Tomatillos is south of Incarnate Word University.  This is a must stop when my daughter Michelle comes to town.  She has to have her enchilada fix.



Cheese Enchilada Plate:

Two cheese enchiladas are topped with a chili con carne sauce and then with melted cheese.  All dishes come with great refried beans and Mexican rice.  Cheese enchiladas are my favorite.



Fajita Quesadilla: 

Grilled oversize flour tortilla is stuffed with beef fajitas and jack cheese.  This is good stuff.  I can make a meal off of one of these.



Tres Colores Enchiladas:

Three enchiladas on this sampling plate.  The beef enchilada is topped with cheese.  The cheese enchilada is topped with chili con carne.  And the chicken enchilada is topped with tomatillo sauce.  

Central Texas to the Gulfcoast Road Trip

Starting from San Antonio and heading south on I-37 is about a 150 mile trip to the Texas Gulf Coast where there are a lot of great eat places along the way.  Here are some of the places I recommend.

------------------DAY ONE-------------------

Van's Bar-B-Que for Breakfast:

Look at the size of this biscuit!  Must be four inches long and two inches deep.  Toasty on the outside while flaky inside.  This is a great biscuit and it comes from Van's Bar-B-Que.  If you can hold out for about two hours or get an early start, Van's is a great place for breakfast.

I have been to Van's for lunch for years, but this have been there for breakfast only once.  If you're on I-37, just take exit 65 (Oakville) and you're there.  It's on the east side access road of the interstate.

Bacon & Eggs with Biscuit

Eggs over easy with home fries and crispy bacon.  That white stuff in the cup is cream gravy.  I will show you what to do with that later.


Padre Island Burger Company:

Once into Corpus Christi, turn off of I-37 at Exit 4 and take the Nas-CCad Expressway to North Padre Island.  Turn left off of South Padre Island Drive onto TX-361.  The burger place is less than a block on the left.  

Dr. Padre: the Bacon-Cheddar Burger,  1 of 7 Speciality Burgers         

Photo says it all.  The cheese is melted perfectly.  Great burger meat and reasonably priced.  Choice of buns ... can't get any better than that.  They have seven speciality burgers on the menu every day in addition to their special of the week.  Or you can design your own burger with a choice of four buns and 17 toppings not counting lettuce-pickles-tomatoes.   My Cuz B.J. could have a gluten-free bun instead of eating his burger with a fork and knife.





Mikel May's Beachside Bar & Grill:

Mikel May's is located on Bob Hall Pier off of South Padre Island Drive on North Padre Island.  I know that sounds funny, but for some reason South Padre Island Drive is on North Padre Island.  You can see this place from South Padre Island Drive.  It's on the right.

Seafood Nachos with Shrimp & Crabmeat

All types of seafood and bar food sold here.  My favorite is the seafood nachos:  Crabmeat & Shrimp with melted Parmesan Cheese Cream Sauce served on top of Homemade Tortilla Chips.

------------------DAY TWO-----------------

Breakfast at the Downtown Grill:

Find Ocean Drive and follow the scenic tour of Corpus Christi mansions to the down town.  Turn inland a few blocks and you're on Market Street.  Travel down Market until you find the Downtown Grill.  This place is also known for its awesome business lunches.

Grilled Chuck Steak, Scrambled Eggs, & Hash Browns

I grew up in a thin-sliced bacon, sunny-side up eggs, and white grits house in New Orleans.  While in college, the rebellious side of me took over one late night while at this Pit Grill in Monroe, LA.  There I had scrambled eggs, hash browns, and beef chuck steak.  Yes, the hash browns and eggs had to have ketchup.  The taste of the grilled beefsteak and eggs was an immediate hit.  The Downtown Grill brought back those memories.



Lunch at the Tarpon Bar & Grill in Port Aransas:

My girl Jewell at the Tarpon Grill.

Take TX 361 past the hamburger joint and drive to Port Aransas, turn right on Cotter Ave.  It's right next to the Tarpon Inn.  My first visit to the Tarpon Inn was in 1970 when I worked as a cub reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller Times, one of my most fun jobs ever.  

One Pound of Fried Shrimp with Beer-Battered Onion Rings

My girlfriend and I ate through most of this one pound of shrimp before I remembered to take a photo.  To cut back on the fat intake, we had a salad for our second side.

On my bucket list for this place are the following:  Charbroiled Oysters, Crawfish Queso, Shrimp Cervice, Two Kinds of Fish Tacos, Two Kinds of Shrimp Taco, and yes ... Shrimp & Chorizo-Cheese Grits.

Lite Dinner from JB's Bakery & Cafe:

JB's is this awesome German Bakery on the Island found on South Padre Island Drive.  Grab some sweets during the day and take them back to where you're staying for dinner.  Once you're in JB's, you will want to take the bakery with you.  It's like being a child and waking up in Candy Land, only you're an adult in Pastry Heaven.

The Cream Puff

Look at that cream puff ... real heavy cream went into making that filling ... and not that white fake stuff you find in other bakeries.  Make sure you refrigerate their Cream Puff asap, unless you eat it right away.   Just have a pot of coffee brewing.  Pastries like coffee.

--------------------DAY THREE----------------

Back to BJ's for Breakfast:

Same place but just a second chance at their pastries.  Have breakfast out on the water behind the bakery and nuzzle up to a cup of their coffee.

The Fruit Strudels

You have to try their fruit strudels: raspberry cream-cheese (upper left), blueberry cream-cheese (not shown), and lemon-cream-cheese (lower right).   

Lunch at JJ's Little Bay Cafe:

To get here, get back on the expressway and take TX-35 north from Corpus Christi.  Then select the Business 35 exit when you get to Rockport.  Or you can head out TX-361 past the hamburger place, through Port Aransas and take the ferryboat.   Get back to Business 35.  Either way, JJ's is just before you get to the coast.

Brisket Omelet

This is their brisket omelet with melted jack, sour cream, peppers-n-onions.  Really good stuff.  The potatoes were crisp.  This is a good breakfast or lunch combo.

Dinner at Pier 99:

Pier 99 is located on 2822 N Shoreline Blvd. which means you have to get back onto Ocean Drive and get back to go over this channel bridge to get to North Beach.  This island is where the Texas State Aquarium and the USS Lexington are located, which makes Pier 99 a nice lunch or dinner spot after touring these facilities.  Or better yet, take the expressway back to I-37 south and follow it until you veers onto US-181 which takes you right into North Beach.

Seafood Po-Boys with Beer

Great fried shrimp and oysters here.  No, not the New Orleans French bread, but you're not in New Orleans.  This is a great sandwich none the less.  Just sit out on the bar overlooking the water, sip a beer, and watch the ships pass by while you chow down on a seafood po-boy of your choice: oyster, shrimp, or fish.

------------------DAY FOUR----------------

Price's Chef for Breakfast:

Price's is has a diner look and offers diner food.  It's located on South Alameda Street.  Get on Ocean Drive and head toward downtown.  Turn left onto DelMar Boulevard and then right on South Alameda Street.  It's there on the right.  You may have to drive around the area to find a parking spot.  There is off-street parking.

Breakfast Sampler

This is their big breakfast sampler: biscuits, bacon, ham, egg, grits/hash-browns, pancakes, sausage.




Homeward with Late Lunch at the Dixie Grille in Seguin:

The grille is located off I-10 in Seguin Texas of Exit 607 on the south side of the highway.  This place is opened for lunch and dinner.  Normally, I do not post no-breakfast places unless they are really good, and Dixie Grille is really good.



Chicken-Fried Meats

Chicken-fried pork chops, steak, and chicken are fantastic here at Dixie Grille.  Note that the mashed potatoes are standard with these meals.  The potatoes are homemade and still have the skins, and that's the way I like them.  All plates come with homemade corn bread.  I could just eat that!

Chicken-Fried Pork Chops

Chicken-Fried Steak

Chicken-Fried Chicken Breasts

New Braunfels American Legion Breakfast Buffet

Look at that crisp bacon and juicy sausage.  This is the best kept secret for Sunday breakfast buffet in New Braunfels.  And its held every third Sunday of the month.  Tired of waiting for a table just to wait some more for food on Sunday.  The American Legion Post 179 knows how to do a breakfast buffet.  No waiting, custom-cooked food, and all you can eat.  Come-on New Braunfels, get yourself over here on the third Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.  Or go somewhere else and wait ... for less food.

The Legion Hall is located on the corner of Academy and Coll across the street from the Sophienburg Museum.  Oh, now I know where it is!




Biscuits & Sausage Gravy:

Their menu says biscuits and gravy, but what they don't tell you is that it is "sausage gravy".  This dish you get to self serve.  Yes, there is a biscuit under that gravy.




Omelet Made to Order:

Ingredient options for the omelet: cheese, ham, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos.



Everything Omelet:

This omelet had it all.  You can also get eggs fried the way you want.  Yes, that means sunny-side up or whatever other ways you like them.

French Toast:

I tried this the last time I ate here.  This is really good.  The picture above is of the toast cooking, but they look better with sugar, butter, and syrup.  

The Pancake:

The pancake breakfast is a bucket list item for me.  Next time I'll have pancakes and sausage.




The Menu:

This time, the post changed the way they serve.  Instead of having everything in pots for you to serve yourself and for the food to cool, they cooked the items as their customers ordered them.  And they asked you if you wanted more.  This is my kind of buffet.



The Bar:

The post serves Bloody Mary and Mimosa cocktails as well.  There is a donation request for cocktails.

Post 179 has turned a fund raiser into a public service.  But their great deal to the people of New Braunfels only works if you go.  I don't know about you, but I don't like to wait in line for a table on Sundays only to have to wait for my breakfast after.  My girlfriend and I drive from Canyon Lake to eat here.  Much rather be driving than waiting.