2010 Texas Thanksgiving Trip

 

My girlfriend is a big Dallas Cowboys fan and wanted to check out a game at Cowboys Stadium. After looking at the game schedule, we zeroed in on the Saints game and decided to spend Thanksgiving weekend in Texas. I know it sounds so ignorant, but I never really thought of Texas as a food destination high on my list. But after a little research and help from my friends at Chowhound, we were very excited about all the options and impressed at how serious Texans took meat.

(Cowboys vs. Saints)                                (The Alamo)       

Our visit started in Dallas on Wednesday and down to Austin on Friday via West and Waco. Then, a couple side trips to Lexington, Luling, San Antonio, Lockhart and Taylor. Before flying out of Austin on Monday night. We had 38 restaurants planned, but were only able to get to 29 due to timing, Thanksgiving closures, and caloric limitations (Please see last pic in Louie Mueller post). We ranked the restaurants on the flight to Dallas based  on our expectations and we ranked them once again after the trip based on or experience. I've included our average scores below.

(Inside the capital)                                     (Fair Park)    

(Tower of the Americas)                        (Swiss Ave.Fair Park)   

We had high expectations with the barbecue and it lived up to the hype. Some of the surprises were Village Bakery, Gourdough's and City Market Barbecue.  Some of the disappoints were Black's Barbecue, Rosario's and a couple taco chains. And avoid Little Czech Bakery at all costs on your drive through West, TX.

 (Mark Cuban's house)                          (Outside the capital)     

(Happy meal McDonald's)                       (Jerry Jones' house)      

I've included lots of pictures and videos as I found Texans haven't succumbed to photographing their food, understandable.

            (Texas countryside)                       (#1 Cowboys Fan, Miss Price)      

Order	Restaurant	Rank Before	Rank After	Diff
1	Wingfield's Breakfast and Burgers	25	26	(2)
2	Stephan Pyles	2	12	(10)
3	Twisted Root Burger Co.	8	9	(1)
4	Pappas Bros.	9	4	5
5	Tacqueria La Paisanita	24	19	5
6	Fuel City Tacos	22	20	2
7	Whataburger	29	29	-
8	Snuffer's	19	15	4
9	Babe's	12	10	2
10	Village Bakery	28	8	20
11	Gerik's Ole Czech	24	16	8
12	Little Czech Bakery	26	28	(2)
13	Fonda San Miguel	9	17	(9)
14	Snow's BBQ	5	11	(6)
15	City Market BBQ	10	1	9
16	Beto's	22	23	(2)
17	Henry's Puffy Taco	21	27	(7)
18	Rosario's	14	24	(11)
19	Franklin BBQ	9	3	6
20	Antonelli's Cheese Shop	21	21	(1)
21	Gourdough's	13	5	8
22	Torchy's Taco	17	25	(8)
23	Tacos El Rico	15	18	(3)
24	La Condesa	13	6	7
25	Texas Pie Company	22	14	8
26	Smitty's Market	2	2	(1)
27	Black's Barbeque	8	22	(15)
28	Kreuz Market	5	7	(3)
29	Louie Mueller Barbeque	9	13	(5)

 

     (Texas countryside)                              (Texas countryside)     

Thanks again to all the Chowhounders that helped plan our trip. We'll be back to check out the state fair and the Red River Rivalry and can't wait to get our hands on some more meat.