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Texas USA

Local favorite: Monument Cafe in Georgetown, TX

Monument Cafe exterior in Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)The Monument Cafe is located right off of the very attractive courthouse square town center in Georgetown, Texas (just north of Austin.)

It’s a restaurant that looks all curvy and Art Deco but was really purpose-built and is quite modern in sensibility, including free WiFi and with a “non-Flash website for mobile and iPad devices.”

The menu is also modern, emphasizing fresh, organic and imaginative food that is often grown or sourced locally.

It’s more of a bistro sort of place than a diner, with fare like burgers and sandwiches at lunch, but also quiche and fresh fish.

The kid’s menu includes a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich; yum!

Monument Cafe interior in Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Standard Texas diner fare like chicken-fried steak is available later in the day, but also ribeye steaks, pan-fried pork chops and that very Southern fixture, the vegetable plate.

The cobblers, pies and other desserts are homemade, of course, and delish.

The interior is larger than it appears from the outside, and there are always lots of families there.

We had lunch to celebrate my daughter’s high school graduation, and although we had to wait a bit to get in, it was worth it.

The Monument was written up in Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood, and one visit will show you why.

Monument Cafe raspberry lemonade Georgetown TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough)

It’s well worth a detour if you are in the area, for parents AND for kids.

I had to include this closeup photo of their raspberry lemonade, in case you have – like me – a sudden urge to take a swan dive into your icy drink on hot days.

Not that we have hot days in Texas, mind you….

The cafe is located at 500 South Austin Ave. From Interstate 35, exit University Ave. and go east 1 mile. Turn left on Austin Ave., head north a few blocks to 5th Street, and it’s on the left.

The phone number is 512-930-9586.  They are open from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm (until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.)

(This post will be included in the fab Wanderfood Wednesday. Check it out!)

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USA

Good food in the Shenandoah: Brookside Restaurant in Luray VA

Brookside Restaurant near Skyline Drive in Luray, Virginia (photo by Sheila Scarborough)I’m warning you, the sweet potato fries here are embarrassingly addictive.

We’d just popped off of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park near Luray, Virginia and were looking for a local restaurant for a late lunch when we passed a group of cabins tucked next to the road under some pretty trees, and a stone building next to them that said “Restaurant.”

Can you say u-turn, with a spray of gravel?

It turned out to be the Brookside Restaurant, a well-known eatery in these parts and perfect for our lunch.

The cuisine was down-home and there were many sandwich and salad options, with homemade veggie sides (I liked the green beans.) Those sticks of sweet potato came with a sweet honey-butter dipping sauce that contrasted divinely with the saltiness of the fries.

Beverage listings at Brookside; note Yuppie beer (photo by Sheila Scarborough)

There’s a food and salad buffet as well, a kid’s menu with the usual chicken tenders suspects and a dessert menu full of pies and fruit cobblers.

I laughed at the beer listings at the bottom of the menu, which included three brews labeled “Imported and Yuppie Beer.” Since Sam Adams is based in Boston and Killians is made by Coors, they must be the Yuppie ones.

Don’t miss the pretty running stream (hence the name “brookside”) just behind the restaurant.

First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia ate here recently during a family trip to nearby Luray Caverns.

I wonder if they ordered the fries?

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Texas USA

Kid-friendly Mexican food in Houston: Lupe Tortilla

Lupe Tortilla in West Houston You know how it is in restaurants with little kids; you need to get seated quickly, get the food quickly and one parent ends up doing the “toddler-chase” while the other one bolts down the contents of his or her plate.

A good noise level to drown out the occasional squawking is a bonus.

I have a recommendation for you in Houston: Lupe Tortilla.

It’s a local chain of 8 restaurants, and I first heard about it when I wrote an article about Pro Stock drag racer Erica Enders (a Houston native and along with her sister, the subject of the Disney movie “Right on Track.”)  Erica loves Lupe Tortilla and they were a sponsor of her race car, so I thought I’d check them out on my next visit to town.

Lupe Tortilla outdoor playground for little ones who hate to wait

At the West Houston location, the place was packed at dinnertime on a Sunday, but the line moved quickly and hallelujah, there is a small outdoor playground that was mobbed with little patrons and their parents.

The food was good with a nice variety, the margarita came quickly and the noise level was enough of a din to cover squawking, but not so loud that you couldn’t carry on a conversation.

Houston being Houston, the restaurant is tucked next to a freeway (Interstate 10) and it took me awhile to find the right access road, but once I got in, life was good.

How can life not be good at a Tex-Mex joint on a weekend?

Pay Lupe Tortilla a visit.

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Photos Texas USA

Photo of the Week: rather massive brownies at Rather Sweet Bakery

Massive brownies at the Rather Sweet Bakery in Fredericksburg TX (photo by Sheila Scarborough) I know, it’s food overload this time of year, but how can you miss when it’s slab-sized brownies?

These are from the Rather Sweet Bakery in German-tinged Fredericksburg, Texas.

It’s tucked behind the historic building where Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz was born, just off of Main Street and down the road from the newly-redesigned National Museum of the Pacific War.

Founded by native Texas Rebecca Rather (known as the “Pastry Queen” and also related to journalist Dan Rather) the bakery is known for gargantuan but tasty tarts, cookies, muffins and scones, plus some of the most gorgeous cakes you’ve ever seen.

One of her featured tarts has a pretty little “hat” of curlicued meringue, and according to the staff the day we visited, the Mexican Chocolate Cake is another best-seller.

There’s a small side room to sit and order hot or cold sandwiches, and right next door they’re getting ready to open a cafe annex (“Rather Sweet, Too.”)

Guaranteed kid-pleaser!