like i was saying

I spent Saturday night searching where we could find something sweet and apple filled in this German town.  We had talked about the airport diner, which we heard had a great breakfast (and awesome milkshake) but no.  I'm sorry.  Once the apple-filled thought popped into my head, it wasn't going away.  So I searched and there it was.  Old German Bakery and Restaurant.  It was a plan.

But first I needed to go back to Luckenback.  We got there right before 9:00, just as the store was opening.

Cosme talked to the lady working the store about the history of the town while I shopped.

Sunday morning, way too early for Leon Russell's show.

 So yeah.  We walked around, shopped a little, learned a little and then headed off for breakfast.

I knew I'd found us the right place when we arrived and there was a crowd on the sidewalk, all waiting for tables.  We went in to put our name on the list and the hostess asked us how many.  Oh, only two?  She looked over to a table where an elderly woman and man (not together, just table sharing) were having coffee.  "If you want, you can sit at this table.  They're locals."  We both said sure and sat down with two strangers.  They immediately started up a conversation with us and it was funny and cool all in one.  So they gave us pointers on ordering, like only order one German pancake because they're big.

And then the best way to fix it and eat said pancake.

FYI, put your butter on, roll it up a few times like a burrito and then pour your syrup on.

And which pastries in the case were what and which were the best.  I didn't get any pictures of the pastries but I bought PLENTY.  Maybe we need to schedule another trip just for pastries.  Pastrypallooza.

Anyway, Cosme got a Belgian waffle and an omelet.  Which, by the way, our new table companion said he forgot to tell us we should ask for the biscuit to be grilled.  I'll remember that for next time but it was still a wonderful biscuit.

The table next to us had hash browns come and I knew we needed an order as well.

Seriously, y'all.  There's no way we could've eaten it all and I didn't want to leave it but it really wouldn't have held up well.  (Hanging my head in defeat.)

By the time we finished with Luckenback and breakfast, Cosme was ready to do more.  No.  You feed me like that and I'm done.  We went back to the hotel, got our stuff loaded up and got ready to fly back.  (But first you know I had to buy a couple of t-shirts from the hotel... please.)

Anyway, we plan to go back and do more of what we did last weekend.  Maybe next time we'll hit up the vineyards instead of the brewing places and maybe even listen to some live music.  Honestly though, I'd be totally fine with more of the shops and food.  Until then, I think the latest and greatest fad diet is calling my name.

let's start with

last weekend.  We had planned on a trip to San Antonio but since it was Restaurant Week, we decided on Fredericksburg.  It's not like we'd never talked about going, it just never fit into the schedule... until last weekend.  The plans were made and off we went.  We landed Saturday and stayed at The Hangar Hotel.  Whoever thought of that had the BEST idea EVER.  Seriously.  We landed and parked the plane in the hotel's plane parking lot.

This was SO convenient.  Every town should have something like this.  Also, no pets or children under 18 allowed.

The bathroom.  Just because.

The phone on the nightstand.  Again, just because.

We walked next door to rent the airport's last available car.  Talk about awesome luck.  We really hadn't planned on renting a car but decided we would if one was available and luckily, someone turned one in early.  So we rented the car and headed out for beer tasting at The Pedernales Brewing Company.  I don't care for beer but I did have one glass (of the four I paid for).  Needless to say, Cosme had a lot more than me.  Anyway, I told them I don't care for beer so they gave me one that wasn't too bitter.

A scene from our tour.

After the beer, we headed over to Luckenbach.  It was packed.  I mean let's face it, we got there at 3:00 on Saturday.  (Yes, I understand a crowd is fine but when you have pictures you want to get, people hanging out everywhere is annoying.)  We decided to head back to Fredericksburg because I knew I wanted to look in their shops.  I bought a few things and was talking to a few employees at one store and told them the German rental car lady already suggested a restaurant we planned to try.  They let me know we'd be better off calling for a reservation.  So I did.  We cut our shopping/browsing/walking down Main Street a little short because our reservation was for 6:00.  I asked about a dress code and the restaurant told us business casual.  I've been to plenty of restaurants and I know what business casual is.  I asked if we'd be okay in jeans and shorts with tennis shoes or if they'd turn us away.  She said we'd be fine.  So we headed over to The Cabernet Grill and ended up being a little early.  I learned a little something that day.  Houston's business casual and Fredericksburg's business casual are not the same thing.  We were just fine.  At this point we were both starving so we kind of went overboard: a bottle of wine, two appetizers, a salad, two entrees and a dessert.  We pigged out.  BIG TIME.  I didn't get pictures of everything but here's "my" appetizer and our dessert.

Brie with a maple glaze and grapes served with crackers.  We ate the entire thing.

Apple pie topped with ice cream and whipped cream.

After all that we almost couldn't move but knew we had to.  Actually, Cosme was just about sick.  As for the other food, the other appetizer was bacon wrapped figs with bleu cheese (I think) and some sauce that Cosme ended up sopping up with the basket of bread, Cosme's salad (that he loved) was tomatoes with pesto and something else, my filet mignon with a serrano roasted garlic bearnaise on the side with mashed potatoes and corn and Cosme's lobster topped chicken fried ribeye with whatever sides he got.  We were stuffed.  We headed back to the hotel and crashed.  We originally planned on heading over to The Officer's Club (hotel's bar) but we couldn't handle another bite or sip of anything else.  I was a little bummed because I realized after everything that in this German town, I didn't stop for any sweets.  Oh well, the good thing about taking in too much too soon and crashing early, I had time to research bakeries for the next morning.

But I'll get into that tomorrow.