I know, you've probably been waiting for us to just get our act together, take the short drive over to Cibolo, and slip into Harmon's for some awesome barbecued vittles. And Friday, we did just that. And I was starving when we got there way past lunch time.
If you aren't familiar with the Universal City - Shertz - Cibolo metroplex area, you'll want to make sure you have good directions, or just use the Garmin like we do.
We rolled into town just after 2 in the afternoon, and saw the place, but with no cars parked out front, thought maybe it was closed. But turns out, there is parking in the back, along with the awesome smokey smell of the barbecue pit. 
When we walked in, we were the only customers and the staff was cleaning up from what was probably a pretty busy lunch. Important note: Harmon's is not midget freindly.* The counter and especially the soda fountain seem as though they were designed for tall people and no kids! Good move, I say.
The restaraunt has three areas; a game room with a pool table and arcade games, the regular dining area,
and then a larger dining area that can be used for parties and such. The owner told me that they have live music including a Blues night.
Eager to eat becasue we were starving, my wife ordered the chicken and brisket combo. The first test for her is always, "Does the meat stand on its own without sauce." Yes and yes. This chicken is wonderful with or without the sauce. But go ahead and try the sauce. Between the two of us, we probably went through half of the squeeze bottle at our table.
The brisket had an excellent flavor and again, I could easily eat it without the sauce, but didn't, just becasue Harmon's sauce was so delicious. And yea, we bought some to go.
I paid $2.00 more and ordered the pork ribs and chicken for my combo. If you think that the chicken looks totally blackened, it is. But it was not burnt by any stretch. The chicken simply falls off the bones and seriously, between the two of us, a buzzard couldn't have licked a DNA sized morsel of chicken from the bones when we were done.
The ribs were fine. They had a nice taste to them but truth be told, I could name off two or three other places that I would have to rate a little higher, but by all means, if you stop by, give them a try. They certainily do not skimp, and when you order a plate from Harmon's, you won't go hungry.
In addition to the bread, pickles & onions that came with our combos, we ordered two sides each. Between the two of us, we ordered potato salad, green beans, ranch style beans and cole slaw.
The potatoe salad is interesting - it has a nice mustardy taste to it and if I'm not mistaken, there were bits of green olives in it. The green beans were spiced up just a bit with onions. Certainly better than straight from the can like many places try to pass off. The Cole slaw was nice and creamy, and the beans were actually really good. I don't know if they were specially made by Harmon's or just some quality brand from a can being used. My wife was slightly disappointed that there was no creamed corn available, but we did hit the place just after lunch.
To seal the deal, we ordered a cup of peach cobbler which my wife enjoyed.
If you visit for lunch but only want to try one thing, go for the chicken and by all means, enjoy the sauce. That above all else warrants a big Tasty Treat for Harmon's in Cibolo.
* I'm just kidding. No Little People were harmed in the eating of our lunch.
See the rest of the pictures on Flickr.
We had no intention of going to the beach in some sort of a "get wet, get sand on ourselves, get sunburned" type of fashion, but it was worth a drive over to Clearwater just to show off the place to my daughter's husband who had never been to Florida before. Make no mistake, there are loads of more finely tuned beaches within the price of gas, but I have always had a fondness for Clearwater, and it is easy.
We all agreed that we were ready for lunch and with the help of Garmin, decided on Shells.
You can't come to Florida and not get yourself some seafood, and this was as good a place as any. We opted to sit outside at Shell's Bridge Bar on a deck with a Tiki Bar. There was a light but solid breeze that kept it somewhat cool, but thankfully we had an umbrella for shade.
Our waitress Angie, was Johnny on the spot with iced teas and some incredible, warm and very soft rolls that were simply awesome. I think they could have brought us a few baskets of the rolls and sent us on our way, and we would have all been pleased.
But we ordered lunch and got even more of a treat.
Our son-in-law got the Fried Seafood Combo which is loaded with an assortment of shrimp, calamari, coconut shrimp and catfish. With the fries, you could feed a small family of vegans.
My wife and daughter shared the same combo but opted for whitefish as opposed to the catfish.
My son ordered up a Beer-battered fish and chips platter and he described it as being "Sorta like Long John Silvers, only good."
I got another one of the platters that contained whitefish, bay scallops, shrimp and clams. The plates came with an incredible Cole slaw with a surprise - mandarin orange slices mixed in with it. Who comes up with these little twists? Good choice. As our waitress said, it makes the Cole slaw almost like a dessert.
Speaking of the waitress, we had a seasoned pro who worked the entire Bridge Bar area almost unassisted and pulled it off without a hitch. She was quick with a refill of tea, knew all the daily specials and was quick to make suggestions when anyone hesitated with the ordering.
And I darn near stiffed her on the tip. Let me explain. You may recall me complaining about my crappy cell phone that has a mind of its own. I know, I probably should have replaced the stupid thing months ago, but I just haven't. And, since I use the handy Tip Calculator that comes complimentary with my cell phone service, it is often jacked-up just like the rest of the phone.
So, when we got the bill, my wife asked me how much the total was so she could use her phone (which works) to give me a tip amount. I know - we could have avoided all this had I simply demonstrated as much interest in mathematics in school as I do eating. The long and the short of it is, I told my wife the total, she heard a different number and thus, gave me a lesser tip amount than what I think the outstanding service deserved.
As we were driving away, everyone totally stuffed and ready for a nap, somehow the cost of lunch came up (I think it was about $78.00 for the five of us) and my wife said, "That's not what you said." Suddenly, I was horrified with the thought that after having such good service, we looked like total cheapskates. My wife had told me a Tip amount of $10 and I left $12.00. I guess, technically $12.00 is fine but I would ask this of those of you who might find yourself in Clearwater, FL and get a hankering for a seafood platter. If you go to Shells, can you give an extra buck or two to Angie, and let her know we appreciated her service.
During the drives my wife and I take, we are constantly on the look-out for the perfect little place to stop and grab a bite to eat. We have a few methods of operation for finding places. First, it is not uncommon for us to get a recommendation from a friend to try a particular place if we happen to be in some town. Other times, we find our place visiting a small town and there is only one place to eat - that makes it pretty simple. The third and very often used method of selection is our friend Garmin.
When we made the decision to make our return home from Devine via Hondo, I consulted Garmin to reveal several potential dining candidates. One place that caught my eye was a Billy Bob's Backyard Barbecue. The other place that caught my attention was called McBee's. I recalled the name because we had seen a McBee's down in Pleasanton on Highway 97, and later, my brother-in-law told me that we had missed some good eatin'. There's only one problem; he is a vegetarian.
As it was already close to 2 in the afternoon, stomachs were rumbling and my wife and I thought we would give Billy Bob's a try. As we drove through town, we started to wonder if perhaps we would end up in some good ol' boy's actual backyard with a huge pit and a picnic table.
Well, it turns out, that is sort of close. When we pulled into the place, there seemed to be a regular restaurant called Billy Bob's Burgers, but in the back, there was a smaller take-out sort of place called Billy Bob's Backyard BBQ. It was such a beautiful day and the smell was great. But then the logistics of where to eat came up. There were a few picnic tables occupied by fine upstanding citizens I'm sure, but for my wife, this was not going to be her idea of a good time.
Not to worry - one day we'll try the burgers for sure.
But over two blocks or so is McBee's. As soon as we parked the smell hit us. This place meant business. The place had the look and style of an older Bill Miller's to it.
Everything looked and smelled good. I ordered a two meat plate - brisket and ribs with potato salad and Cole slaw. My wife got a single meat - chicken with potato salad and ranch style beans. As soon as we sat down, we divvied up all the food so we could each have a little of everything.
The sides are nothing to write home about. I'll just leave it at that and let you know that you can order meat by the pound instead of buying the plate with two sides.
You may recall my wife coined her Eeee-yuk rating when we tried Dickey's BBQ. She is a firm believer that good Barbecue must be able to stand on its own without the use of sauce, regardless of how good the sauce is. Dickey's had a great selection of sauces and for good reason; the meat was not that great.
McBee's chicken is pure heaven. The meat fell off the bones, the seasoning was not overpowering - just some sort of pepper and whatever goodness they rubbed into it before smoking it for however long it takes. I didn't even touch the brisket or the ribs until I had devoured ever edible part of the chicken pieces on my plate. I'm telling you, I would drive to Hondo for for a piece of chicken, and that is saying something.
I must comment on the portion sizes. This place does not skimp on the vittles. The single portion of chicken was enough for two people to share. For about a dollar more, the two meat plate was loaded down.
I am fascinated with ribs from the Rib House, but they are a different sort altogether. Those are your BBQ with sauce ribs. These are your BBQ with seasoning ribs. Do not under any circumstances spoil the deliciousness of McBee's ribs with sauce. They were tender and juicy and tasty.
The brisket had a great taste to it and again, they piled it on. I did break down and try out the sauce that was on the table. I don't know if it was some house brand or what, but it had sort of a sweet taste to it. At first, I wasn't sure, but when I took a piece of bread and covered it with the sauce to taste it, I decided I liked it.
Okay, I guess I will tell you about the sides. The ranch style beans were bland. The Cole slaw was passable and much better looking than what I got at the Rib House. The potato salad was dry. My wife ended up cutting up some pickles and mixing it in and sure enough, that was enough to fix it up. I put a little BBQ sauce on mine.
The chicken alone is worth the trip, and gets McBee's Bar-B-Q in Hondo both the Tasty Treats and the Eeee-Yum seal of approval. If you are heading out to Garner State Park but are worried about getting a grill site, just stop at McBee's, order up several pounds of the chicken and take it with you.
My daughter made another trip into town this weekend and this time around, she had Garmin guide her to my oft-obsessed BBQ place, Hashknife on the Chisholm located just north of Mineral Wells and east of the town of Graford.
The lady behind the counter took notice of her immediately as she was still in her military uniform (apparently, there aren't a lot of bases in the greater Palo Pinto County area). When she ordered up six sandwiches and asked for them to go, the kind lady asked her how far she was going. Upon learning that San Antonio was the destination, she kindly placed the fixin's into containers and gave her a bag of buns for the trip. How nice is that?
Though I did consider getting up at midnight last night to dig in, I thought it better to hold off a little closer to noon today. I made it until almost 10am to be precise.
Anyway, I promise, this will be the last Hashknife update - my wife is considering putting me in for some sort of Barbecue Obsession Syndrome counseling.
Suffice it to say, even 15 or 16 hours later, it was some kind of Tasty Treat.
If you aren't familiar with the Universal City - Shertz - Cibolo metroplex area, you'll want to make sure you have good directions, or just use the Garmin like we do.
We rolled into town just after 2 in the afternoon, and saw the place, but with no cars parked out front, thought maybe it was closed. But turns out, there is parking in the back, along with the awesome smokey smell of the barbecue pit. 
When we walked in, we were the only customers and the staff was cleaning up from what was probably a pretty busy lunch. Important note: Harmon's is not midget freindly.* The counter and especially the soda fountain seem as though they were designed for tall people and no kids! Good move, I say.
The restaraunt has three areas; a game room with a pool table and arcade games, the regular dining area,
and then a larger dining area that can be used for parties and such. The owner told me that they have live music including a Blues night.
Eager to eat becasue we were starving, my wife ordered the chicken and brisket combo. The first test for her is always, "Does the meat stand on its own without sauce." Yes and yes. This chicken is wonderful with or without the sauce. But go ahead and try the sauce. Between the two of us, we probably went through half of the squeeze bottle at our table.
The brisket had an excellent flavor and again, I could easily eat it without the sauce, but didn't, just becasue Harmon's sauce was so delicious. And yea, we bought some to go.
I paid $2.00 more and ordered the pork ribs and chicken for my combo. If you think that the chicken looks totally blackened, it is. But it was not burnt by any stretch. The chicken simply falls off the bones and seriously, between the two of us, a buzzard couldn't have licked a DNA sized morsel of chicken from the bones when we were done.
In addition to the bread, pickles & onions that came with our combos, we ordered two sides each. Between the two of us, we ordered potato salad, green beans, ranch style beans and cole slaw.
The potatoe salad is interesting - it has a nice mustardy taste to it and if I'm not mistaken, there were bits of green olives in it. The green beans were spiced up just a bit with onions. Certainly better than straight from the can like many places try to pass off. The Cole slaw was nice and creamy, and the beans were actually really good. I don't know if they were specially made by Harmon's or just some quality brand from a can being used. My wife was slightly disappointed that there was no creamed corn available, but we did hit the place just after lunch.
To seal the deal, we ordered a cup of peach cobbler which my wife enjoyed.
If you visit for lunch but only want to try one thing, go for the chicken and by all means, enjoy the sauce. That above all else warrants a big Tasty Treat for Harmon's in Cibolo.
