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.
I know to some of you this may come across as being a bit obsessive about a place to grab some food, but I think I have somewhat of a breakthrough on the location of the best barbeque I have had in recent memory, Hashknife on the Chisholm.
My daughter is making the trip from Wichita Falls down to San Antonio this weekend and as my wife was talking to her via cellular technology, she mentioned that she was getting close to Mineral Wells. I quickly alerted her to be on the lookout for the barbecue place we enjoyed so much and reported about here and here. Unfortunately, I told her literally minutes too late because when I looked up the name of a company she mentioned on Google Maps, it was obvious she had already passed the place.
But, that gave me an idea. The big mystery has been that this little BBQ place has no presence, other than this Blog, on the Internet. Using the Hybrid feature on Google Maps, I followed 281 north up from where my daughter was in Mineral Wells until I found a place that matched the features I recall. An intersection that was a 4-way-stop with two stores on the same side of 281 but nothing on the other corners.
To give you an idea of where I'm talking about in relation to Mineral Wells, here is an overview of the area. The big circle is the place where the BBQ place is.
So, once I got to the intersection on the map, I did a search on variations of BBQ and Restaurant etc with no luck. So then, I remembered that the business on the other corner was a gas station, so I typed Gas into the "Find Business" tab. Turns out that G's Gas and Groceries shares a corner, and further, G's has a phone number. So, I called them.
Now this can be sort of tricky because if I said the wrong thing, the lady who answered could have sent me on a wild goose chase. My main concern was that the barbeque place may be a fierce competitor of sorts. But, what the heck. So a very nice country-sounding lady answers and I explain that I'm calling from San Antonio and such, and the whole business about not being able to find any reference to this barbeque place on the internet. She indulged me for a few seconds which was nice of her, then she said, "Yep, that's the place right across the street from me." Bingo! She said they had been in business about a year - which may explain the lack of any advertising.
I had hoped that she might have an address or a phone number, but I think she decided that perhaps I was a telemarketer or Hillary Supporter or something, because that was pretty much all she would confirm. I thanked her for her time and wished her a fine evening.
So now, what we know is that G's Gas and Groceries is at 8161 North Highway 281 in the unincorporated town of Peadenville in Palo Pinto County, TX. So, I'm guessing that Hashknife on the Chisholm is going to have an address of something like 8000 or maybe even 7950 or something like that - who knows really, but the good news is, when my daughter gets home, I'm going to plug in the address to G's Groceries into her Garmin so she'll be able to get a good chipped beef barbeque sandwich when she returns to Wichita Falls.
You know, I could probably just call 1411 on my cell phone and ask for a listing, but I want to keep this mystery going for a little longer. I have faith in the Internet and I trust one of you people out there will say, "Hey, doesn't Bob own the Hashknife on the Chisholm? I wonder if he knows that some dumbass on the Internet likes his barbeque?"
So there you have it. An update on lunch from a few months ago.
Ever since our visit to the Tip Top Cafe last weekend, my wife has been regretting the fact that she had a cheeseburger instead of the signature Chicken Fried Steak. I could tell that she had a hankerin' for it when I noticed a huge pull-out from the newspaper with a life-sized photo of a chicken fried steak, complete with gravy staring up at me on my desk for several days.
This afternoon, she called me at work and asked how quickly I could get home because she could stand it no more; we would have to hit Grady's on Bandera Road pronto, PDQ and then some.
Just a word about Grady's as opposed to Rudy's. I find that people are either Grady's people or Rudy's people. I'm a Grady's person. I get the whole thing about Rudy's - you know, served on butcher paper, a little boat of cream corn, maybe a half pound of this, a half pound of that, half a chicken and some sauce. I get it. I just don't care for it as much as other people seem to.
Don't get me wrong - if someone is having a luncheon there, I'll go and enjoy it. But if there was a Grady's and a Rudy's right next door to each other, I'd be in Grady's.
Of course that might be rude if the luncheon was being held next door in Rudy's, but I think you get the point.
Oh. And I have also found that people who like Rudy's don't usually appreciate the brilliance of Bill Miller's. I'm not about to come out and say that Bill Miller's is the best BBQ ever made, because that would be a joke. But the fact that you can get good, consistent food in a fast-food format is awesome. People who like Grady's seem to appreciate that about Bill Miller's.
If you want some really good BBQ, I'm telling you, you have to head north up 281 beyond Mineral Wells (or there abouts - I haven't been able to find any reference to this place on the Internet to confirm the address or town) called Hashknife on the Chisholm. That, my friends, is some good eats.
So, my wife ordered up the chicken fried steak with corn and mashed potatoes. She was so excited she nearly did a jig! - I'm kidding, honey, really. Grady's gets you in the eatin' mood when you walk in. They give you your tea, point you in the direction of all the fixin's like onions and pickles and such, and just about the time you sit down, here it comes.
I ordered up the catfish along with some green beans coleslaw and an onion ring or two. I have to tell you, I love me some catfish and as a general rule, Clear Spring Catfish Cafe between New Braunfels and Seguin is wonderful although the one in San Antonio at Afton Oaks is not bad either. But if you can't make it there, the breading on the catfish at Grady's is done just right for me. Not too crisp so as to make me chip a tooth, but not too soft wear it falls off the fish before you can take a second bite.
I have to report, I wolfed down my green beans, took a bite of slaw, then couldn't hold back anymore and unleashed myself on the fish. My wife made several attempts at offering me a bite of her chicken fried steak, but seriously, I was in an embarrassing frenzy of consumption and had she stuck a fork full of the golden brown delight in my general direction, she may have lost a finger or two.
Grady's gets a solid 3.5 TT's on my Tasty Treat Scale, only lowered because my green beans contained foreign objects - corn I believe. That is UNSAT my friends. Never ruin good green beans with corn. But the catfish was a solid 5 TTs! Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm.
For those concerned, I promptly came home, swapped into my gym clothes and hit the treadmill for a suitable period of time. And I did not throw-up once!
I had talked to a few co-workers about the best route to take from San Antonio to Wichita Falls, and the general consensus was that 281 was the way to go. Beside the fact that the drive would be much more scenic, the chance of encountering huge construction delays was somewhat limited. I have to say though, I was slightly concerned that we might find ourselves locked behind an Old Man in a Hat taking a leisurely Sunday drive, or even scarier, finding ourselves locked in the pokey of a small town, arrested by a Jackie Gleason looking sheriff upset that I was transporting contraband of some sort. But, neither of these things happened, and we had a great drive.
It doesn't take long, but once you get as far as even Spring Branch, you have shed the congestion and growth of that 281 and 1604 area which, in my mind feels like the last place I would want to live. Suddenly, the bulldozers and tree removal operations are gone, and the beauty of the Hill Country comes into view. There is no doubt why so many people choose to flee the city and move north to places like Boerne, even if it means a longer drive to work. Having said that, I'll stick with Silver Creek for the time being.
There are so many small towns worth stopping in along the way and certainly enough that you could make an enjoyable day trip, if only to the Dairy Queen, or a Chicken Express 
or better yet, the Golden Chick!
The first place that we came across that really looked like we had to come back for a weekend was Marble Falls. Even though it was raining, we could see what a truly nice looking town it was, complete with Lake LBJ and Horseshoe Bay. I had heard of Marble Falls before, but just never made the connection that it would be such a nice looking place. We didn't stop, but I suspect we'll take a drive up sometime.
We did stop in Hico, a small town famous for an incredible piece of artwork. Supposedly, this is where Billy the Kid ended up. As such, the fine people of Hico (pronounced High-Co, so say my wife) and Erath County have developed a town square including a saloon,
a museum, a big huge spur 
and a really, unique, sculpture of, according to the brass plate, Billy the Kid.
I was amazed to learn that Erath is one of 36 Texas counties that are "Dry", which means they do not permit the sell of liquor. I have often thought this prohibition of sorts was really, anti-American, and even, anti-Texan. Just becasue I choose not to drink does not give me any cause to take away from your good time. (Okay. That was just an example. I rarely choose not to drink, but you understand my point). So anyway, as I pulled into a parking spot so as to get a closer look of this work of art, it occurred to me that the people of Hico and Erath county were on to something.
I am not the sole arbiter of good taste when it come to art, or anything else - hell, you should see what I wear in public sometimes. But you don't have to dip a crucifix in a cup of pee to for me to see the difference between good art and bad art. This sculpture looks as though it was either crafted by one-armed third graders or a group of really liquored up blind guys. (Please, no offense to any of the groups I may have just offended). I mean, seriously, had the plaque not identified the mass of hardened fecal matter as Billy the Kid, I might have suspected it was an interesting shaped meteorite that had fallen upon the town of Hico and warranted a night of binge drinking. So, hats off to the town fathers who voted to board the wagon and allow no further art displays.
Now there I've gone and yammered on about the Billy the Kid sculpture when there was a town with an almost equally offensive site to tell you about. Mineral Wells.
This is somewhat interesting to me, now that I have had a few days to digest what I saw and actually do a little research on the topic. As we first drove into town, it looked quaint, but slightly larger than some of the smaller towns we had passes through during the trip up 281N. As we approached, I honestly thought we had stumbled upon one of those facade towns created by Hollywood so that you could shoot some sort of horror film. I fully expected bats and even zombies to approach our vehicle at the first stop light.
The reason for this was the long vacant, and on the market if you'd care to make an offer, Baker Hotel. Along with the Baker, there is also the Crazy Hotel which is still occupied as an old folks home. Not suggesting that any of them are crazy, mind you. Compared to the rest of the landscape, both before and after our brief trip through Mineral Wells, the place just seemed totally depressed and, even without a huge sculpture of Billy the Kid, ugly. But as I say, now that I have had a few days to digest it, I think Mineral Wells deserves another chance, and I think I would enjoy a day trip just to take some pictures and explore the place a bit more.
The last place to tell you about before our arrival in Wichita Falls was just north of Mineral Wells and frankly, I don't think it was in a town at all. I have been doing some research since Friday to find any reference to this place with no luck, so I'm guessing that it is either new, or recently underwent a name change. The name of the place was the Hashknife on the Chisholm, and my wife and I both agree, we had the best, bar none, Chipped BBQ Beef sandwich, EVER!
There was another restaurant just across the street and it was really a flip of a coin as to which one to eat at. Luck was with us. According to the wife of the cook/owner, the name comes from the brand used by the great great-grandfather or something like that, who used to run cattle along the Chisholm Trail. But the only references to Hashknife I could find on the Internet were in reference to a ranch in Arizona. But I could have gotten it wrong. There is a Hashknife Bed & Breakfast in Abilene, but I have no idea if it is related. If you have some info, please let me know - I'd just like to be able to tell people exactly where it was and more about it.
We ordered the chipped beef sandwich, potato salad and a drink for about $6.00 each, and it was well worth it. We did wonder about whether it was chipped beef or chopped beef, but I guess they can call it what they want - it was good! And the potato salad was out of this world.
I don't mean to prattle on about this, but this place had it going on. We didn't indulge, but they had some nice looking pudding (that the owner gave free to some customers) and some cobbler that looked very inviting. Before we left, a young lady came in and ordered some ribs to take to her parents. When I got a look at the slab being wrapped in foil, I almost felt like staying for another round of eats. But we had to move on. After we ate, my wife got such a kick out of the poster in the Ladies room, that she had to take the camera with her to pee. Thankfully, there were no equally proportioned pin-ups in the Men's.
Seriously, if you have been to this place or know more about it, I'd love to do a follow-up report.
With lunch out of the way, we made the easy trip into Wichita Falls and just before we got to the base to see our daughter, I stopped in at the Texas Welcome Center. I couldn't let it go by without mentioning the lady (who I'm sorry I didn't get her name) who was so polite and truly helpful. We explained that were were in town for the weekend and asked what there was to do; she gave me a map and circled poiints of interest and directions and such. Just a wonderful representative to greet people visiting Texas and I intend to write a letter to the state agency that runs the place. This lady was great.
That's it for now. Tomorrow, I'll try to tell you about our visit to Sheppard AFB and a few of the places we saw. How was your recent trip?
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.
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.
