First and foremost, I need to thank the several readers (including another one today) who alerted us to Porky J's, hidden in a small shopping center on Bandera Road between Huebner and Sawyer. When someone says Porky J's is a hole in the wall, they ain't kiddin'! There is no store front at all; just a sign leading you to awesome goodness in the form of Memphis style vittles.
I had mentioned that we made an effort to try Porky J's on Sunday but surprisingly, found the place closed. I learned the story behind that little mystery this evening when I talked with one of the owners during our dinner. Turns out Porky J's does catering and had such an overwhelmingly unexpected crowd at an event, that they simply ran out of food. Don't take that as a sign of poor planning. They expected to serve a few hundred plates and ended up serving over a thousand. So, I think we can give them a pass, don't you?
We have learned from recent experiences at other small businesses that one of the real joys of the dining experience is a positive atmosphere and positive people. A friend of ours told us about attempting to give this place a try during a busy Friday evening but having to wait so long to have their order taken, they simply left. I can only guess that was a total freak accident. Porky J's is small - I'm guessing they can only seat about 30 people at max capacity - so who knows how they could have messed that one up. I can only suggest giving them another shot.
In addition to the smallish indoor seating area (by the way, no smaller than the indoor seating area at either Augie's Barbed Wire or The Rib House - two of our favorites), they have an interesting outdoor patio formed by the surrounding walls of the buildings to the side and behind the place. Inside, the theme is Memphis and the music reflects that.
First up, I had to try the onion rings. Most of you know that I am less a fan of the crispity-crunchy type rings and much prefer the beer battered version. But when onion rings have a unique seasoning to them, I take note. These are not dropped in the fryer out of a frozen bag from a local supplier; like everything else, they are home made and very good. Try them.
My wife had a hankering for a brisket sammy. What she got was a really messy (in a very good way) Memphis style treat with Cole-slaw mashed in with the brisket between the bread. We had talked about the fact that when we flew through Memphis last time, we saw that you could order your sandwich with or without Cole-slaw. Now we know the correct answer; you must have it with the slaw. The brisket does have a slight bite to it, so if you are a lightweight in the spicy department, keep your iced tea handy.
I had to try the pork ribs and was glad I did. Again, I had the spicy version of things, but you can order a milder version if you need. Don't get me wrong, for most San Antonian's you'll want to go with the spicy, I'm just letting you know of the option in case your brittle aunt visits or something. I also asked for some brisket just so I could try it without the benefit of sandwich and slaw, and I will tell you that it is wonderful. You can try it with the home made BBQ sauce, but it isn't needed.
To really make me fat, I also asked for small portions of potato salad and green beans. Both are top notch. The potato salad was smooth with no aftertaste which can sometimes be an issue. The green beans are the flat type, nicely seasoned and cooked enough to make me happy. Good stuff!
As we chatted with the owner, I asked him if he had tried Augie's. This lead to quite a discussion on the topic and I mentioned the wonderful pulled-pork sammy I had last time I went to Augie's. A few minutes later, out comes a serving of pulled-pork for me to give a little taste to. My wife and I both LOVED it, but I was not willing to go on record as saying his was better than Augie's. I'd need to do one of those blindfolded taste tests to be sure. I can just tell you this: Porky J's is a lot closer to my house than Augie's is.
This all brings me back to the issue of enjoying the atmosphere and friendly folks. I can tell you right now that if I walked into Porky J's and it was jammed packed, I'd get my order to go. I just don't like crowds in small places. But we must have hit at the right time because we beat the dinner crowd.
We had a great conversation about all the places we love to eat and to make it that much better, we enjoyed some really great food, and that makes our visit to Porky J's a Tasty Treat.
We were driving down Highway 16 in Helotes this afternoon contemplating a bite to eat when my wife pointed out something called "Huey's Diner". Of course, I was probably going a little faster than I should have.
When I turned around so we could give it a shot, we both laughed at the fact that "Huey's" was actually "Hwy" as in Highway 16 Diner.
This diner has only been open a few months and I suspect either they are going for a very minimal decorating look, or they just haven't gotten around to it. With the exception of one wall decked out with O'Conner High School garb and a tiny TV, the rest of the place is bare. But we came to try the food.
The menu includes the usual - burgers, chicken fried steak and even meat loaf, plus they offer up some standard sides including Onion Rings, though we did not indulge today. It would have been nice to maybe see a display case full of pies or slices of cake, just to get us in the diner mood.
My wife ordered the 3 piece Chicken Tenders with sides of Mac & Cheese and carrots. The carrots were recommended by the waiter who said they are steamed and have a slight caramel taste to them. I'm not sure what the taste was, but they were good. The chicken tenders are fried but come out lightly crispy with no hint of grease. The plates come with a warm dinner roll smothered in butter. The creamy gravy for dipping is what you would expect.
I had the chicken fried chicken (which to be honest is just a single big chicken tender), the aforementioned Mac & Cheese and some delicious green beans. I couldn't quite place what the taste was in the green beans - I wanted to guess some sort of chili powder or something, but they were very good. I love me some green beans. My wife and I both agreed that the Mac & Cheese was great and like her chicken tenders, my chicken fried chicken was light and tasty, not overwhelmed in a fried greasy taste. Slathered in gravy and served hot, it really hit the spot. If you are looking for a unique zesty taste, this probably won't be the place for you; it was good but fairly uneventful taste-bud-wise.
The place was doing a very brisk business with lots of folks pitching in to clear tables and refill iced tea glasses. We got the feeling this is a family operation, but who knows. Service was good and quick, though we did have to wait for our check a little longer than I would like. Okay, let me be more specific: They had cleared our table and we were still waiting for the check.
They probably need to work on the atmosphere a little. If you are going to specifically name your restaurant a diner, then you ought to go with the theme that people expect. For instance, I suspect that when someone opened the first Long John Silvers, they didn't go for six months before somebody said, "Hey, what say we get some pirate hats and give this place a nautical theme? Arrgh."
Have you been to Highway 16 Diner (or as we shall now know it, Huey's)? Have you gone back for a second helping of vittles? Leave a comment and let us know about it!
Sometimes, ya gotta have a back-up plan. And sometimes, you need a back-up to your back-up. Today was one of those days where I made a fairly amateur mistake in seeking out a place for my wife and I to try.
I had done a little research on the Google and found a place called Cora's 471 Grill that according to their web page, has been around since 1932. That's a long time to be in bid'ness on a lonely stretch of road, but if you believe their web page and signage, they also have the best nachos in Texas, so they may account for the longevity.
Of course, I'd be telling you about Cora's right now if their business hours matched what their web page proclaims, and they opened at 11AM on Saturday's instead of 5PM. Maybe another time. My amateur mistake was not calling ahead to verify. This is not the first time (nor the last I suspect) that we drove someplace expecting it to be open, only to find out that had we called in advance, we could have saved a trip. 
But, I do like the drive, so what the heck. These are a few shots taken along FM471 between Rio Medina and Castroville. The view from an air conditioned truck is mighty fine.
With Cora's out of luck, I did have a back-up in the form of a Diner in Castroville, but come to find out, they are open on Sundays, but not Saturday.
On to the small town of Hondo where we have had some good dining experiences; Hermann Sons and McBee's to name a few. So the funny thing was, we thought we would let Garmin pick out a few potential places, drive by and then choose what looked good.
The first place we picked was called Olivia's. We followed the directions on Garmin to an empty lot that looks as though it has been cleared to make something else. No sign saying, former home of Olivia's or anything. I seriously believe the answer is that the address is wrong in Garmin - and on Google. Garmin told us to go onto J street and that was where we found the empty lot. Google says it is on 18th Street, but to be honest, we drove down 18th Street and didn't see it there either. Who knows? Perhaps a reader will tell us what we missed.
If that wasn't bad enough, we went with our second Garmin choice, a place called Hi-Way Drive-In. The first clue we had a problem was when the British woman in my Garmin told me to take a street heading away from the highway. Would it make sense to name a place Hi-Way Drive-In and not be on or near the highway? This time, we ended up in front of someones house. And I couldn't even smell a fire going, so we thought perhaps we were in the twilight zone or something.
Instead of driving around in Honda for hours, and let's face it, you could probably do it and see the place several times, we decided to get on Highway 173 and head north to Bandera. I love the drive between Hondo and Bandera because it looks to me like some place they could film an old western flick. I can just see Clint Eastwood or John Wayne riding on a horse along these small hills. If you live up north and see this, yes, it really is this dry and brown, and wide open out here.
Once safely into Bandera (my wife kept mentioning snakes and stuff along the way), we quickly decided to go into Old Spanish Trail. OST is at the intersection of Main Street (173) and Highway 16 which means, you can't get in or out of Bandera without seeing it. Of course, as many times as we have been to Bandera, we thought that we had eaten there before, but when we walked in, realized we had not.
We took a seat in the John Wayne Room where the walls are covered in pictures of mostly The Duke, but many other famous cowboy actors.
The rest of the restaurant has a similar feel about it. Cowboy related memorabilia, a bar where you can sit on a saddle instead of a stool - what fella wouldn't want to sit there after a long day of cowboying? Good stuff.
Just looking at other people's plates, the servings looked fairly good sized. We had heard good words about the Chicken Fried Steak, so my wife was all for it, but opted to get the Kid's meal version (to which they had no problem with). Obviously, the kids in Bandera eat a lot, because the CFS was enough for an adult. She got the mashed potatoes with gravy and a roll (though we may have had to pay extra for the roll). The mashed potatoes were excellent, gravy was awesome and the CFS was a treat. She said it was a bit chewy, but the hunk I had was pretty darn good. Better than Lulu's? No. But worth every penny.
My dinner came with a trip to the salad bar. No complaints from me; it was clean, filled with the stuff they put out, and there didn't appear to be any little kids rummaging through it. I could have used some chopped up boiled eggs, but I need to lose a few pounds anyway.
I opted for the Catfish and shrimp combo and was more than pleased. It came with the aforementioned salad bar and I got the mashed potatoes. The three pieces of butterflied shrimp were not only well-sized, they were great tasting. The catfish was cooked just the way I like it - very close to what the folks at Clear Springs do. For the $12, I might have liked one more catfish nugget, but what the heck, Bandera is a tourist place. I did wonder why they added a bed of lettuce and tomato to the plate when a salad already comes with the entree, but who knows, maybe the cook was giving me a hint: More salad, less fried food.
No complaints at all. Parking could be an issue but usually if you go to Bandera, you are going to shop anyway, so you can always utilize the free parking in other areas and just walk. I would gladly take friends or family and check out some of the many other things on their big menu.
Perhaps I was taking a nap when E-Z's on Bandera closed shop and Goomba's moved in. Then again, I had not been to E-Z's in roughly three or four years, so it wouldn't be much of a trick to slip one by me. At any rate, my wife and I went down a long list of places we should eat lunch at this afternoon, but all seemed to be too far to drive in the sudden rain (that has since stopped).
We made a half-hearted effort at driving toward Fatso's Sports Garden for a burger when the Goomba's sign caught my eye. My thought was, if all else failed, I could get a slice of pizza.
From the minute we walked in, I started having doubts. First, and sorry, I don't have pictures or an audio tape to fully deliver the experience of it, there was a family using an entire half of the place for a kids birthday party. What, Chuck E. Cheese was closed on a Saturday? Second, when I looked at the appearance place, it looked like someone had walked into E-Z's, glued some fake bricks on the walls and stapled up a bunch of Soprano's posters.
We grabbed menus and I sort of stared at mine for a while hoping something would jump out at me. Right away, my wife knew she would be getting a calzone, but I had my standard internal debate with myself over a sandwich (and if so, should I get a cold one or a hot one), or wings (and if so, should I get an order of 10 or 20, hot or bbq) or maybe pizza (and if so, should I get just a slice or order the whole thing) and so on. This is what it is like to be me in a restaurant I have not become familiar with.
My wife actually suggested that we leave and go someplace else since I couldn't come to a quick decision, and that was why I quickly stepped up to the counter and ordered the Sausage Parm. Only then, I couldn't decide on the half or full. As I decided, my wife ordered her calzone with sausage and pepperoni. I did ask the girl taking our order the difference in the half or full size subs and she made some fairly quick hand gestures to represent 6" and 12", though her 12" calculation seemed might short compared to what I got.
I should have realized how big it was when I saw a pizza going into the oven. Huge!
We took a booth as far away from the birthday party as possible, but I'm afraid that the power of infants screaming and kids on those little roller shoe things zooming by us to go to the game room didn't make it any better. Granted, they have a soundtrack going on over the speakers with lots of Frank Sinatra and various Italian Opera standards to drown things out, but to be very honest, I could have easily just gotten up and walked away without even getting our food. Instead, considering they make your order from scratch, it came fairly quickly.
And of course, you can't blame the restaurant for having people create an instant party at their place; and you can't blame the kids for thinking that this was a place they could scream and run around in, after all, all the kid wanted for his birthday was some tokens and two hours in the Chuck E. Cheese that is exactly one exit west on Loop 410.
When my sausage parm sub came out, I couldn't believe it. It looked huge, smelled good and right away, from the first bite until the last, it was hot and delicious and gooey in the parts that were supposed to be gooey. I'm not kidding when I say, get the half order unless you are a glutton for punishment, or just a glutton, for that matter. It was so good that, in spite of the ringing in my ears brought on by the high pitched wailing of some kid possibly teething or perhaps having his genitals pierced, I was nearly lulled into unconsciousness by the continuous flow of beautiful sausage, delicious bread and spicy grilled onions and peppers flowing too my oh so waiting tummy. I need a nap just thinking about it.
Meanwhile, my wife went to town on a meat calzone that was easily enough to feed us both. The first thing she noticed was that it was cooked completely through. Sometimes people try to make a calzone and in an effort not to burn the outside, the inside is not fully cooked. Not a problem with that here. Inside, the cheesy goodness was all gooey and melted well with the sausage and pepperoni. In fact, as we were leaving, she made it a point to tell the cook that it was the best calzone she has had in San Antonio.
I would like to tell you that we each picked at our food and asked for a large box to bring the left over contents home, perhaps to heat up at a later date and enjoy a second time around. I'd also like to tell you that I can fit into the slacks I wore when I was a senior in high school, but we both know that ain't about to happen. It was simply too good. Remember that guy in the old Alka Seltzer commercial - he couldn't believe he ate the whole thing? Well believe it.
I'm not really impressed with the inside of the restaraunt and I can't say that everything was perfect - but what place is? Get it to go.
The bottomline is, we were extremely pleased with our orders and the service was fast and the vittles were good. That friends warrants a Tasty Treat for Goomba's.
When our kids were younger we would occasionally take a drive up Highway 16 past Helotes and into Bandera in order to go into the Dairy Queen, grab an ice cream and come back home. 
I know, we have numerous DQ's right here in our part of San Antonio, but the drive is just so nice. Once when my parents visited, we even went beyond the DQ and actually took a tour of the little museum they have in Bandera.
Today, just on a whim, we decided to enjoy the cool weather and run up the road and maybe grab some lunch. In the end, the lunch plans didn't work out, but we did have a really enjoyable time checking out several shops and and chatting with shopkeepers. We've been several times just for the drive, but it has been a few years since we actually stopped and walked around, so of course, I took plenty of pictures. Too many to post here, but if you are interested, please check out the Flickr page here.
If you are not familiar with San Antonio, it may be helpful to know that we are on the edge of what is considered the Hill Country. No, you probably won't find anyone skiing or snow boarding around here during the winter (though, I suppose it could happen), but we do like the fact that by heading just a few miles up the road, you can get a pretty enjoyable change of scenery. And of course, as an extremely fast growing part of the country, San Antonio residents as well as newcomers seem to be pushing north to enjoy the hilly landscapes and for the time being, wide open country. Don't worry, by the way, Texas is HUGE. We can easily absorb the influx of new people in terms of space, though the fact that we live in a desert may have some impact on the amount of water each new person is allowed to drink. You new people each get one Dixie cup a day.
Highway 16 takes you up a fairly smooth drive with easy curves and little traffic; it is obvious why motorcycle enthusiasts love the trip. Unlike any trip up I-35 toward Austin or Highway 281 toward Boerne and Johnson City, the trip to Bandera is not frustrating at all. Once in the town of Bandera, you'll find enough traffic to suit you.
We took a drive up and down the main street then decided to park and walk for a while. We parked for free in the parking lot of a church on 11th Street that is open to the public. How neighborly. Of course first, my wife had to pee, so we went into this nice little public restroom and park with benches etc. In case you aren't sure, Cowgirls go in one side of the restroom and Cowboys go in the other. The pictures are there to help you sort it all out.
After the nice visit to the restroom, I found these two little tidbits humorous. First, if the stickers on the Jeep are any indication, Bandera didn't support Obama! The other thing was, I don't generally associate Cowboys with Pizza, but who knows? Maybe these buckaroos know how to pile on the anchovies.
Our first stop was Bandera General Store, a sort of gift shop and soda fountain. Lots of cool touristy things to look at and for some people, to buy. 
After checking out the place, we decided to sit down at the bar and get coffee. As we enjoyed the atmosphere we read the ongoing list of haunting by the General Store ghost, apparently named Henry. How quaint.
As we were leaving, I noticed a few things in the window worth reporting. First, people in Bandera can get caught up in celebrity sightings just like the rest of us. Oh wait; remind me, why is Paris famous again? And the folks around Bandera have a sense of humor. Texas Hold 'em? I'll say.
We stopped in a few more stores, mostly lots of crafty home decor kinda places. You know, the stuff you look at and say, damn, I could make that. But really, you probably can't.
We were in a higher end place called Sassaphrazz and they had some really nice looking leather items. I confess to liking the feel of a throw pillow with real cow fur on it. I guess it isn't really fur, but you know, the hair that is on a cow. We got to talking to the ladies in there and turns out, they are attending the same Alan Jackson concert we are at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo this year. In spite of the small world, we didn't find any home furnishings we couldn't live without.
This is interesting. Here is a little replica of Judge Roy Bean's Jersey Lilly.
And this apparently is Judge Bean's party barge.
We walked by the famous 11th Street Cowboy Bar but instead moved along without partaking. Maybe when we stay the night in Bandera and can walk home.
Next to it, we stopped into an antique store where my wife bought a few small items just for fun. She picked up one of those old Campbell's Soup thermoses to send my daughter and some little chicken thing to hang from her visor.
After shopping, we could have easily dined at one of the many great places in Bandera, but actually, we had seen a place on the way up just north of Pipe Creek that caught our eye called Country Accents Antiques & Steak House. What?
I know, if you want to catch somebodies attention, I'm not sure I can think of a better name. Anyway, there was a lot of action taking place inside. They seemed to be remodeling or moving in or something but regardless, lots of really, really cool stuff inside, and the people were very friendly.
They had this huge dog that was standing near the back door to the place and my wife and I looked at the dog, then looked around a little more and decided that we could not find where the steak was within the shop. Finally, I asked a lady if we should let the dog out and she said sure, and we could also go out back to see the rest of the place and the little restaurant. She was telling us that everything was for sale.
We found the restaraunt and believe me, she wasn't kidding; everything was for sale. The tables were made up with napkins and placemats and ready to go, but all the stuff had price tags on it. Say you really enjoyed the table they seated you at, you don't get just a doggy bag (sorry), you also can take the table, chairs and the setting with you. Unfortunately, nobody was in the restaraunt to feed us, so that pretty much killed the idea of eating there.
The back yard of the place was really nice and of course, filled with all sorts of antiques to buy. I saw this tub for $175 and immediately had thoughts of painting a Texas flag on it but then I figured, what the heck would I do with that.
In the end, we decided to head back toward Helotes to grab some food since we were starting to really get hungry. We stopped into Babe's since we hadn't been to the Helotes location, and munched on some seriously bacon covered bacon cheeseburgers and an order of onion rings.
The new Babe's in Helotes is basically like the old Babe's on Fred Road, just newer. I had to keep all flames away from my beard as it was soaked with greasy mayonaise and bacon cheeseburger goodness, and I mean that in a good way.
By the way, I left off a few of my new wooden nickles in some of the places we stopped at today. If you found one and are visiting the blog for the first time, I hope you'll send me a note or leave a comment.
I had mentioned that we made an effort to try Porky J's on Sunday but surprisingly, found the place closed. I learned the story behind that little mystery this evening when I talked with one of the owners during our dinner. Turns out Porky J's does catering and had such an overwhelmingly unexpected crowd at an event, that they simply ran out of food. Don't take that as a sign of poor planning. They expected to serve a few hundred plates and ended up serving over a thousand. So, I think we can give them a pass, don't you?
In addition to the smallish indoor seating area (by the way, no smaller than the indoor seating area at either Augie's Barbed Wire or The Rib House - two of our favorites), they have an interesting outdoor patio formed by the surrounding walls of the buildings to the side and behind the place. Inside, the theme is Memphis and the music reflects that.
First up, I had to try the onion rings. Most of you know that I am less a fan of the crispity-crunchy type rings and much prefer the beer battered version. But when onion rings have a unique seasoning to them, I take note. These are not dropped in the fryer out of a frozen bag from a local supplier; like everything else, they are home made and very good. Try them.
My wife had a hankering for a brisket sammy. What she got was a really messy (in a very good way) Memphis style treat with Cole-slaw mashed in with the brisket between the bread. We had talked about the fact that when we flew through Memphis last time, we saw that you could order your sandwich with or without Cole-slaw. Now we know the correct answer; you must have it with the slaw. The brisket does have a slight bite to it, so if you are a lightweight in the spicy department, keep your iced tea handy.
I had to try the pork ribs and was glad I did. Again, I had the spicy version of things, but you can order a milder version if you need. Don't get me wrong, for most San Antonian's you'll want to go with the spicy, I'm just letting you know of the option in case your brittle aunt visits or something. I also asked for some brisket just so I could try it without the benefit of sandwich and slaw, and I will tell you that it is wonderful. You can try it with the home made BBQ sauce, but it isn't needed.
To really make me fat, I also asked for small portions of potato salad and green beans. Both are top notch. The potato salad was smooth with no aftertaste which can sometimes be an issue. The green beans are the flat type, nicely seasoned and cooked enough to make me happy. Good stuff!
We had a great conversation about all the places we love to eat and to make it that much better, we enjoyed some really great food, and that makes our visit to Porky J's a Tasty Treat.
