FATHERS DAY, 2014:...Its a mystery writers paradise, a small, out-of-the-way location ready for some creative novelist to work through the murder of a gas station attendant, yeah. Gruene, home of what it claims to be Texas oldest dance hall (photo at top below), welcomes you as if a moving parade of rural possibilities. Tourist traps offering antiques and candies line Hunter Road that takes you into the little enclave on the western fringes of New Braunfels off I-35. The fabled dance venue, a low-rent, full-of-character joint that has featured the likes of Willie Nelson, Hootie & The Blowfish, The Marshall Tucker Band and seen the rope tricks of one Patsy Montana, Queen of the Cowgirls, sits alongside the walkway that takes you to the Gristmill Restaurant, perhaps the only reason one would brave the weekend mobs and what likely is the most annoying street intersection traffic cop in the world. In any case, my daughter Gabrielle was with us and we went ahead an made it a nice afternoon yesterday. Somewhere else, others were choking on bad salsa ahead of the San Antonio Spurs - Miami Heat pro basketball game on TV, or maybe working on the screaming throat chops ahead of the evening World Cup tilt. Id blown all of that off. My usual catfish filet plate seemed more attractive and just being with my kid and my lady pushed life beyond the days insistent nothingness. Thats a section of the Gristmill in photo at bottom. Seating - and view of the Guadalupe River moving along one side of the restaurant - varies from nice round tables inside to the weathered picnic tables outside. Its been spectacular every time weve been there...
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:37:07 +0000