Fredericksburg - Alamo Springs Cafe

The first official entry to Texas Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and the second stop on our burger quest was approximately 15 miles outside of Fredericksburg on a road I could have sworn led to nowhere. That is until we came upon a filled parking lot which appeared on the left at the top of a hill along with a small faded sign that read "Alamo Springs Cafe", with an arrow pointed further back to the left. The cafe was perched next to the "Old Tunnel" which is a Wildlife Management Area, an abandoned railroad tunnel and home to over three million Brazilian bats between the months of May and October. Hence, the filled parking lot of people waiting to see the spiral effect of millions of bats making their way out of the tunnel at sunset.

With the haze of white shale filling the air and sticking to my tires like chalk, we had arrived at the home of the 3rd best ranked burger in the state of Texas (according to Texas Monthly).

The place was crowded and smokey. The grill was in the same area as the indoor seating and the exhaust system had either failed from overuse or never worked in the first place. We couldn't exactly find the burger on the menu described in the magazine but the wait staff knew, without a doubt, what we were asking for.

Terry and I found one of the two outdoor tables available (flies were better than the exhaust fumes...our throats and eyes were burning). As we waited for our burger, I noticed a huge chicken-fried steak being delivered to the other outside table. The "porch" was small and the tables were close enough for me to feel comfortable to comment my "wow" loud enough for the recipient of the chicken-fried steak to hear. "It's their Monday special," the guy said, obviously a local and a regular customer. "I always come here on Mondays because of this," he said, pointing to the steak the size of 3 large fists (can't think what else to compare it to). "This thing will hurt ya," he said with a grin.

About that time, a platter was placed in front of us with a hamburger on a jalapeno cheese bun that was stacked, stacked and stacked every bit as high as the one proudly displayed on the cover of the August Texas Monthly. The only addition was a steak knife (Texas toothpick?) piercing the burger all the way down to the platter.

The burger was excellent and had to be devoured with a knife and fork. But I gotta say, I still wanted a taste of that chicken-fried steak.

Anyone know of a special place (doesn't have to be a hole-in-the-wall) to talk about? I've already started my list.