Bryan & College Station, Texas

Mine was due and I found a great place to use. Quicker Sticker on Harvey Mitchell (behind the NAPA Auto Parts Store close to Longmire) was professional, clean, quick and was done in about 10 minutes.

In fact, I had a reverse light that was out, and he had one right there, so I let him install it and was on my way.

State inspections as all this company does.The shop is behind the Auto parts store, so it’s a little hard to find, but it’s there.

There’s bathrooms and a waiting area, but I didn’t have to wait.

They are open Monday - Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

They charge the state required amount like everyone else (should).

If you don’t go here, there are a bunch of other places that do this sort of thing, but wherever you choose, I suggest going to a place that can do small repairs and installations and has parts like wiper blades and light bulbs, so you don’t have to leave, go ge the part, install it, then come back and get the sticker.

Unless you like doing that sort of thing.

Here’s what they check for in case you want to make sure and have everything working before you go:

• Check for broken or burned out turn signals, brake lights, tail Lights, license plate light and reflectors
• Check for missing or broken gas cap & seal
• Check operation and condition of seat belts
• Check parking brake function (does it holds the car)
• Window Tint (1988 or newer only, check too dark/below AS1 line on front windshield)
• Rear view mirror
• Interior high beam indicator, high beam switch, turn signal indicators
• Check wiper blade condition and operation
• EGR, TAC, PCV components (present/working)
• Check operation and condition of power steering and power brakes
• Check EVAP cannister and air pump
• Check operation and condition of headlights
• Exhaust System (including manifold, check for leaks, proper hangers)
• Check catalytic converter function (1984 or newer)
• Check tires (rim condition, tire condition, minimum tire tread, all lug nuts, splits/cracks)
• You must present proof of insurance at the time of inspection
• during the driving portion of the State Inspection Test, the vehicle will be checked for steering slack or binding, horn operation, brake stopping distance and parking brake function

Check your sticker. Here’s what the City of College Station Fine Schedule says:

MVI Sticker - Expired or No MVI $ 170.00
(Note: A citation for Expired/No MVI will be dismissed upon presentation of a receipt for a valid inspection sticker, provided it is presented to the Court and a $10.00 administration fee is paid in full within 14 days from the date the citation was issued. Additional Note: We cannot dismiss the citation if the MVI has been expired longer than 60 days from the date of citation.

jorge

I made sure to say “buffet” in the title because I know that the biggest reason people don’t try Indian food is because they don’t know what to order. Honestly, even if you ask the staff, you still can’t be 100% sure you’re not ordering something that will char your esophagus.

Spice Bowl definitely has the “Esophagus Charring” stuff, but you ask them to make you something less spicy and they will oblige. In fact, for the less adventurous, try the buffet. The buffet usually offers dishes that are not on the super-spicy side. Usually included on the buffet is Saag Paneer, Korma and Tandoori Chicken.

Saag is usually a creamed Spinach and mustard curry dish.

Paneer is hunks of a hard ricotta type cheese.

Tandoori is a type of clay oven, and if something is “tandoori” style, it’s usually marinated in a tomato sauce, yogurt, ginger, garlic, coriander, cayenne, clove, cumin, cardamom, salt, saffron, garam masala and annato marinade over night, then baked in their oven.

Garam masala is a North Indian blend of dry-roasted spices.

Naan is the traditional Indian Flat bread. (Roti is whole wheat Naan).

Korma is a slow-cooked curry stew, usually includes cauliflour and peas.

Vindaloo is usually very spicy (usually potato).

Aloo is Potatoes.

Makhani is a buttery tomato sauce.

A Pakora is a deep fried vegetable fritter made with a chick pea batter.

A Samosa is a stuffed and fried turnover usually made with potatoes and peas.

A Pappadum is a thin wafer. Can be spicy.

Tikka means pieces.

As far as my personal suggestion, other than trying everything on the buffet, Chicken Tikka Masala is my favorite, and my wife’s favorite is Saag Paneer.

Their Chai is excellent, either hot or iced, and try the Gulab Jamun (although it’s not for everyone).

Gulab Jamun is a double cream and flour dough, sugar, cardamom, rosewater and saffron. Very sweet, but very yummy.

The lamb is very good here too. Try the Rogan Josh if you are a lamb fan.

My suggestion is that you let them know specifically how spicy you want your food. We made the mistake once of telling them that my wife’s mom was from England, and she was used to spicy. Wow, that was a very anxious meal.

The staff is very pleasant and the atmosphere is great. They almost always have Indian music playing, which I think is a good thing.
Their menu explains what each dish contains, so you’ll have a good idea of what you are ordering.

If you are up for spicy, you will NOT be disappointed.

The entrees will run you on average of about $10, and the buffet is around that much as well.

Oh, it’s over by the Lack’s on Texas and Southwest Parkway.

Enjoy

jorge

Christopher’s World Grille is one of those places in town where we never thought we’d ever get to experience, but a couple of our friends invited us and we were very impressed.

Very nice atmosphere. The staff was very professional, and the food was incredible. The restaurant is in a 100 year old renovated Ranch House, on the outskirts of town (actually on Boonville Rd. between University and Copperfield). From the outside, it looks like they kept adding on to the original building with different building style. It’s very cool looking.

Chef Christopher Lampo describes his menu offerings as “food with Mediterranean, Italian, coastal French, South Pacific influences with a touch of Louisiana thrown in”.

My wife ate Lamb Chops and I had a Marinated Beef Tenderloin. I believe they change their menu often, so you’ll have to go to their website to view their menu, or just stop by and ask.

Here are a couple of their entrees from the menu:

Greek Lamb Chops
Grilled double chops marinated in garlic, lemon and fresh oregano on roasted cauliflower mashed potatoes, roasted ratatouille and parsley-mint-caper relish $24.95

Christopher’s House Filet
Grilled 8oz center-cut beef tenderloin on creamed spinach and house potatoes, topped with fried crawfish tails and bearnaise on port wine demi glace $29.95

South American Marinated Beef 
Grilled beef tenderloin tip marinated in chimichurri on spring vegetable enchilada with roasted serrano butter sauce $26.95

Although the food was wonderful and the service very good, there were a couple of things that I thought were a negative. Now, these things I admit, make me sound like I am not accustomed to fine dining. Well, that’s true. I’m not. Although I’ve been to a few very nice restaurants in my day, that’s not to say I like the whole experience.

1. We were at the restaurant for quite a few hours. Partly because we were so engaged in wonderful conversation with our good friends, but also because everything took FOREVER to get to the table.

I know, this is how it’s supposed to be at a fine eating establishment, but honestly, I was hungry. By the time we finished our meal and got home, I was hungry again and had a snack.

2. The portions were small. You know how it is at those really nice restaurants…you pay a bunch of money and get a little tiny meal. (again, let me reiterate, it was mouth watering)

3. I had a really hard time choosing what to order. I mean, nothing is normal. Everything seemed to have something out of the ordinary on it. Capers, creamed spinach, onion-mashed potatoes, blueberry-ginger gastrique,  lobster chorizo, brie…you get the idea.

I like trying new things, sure, and I guess I could have assumed that everything on their menu was wonderful (I do now), but even still, as I look at the Fall-Winter 2007 menu (where the above descriptions are taken from) I’m not sure what I would order.

Maybe for starters the:

Caesar Salad Bruschette
Romaine lettuce leaves, shaved parmesan & bacon on grilled Tuscan bread  $8.95

then for the main course:

Seafood Paella
Spanish saffron rice with shrimp, scallop, mussels and in house lobster chorizo $24.95

So, OK, I guess I’d go for the Lobster Chorizo. That sounds interesting, and I lived in Spain for a few years, so the Paella sounds good.

There just seems to be more pressure on me to choose something considering how much it costs, and I’d probably not have the confidence to send something back. I mean, how am I supposed to know if the Yellow Fin Loin with Sweet Potato rice cake is slightly undercooked, or that there’s too much mint in the parsley-mint-caper relish.

I guess I’m just used to my whole family eating for about the price of one entree at Christopher’s.

One more time: everything we ordered was incredibly delicious. I would love to eat there again…even if I couldn’t decide what to order…I would have all the time I needed to make the decision.

Go try it for yourself.

jorge

First of all, a little info:

Lake Bryan is owned by the local utilities company (BTU). They use the lake to cool their power plant (which you can see from the lake). The use of the water by the power plant does not affect the consumption of the fish in the lake. Here’s what WikiPedia has to say about it:

Lake Bryan is a power plant cooling reservoir in Brazos County, 5 miles (8 km) west of Bryan, Texas, USA. The dam and lake are managed by Bryan Texas Utilities which uses the reservoir as a cooling pond for the electrical generators in the Dansby Power Plant. The reservoir was officially impounded in 1974.

My family visited for the first time on a very windy day. Our food practically flew off the picnic table. There were wind surfers, jet skiers, water skiers, volleyball players, a few dogs and other people having picnics. We’ll go back to swim and hang out in the Spring or Summer.

• Day use fee $3/car weekdays, $5/car weekends and holidays
• Open 6 am to 7:30 pm November 1-February, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. March-October

There’s a restaurant (which is closed during the Winter Months), a boat landing and picnic tables just as you enter the park. The main area is across a bridge and into the center of the lake, where there’s a covered pavilion, volleyball courts, picnic tables, a beach, a stage and lots of room to run a play.

Here’s a list of things you can do at Bryan Lake:

1. Picnic: This is what we did. There’s a covered pavilion, and lots of picnic tables all around the area. There are BBQ pits at a few of the tables and a few large Oak trees for shade.

2. Swimming: It was too cold in December, but we will be back in the Spring to swim. In the middle section, at the tip, there’s a beach, and a large area cordoned off for swimming. Not sure how deep it was, but I’ll let you know.

3. Fishing: Looks like there’s Sunfish, Catfish, Crappie and Large Mouth Bass. Here’s what the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website has to say about it:

• Prey species: Sunfish make up the majority of prey fish in Lake Bryan. Gizzard and threadfin shad are present but in low numbers. Bluegill are the most abundant of the sunfish species, and most are < 4 inches in length. Threadfin shad were stocked in 1992 but do not contribute significantly to the prey base in Lake Bryan.
• Catfishes: Channel catfish abundance has declined over the past few years. Only one individual was captured in the 2006 gill net survey. However, the creel survey indicates anglers do target and catch channel catfish. Growth of channel catfish at Lake Bryan is slow.
• Largemouth bass: Largemouth bass are abundant in Lake Bryan with fish up to 21 inches collected in our electrofishing survey in 2005. The 18-inch minimum length limit has allowed the population to produce larger sized bass for anglers. The current lake record is over 7 pounds.
• Crappie: Catches of crappie in our monitoring surveys are typically poor. Though directed angler effort for crappie was low in the 2004 creel survey, anglers did report catching and releasing crappie, with some harvest of black crappie. Hybrid crappie were stocked in 1997 in an attempt to increase the numbers of crappie available for harvest; however, none were collected in the present survey.

4. Water Skiing: We saw some water skiing over by the dam. Looks fun.

5. Wind Surfing: There were two wind surfers on the windy day we went.

6. Mountain Biking: At the time of this writing, the trails are closed because of rain and mud, but I am definitely looking forward to hitting those trails. There’s an organization in town that even goes out periodically and services the trails to keep them nice and safe. Here’s a map of the Lake Bryan trails, and a place to find out the status of the trails at any given moment. (although the trails are not actually “closed” when they say “closed”, it’s just a reminder that the less they are taken care of, the more possibility there will be that they won’t be rideable in the future).

7. Hiking: Although the trails are perfect for mountain bikes, they are great for walking and birdwatching. Being a water area, there will always be interesting birds to look for.

8. Boating: There’s a boat ramp

9. Jet Skiing: Saw a couple of these while we were there.

10. Volleyball: There was at least one sand volleyball court that we saw. Looked in good shape.

11. Watch a show: There’s a stage out there. Not sure what ever happens on it, but it’s out there. Looks like a perfect place for an open mic night.

12. Eat at the Restaurant: Called The Hook Lakeside Bar & Grill“. They offer Catfish Tacos, Burgers, Po Boys and seafood platters at fairly decent prices.

13. Camping: I believe there’s an RV hookup per day charge as well as a tent charge. I can’t remember what it is, but I remember that there’s a thing called the “Honor Pole” where you pay what you owe. That’s fun.

Have fun.

jorge

I met some friends way out in the middle of nowhere (actually about an hour North of Bryan - Hwy 6 to Hearne, then Hwy 79 through Franklin), and there, was a little store, right on the corner, called New Baden General Store. We went inside, through the “country store” area, and to my surprise, there were tables, the smell of grilling burgers, and the place was packed with people.

They had daily specials, but my friends said I needed to get the burger.

Here’s what the Historic New Baden Website has to say about the place:

Opened in 1884 and operating out of this building since 1906, the New Baden General Store Store is still operating in 2003 as a grocery store (selling locally grown fresh produce), meat market, deli counter, hamburger and short-order grill (with several tables for seating), feed store, hardware store, & gas station. Operated for years as “Mrs. E. Schultz & Son”, the store was run by the Schultz family for many, many years. The original building is a one-story structure with rolled tin canopy and brick parapet.

What a cool place. Finding the bathroom was interesting. Go back into the warehouse and look around, you’ll find it. Well, I actually kinda got lost back there. Turns out it was more obvious than I thought. I get distracted easily.

The burger was fantastic. As you’d expect, greasy and yummy. Service was super friendly. Just a bunch of country folk having a relaxed lunch.

The whole place was cool. We looked around in the store and if you haven’t been in a general store, it’s basically just a really, really small grocery store. Postcards, some local handicrafts, bread, peanut butter and the like.

This place reminded me of a similar place in Percilla, Texas (in East Texas) where I ate lunch with my pastor friend. He made sure to sit so he could see the door, and he knew just about everyone who walked in the door. Most of them came and sat down at the table with us. How friendly.

This is the same feeling I got at the New Baden General Store. Just friendly.

We’re planning on going to the New Baden Jamboree this month (every 1st Saturday of the month at the New Baden Community Center), and I believe the General Store supplies the burgers. I’ll let you know in another post.

Enjoy

jorge