Bryan & College Station, Texas

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

First of all, this place gets packed quickly, so either go to La Bodega Baja Taco Bar expecting a wait or go early.

I’ve only tasted a few fish tacos in my day, but these were some of the very best.

Right around the corner from the campus, just a block away in fact. When we left, parking was a problem. Anywhere around the campus is like that, really, but we got there early. And for being a hot spot for students, the actually had the two high chairs we needed for out 2 year old twins. Nice.

By the way, I did feel like my kids were a little out of place there, not sure why, but there it is. (actually, I don’t think they even have a kids menu)

We took all 4 kids and my parents who were visiting for the weekend. I ordered the Habanero Crispy Shrimp tacos, my wife and dad ordered the Crispy Tilapia Tacos, and my mom ordered the Crispy Shrimp Tacos. (We ordered a few cheese quesadillas for the kids)

Those Habanero Tacos were incredible. Wow. Yes, they were spicy, but so worth it.

The Tilapia tacos were the best I’ve tasted.

All the dishes, it seems, come with very tasty rice and black beans. The sauces either had pineapple or mango and were just the right amount of hot. And the Margaritas there are very tasty, although I have no idea what makes a good Margarita, honestly, if it’s sweet and doesn’t make me cough out a lung because it’s so strong, it’s good. We all shared a couple of strawberry ones.

The fish (or shrimp) was rolled in a white corn tortilla, stuffed with shredded cabbage/lettuce with a mango sauce and were so yummy. The rest of the menu looked great too, but at around $10 per plate (includes two tacos, rice and beans), we will probably not be going back often. We’d sure love to, but we’ll have to wait until our parents come and treat us or something. I’d like to take this opportunity to thanks both sets of parents for their generosity and kindness toward us all these years…we love you and love when you visit…not just because you take us out to eat.

It’s a fairly small place, but there’s a covered patio and looks like they have live bands there often.

This College Station restaurant has incredible food, and I definitely recommend eating here…even if you have to park a few blocks away and have to wait 45 minutes.Jorge

Cafe Capri is incredible. I believe we were told by three people that this was the restaurant to go to when we first moved here. We have not been disappointed.

One of the times we ate there, one of the waiters had a shirt on that read “I Love Carbs”. So funny considering how many people are trying the South Beach diet.

Cafe Capri is an Italian restaurant, but the dish I’ve eaten (both times I visited) was their Cajun Tortellini. There’s spicy sausage and mushrooms in there, and just the right amount of heat. You know, when I go there again, as much as I’d want to try something else, I’ll probably get that again. Not because of any other reason than it’s just wonderful.

Also, if you go there, you’ll need to try their Chocolate Toffee Mousse with Kahlua. Wow. Just the mention of this makes me want to go get one and surprise my wife with it.

The place is quaint, interesting art on the walls, dark, kinda loud (at least the times I’ve been there) and the service is great. The price for entrees average at about $9, so it’s a special occasion for my family. Actually, we’ve not taken my kids when we’ve gone.

Originally, the building was a grocery store in downtown Bryan. Check out the ceiling.

When you’re done eating, take a walk up and down the street.

Jorge