Fans of out of the way eclectic eateries are going to be instantly at home at the Alamo Springs Cafe located at 101 Alamo Road, Fredericksburg TX 78624. [They are actually located about 12 miles SE of Fredericksburg on Grapetown Road. phone 830.990.8004]. However, if you should stop and ask a local for directions to the ASC they are likely to say “located next to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area” or “next to the Bat Tunnel”. I suggest using a GPS if you are new to the area.

Let me start off this food review by saying that the Alamo Springs Cafe is practicably indescribable. Words like “oasis”, “weird”, “eclectic”, “hippies”, “Hank Hill”, and “strange” quickly come to mind when trying to delineate what makes the place so unique. The best description of the Alamo Springs Café is to say that in the way Austin is weird the Alamo Cafe is definitely at the western city limits of Austin, and they are proud of it. I’m speaking primarily of the decorating motif and the patrons of course. The food is actually quite normal and good. Plus, many of the patrons I see there I also seem to remember from somewhere in the the 60’s and 70’s. Now I finally found out where they all ended up! I get the same strange deja’ vu feeling when visiting downtown Berkeley California. Perhaps the Alamo Springs Cafe is really the cosmic back door to the University Of Texas Campus over in Austin?

ASC serves a variety of low end and high end foods running the gambit from honky-tonk bar food to complete restaurant dinners. Did I mention the word “strange” earlier? Daily Dinner Specials start at 6:00PM each evening where for example the Wednesday night dinner is pot roast with potatoes and carrots and Friday’s dinner is Lasagna topped with Alfredo Sauce. But, if you are more into appetizers you might enjoy the Roasted Garlic with Goat Cheese or Fried Avocadoes topped with Salsa or the more traditional Texas favorite of Fried Cream Cheese Jalapenos(no Cheese Whip here).

It was already mid-afternoon when I showed up for a late lunch and the place was still crowded. I really like sandwiches so I chose the Portobella Sandwich on pumpernickel bread served “all the way”. This means it’s served with lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, and roasted garlic pods and mild chipolte mustard. I decided to top the meal with a cold beer served in an icy mug. I had my heart set on a Shiner Bock (but was told it was sold out due to a heavy lunch crowd). Disappointed at first, I crossed over to an Amstel Light beer, a taste I aquired while visiting Amsterdam a few years back. There are about different 15 beers on the menu.

The beer arrived first and none too soon. One thing you’ve got to like about Texas traditions is really cold beer. Check out the picture…. that is beer ice floating at the top created by the super frozen mug. Beer can’t get much colder without having to use a spoon to drink with. [Hint: remember this post next July and August].

Don’t expect quick deliveries, even on “fast food”, at the ASC. My sandwich arrived about the time half of my beer had disappeared. The food was fresh cooked and steaming hot just as I had expected. The portobella layer turned out to be one giant mushroom cap which had been grilled to perfection. It was not undercooked or dehydrated to the rubber stage at all. The whole “cap” was a pleasant surprise, since I had expected “tiny steaks” of crosscut mushroom. The tomatoes were fresh, perfectly ripe, flavorful and thick sliced. The lettuce was nice sturdy leaves of romaine and not chopped iceburg lettuce rabbit food jumble that many lesser places pile on top. Underneath the mushroom cap I found the grilled onions (each ring had nice crusty edges and the slightest bit of crunch still left, perfect) plus the roasted garlic pods and pale mustard.

My original intention before arriving was to order a burger because the ASC’s burger was named as “best hamburger in Texas” in the “A Big State Requires A Big Burger” book by Rick Vanderpool. However, when I saw the portabella mushroom menu item I had to try it. By the time I was into the first bite, I was convinced I had made another good Nifty Food Find for lunch review. I must say that the mustard and roasted garlic pods were a perfect addition to the sandwich that seemed to tie all the other flavors together. Overall this was an excellent sandwich and beer combination, perfect for an afternoon lunch. The meal seemed a bit pricey at just over $11 but when I considered the great sandwich, cold premium beer and frozen mug, and the fact there is probably no other place on earth like the Alamo Springs Cafe I was feeling quite happy with life. At least for today, I definately would not have been any more happy had I gone with the burger.

Alamo Springs Cafe is a bit deceiving in that the building looks much more like an Australian Outback Pub than the pretty cool restaurant it really is. Located 12 miles from Frederickburg Texas in the middle of “nowhere” on top of one of the highest hills in the region, it’s a great place for sunset viewing on the patio as well as dining. I’ve eaten at the Alamo Springs Cafe many times and each time I come away feeling like I have just visited the lunch wagon in a carnival. I don’t mean this in a bad way either. I am just saying “how many restaurants do you know advertize their location as 1/4 mile from an old railroad tunnel that is home to a million bats” and serves a really great portobella mushroom sandwich? Cheers.