Growing up in the Texas Hill Country, I have made more trips to Fredericksburg than I can count or remember. I have memories of the LBJ ranch in Johnson City, countless field trips to Enchanted Rock, and Girl Scout trips to the Admiral Nimitz Museum. When we started Wanna-be-Nomads part of our central theme was finding places we personally loved and could recommend without hesitation. So many of our travels were based on the East Coast. Then our local friends, family, and followers asked us to find places they could get to in a weekend! With that, our series of trips to the Hill Country began. Whether you are planning a 2 week Summer vacation or a weekender, there are the same three basic topics to research: Where to stay. Where to eat. What to do. We realize the "go and wing it" approach we have is not right or practical for everyone, so we take our nomads style and report back what we find note-worthy (or should we say blog-worthy?). We wanted to find truly good food. Food that is worth the drive, and that is what we found at Bejas Grill!
With few exceptions, Philly be the most notable, you do not want to be rushed or subjected to verbal abuse when ordering your meal. Especially given the extensive selections at Bejas, suffice it to say the decision making process will take a bit longer than ordering a cheesesteak, "wit or wit out da wiz" From salads to Southwestern Entrees, the menu is diverse and appetizing. Without serious guidance and patience from our waiter, Isaac, we might still be trying to decide!
As we have mentioned in previous blogs, service is paramount in the restaurant industry. Isaac is the ideal waiter, knowledgeable, passionate about food, patient, and attentive! His suggestions were varied and numerous! The Chipotle Chicken Pasta and Grilled Chicken sandwich which is served on homemade jalapeno sweet buns caught our attention, but ultimately, I chose the Blackened Chicken, and Donnie went for the Huevos Rancheros.
We started with an appetizer aptly called The Trio. Bottomless chips with three options for dipping: salsa, queso, and guacamole. It is only fair to start by saying we are connoisseurs of both salsa and queso. Most salsa is fairly good as is most queso, so it is a safe bet for an appetizer, but rarely is it exceptional. Bejas Grill has EXCEPTIONAL salsa AND queso. The salsa is a sweet fire roasted salsa, served warm. I personally like my salsa warm, but if you prefer yours cold, let them know in advance. The queso was creamy, light, and not too salty, perfect in fact. The queso at Bejas is a little unique, and we never were quite sure what hint of flavor we detected, but it worked, and could have eaten our fill on appetizers alone. Alas, we had entrees on the way.
Donnie's Huevo's Rancheros did not disappoint. The crunchy tortilla was served topped with a fried, organic brown egg, ranchero sauce, and applewood smoked bacon. You can have yours with house-made breakfast sausage if you aren't into bacon. This is the owner's entree of choice, although he also highly recommended the Mahi Mahi tacos.
As promised by Isaac, server extraordinaire, my blackened chicken was delicious. The dish was lightly blackened and perfectly grilled. It was served with savory roasted red pepper coulis that was just mild enough not to distract from the blackened flavor which I love. Mashed red potatoes and Mexican rice were complimentary sides. I will be back to have this entree again and again.
Like most people, we often skip dessert, but when doing reviews we indulge in order to give the most feedback possible. Oh my, were we glad we did! Donnie is not a huge dessert fan, but he ordered the beignets and I ordered the Pumpkin Cheesecake.
The all day beignets were very good. In fact, Donnie preferred the Bejas Grill beignets to the ones we have at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. These are in fact, very different beignets. They are much larger in size, and have a dense yeast roll type flavor to them. They truly were beautifully prepared, and it was a treat to find quality beignets outside of the French Quarter.
My pumpkin cheesecake with a praline topping was nothing short of culinary perfection. The crust was far from an afterthought as it is with most cheesecakes. It was rich and buttery, an ideal compliment to the smooth creamy pumpkin infused cheesecake. Being my favorite dessert, it takes significant skill to wow me in the cheesecake department, but this was seriously the single most amazing dessert I have ever ordered anywhere. I cannot yet come up with even a close second.
This is where we share with you why we love what we get to do as Wanna-be-Nomads! We set out to find a few places in the Texas Hill Country we could give our seal of approval, but one discovery led to another without any effort whatsoever as is prone to happen when you keep your mind open. We met the lady behind our tasty sweet indulgences, Rebecca Rather, and that meeting has turned into a whole other blog we will post later.
Bejas Grill is an outstanding restaurant nestled into Main Street, and worthy of your time and travel dollars. Take some time off from your wildflower peeping, your hikes at Pedernales Falls and Enchanted Rock. Schedule a re-fueling stop during your shopping marathon, but my all means take a trip to Bejas Grill and treat yourself to breakfast, lunch, or dinner and By all means, save some room for dessert!