HEB Kerrville | Is “gleaning” in the works?

June 30, 2020 ~ Howard Freeman ~ Leave a comment

When someone says something like, “I know I’m stepping on the third rail here, but…” they’re admitting to touching a topic that one shouldn’t touch and expect to survive.

I’m from New York City, now living in the Texas Hill Country, and I’m going to risk a few hairs getting frazzled by my talking about HEB in Kerrville, which requires a lighter step than does crossing the tracks between the uptown #2 and downtown #3 trains at 72nd Street and Broadway.

The two HEB stores in Kerrville, Texas, are arguably bigger deals than other local attractions claimed online: The Cross at Kerrville (#1 spot according to Trip Advisor), while visually impressive, doesn’t get as many visitors even on Easter as does HEB before Thanksgiving; James Avery is not so central as HEB is; and at least this year, we’ll have to see if the Folk Music Festival, rescheduled for October, will get the same attention as Texas’s beloved grocery chain.

I know that these contrasts are not exactly apples-to-apples — HEB is a necessity in our daily lives, unlike the others — but all are part of the Kerrville or Hill Country DNA. I’m aware also that HEB should be typed as “H-E-B,” but frankly I’m too lazy to do that each time.

I’ll add this: because of his creation of this amazing company, the founder (“H___”) is one of the few H’s whose first name I’m proud to share.

My intention here is to express both my appreciation and suggested tweaks for this growing and much-loved company, a reputation that is wholly deserved.

HEB Kerrville and its biscuit aisle

Let me say at the outset that when I moved to my wife’s hometown of Kerrville, I started a blog whose title was inspired by HEB. It was borne of my first visit here, in 1996.

“Biscuit Aisle” was a tip of the hat to the copious display of not only that product but also many others (brisket, tortilla chips, cheese, cokes, salsa, etc.) that had shelves and frontage for days, all devoted to multiple brands and varying dosages.

Velveeta is sold like lumber.

Currently, the Main Street store’s biscuit aisle now has yogurts of all sorts, including 4% Fage, which you can’t get at the other HEB (a.k.a. the “Little HEB” and former home of Albertson’s).

Bottom line: I love HEB as much as the next guy.

HEB high points

YAKULT, for example

Along the biscuit aisle and to the right of Fage is a product called Yakult.

It’s a Japanese drinkable probiotic yogurt enjoyed elsewhere in Asia and in Australia, and now in the U.K. and U.S. (as of 1999). A Filipino friend of mine said she drank them all the time as a kid. You who are local to Kerrville probably know we have a strong Filipino community here and also a large Filipino community in San Antonio.

It’s not surprising that HEB would offer such a product, because by all accounts it is a customer-focused company.

Yakult is merely an example.

In my experience with the company, if you want a product to be offered, you can talk to the store manager, as I did once. She promised to talk to the head of grocery (it was a food item), who checked with the warehouse regarding supply chain, and a man called me within three or so days to ask more questions and hear my request.

Kudos!

For a company this size, I don’t think I could ask much more from HEB. Of course, that’s exactly what I’m going to do in this Opinion piece. Hopefully in love and respect.

CHECK-OUT

Speaking for myself, I’m a big fan of the check-out experience.

Not only do I not have to wait long in line ever, but the cashiers are super quick, asking you how you’re doing each time, and the folks bagging the items are quick, efficient, and courteous. (Though I rue the day when one asks me if he can help me get my groceries to the car.) I realize these staff habits are probably the result of good training, but the effect on the customer comes across authentically.

And “attaboy!” to the training department.

I also like how HEB made a change in its card machine: apparently people were leaving their cards in the machines after check-out, so the process was changed so that we remove our cards before we approve the total.

Cheesy stock photo. No, not exactly what it’s like at HEB, but both sides leave happy. (SOURCE: Finance Buzz)

FREE TASTINGS and LIVE COOKING KIOSK

Though COVID has changed a lot, hopefully temporarily, who doesn’t love the free food here and there?!

I’ve had new kinds of chili at the little HEB on Sidney Baker South and spicy California roll sushi at the big HEB on Main Street.

After tasting the outcome of a cooking demo at the big HEB that featured a jar of Cookwell & Company Two-Step Spicy Chili Mix — yes, I know using a sauce like this is kind of cheating — I bought a jar, made chili — and it was a big hit with the kids.

As long as the chili is good, the diners don’t care what state appears on the chef’s birth certificate.

CORPORATE CITIZEN

The sensitive response HEB showed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, its nationally-newsworthy Ninja Supply Chain skills, and its rapid response to other disasters, make it a company worth praising. It also ranked as a top company to work for.

The list, as you all well know, could go on.

Here are some of the items on my “wish list” for HEB going forward.

My HEB wish list

There are certain products that are either temporarily unavailable, infrequently available, or they are items I hope will always be available.

SafeCatch Tuna | I first got this canned tuna fish at the little HEB in the Fall of 2019 when I was trying to eat a lot of protein.
- It’s low in mercury if it has any at all, and its ocean-to-canning process seems humane. It costs a little more, yes. But health and taking one tiny step toward sustainability make it worth it.
- SafeCatch to my knowledge hasn’t been offered at the big HEB, and it’s made sporadic appearances at the little one. My wife brought it home last night, putting a big smile on my face.

Bernards Gourmet Salsa | My favorite salsa. It is not offered at the small HEB, and it was regularly offered at the big HEB, until it wasn’t. Again, it’s a bit more expensive, but when the alternative salsas are made with water or tomato paste (which itself is part water), neither of which Bernards is, why not buy one carton less of Coke and spend money on amazing salsa instead? (That’s a call to action for my fellow shoppers.)
- I know as with any item anywhere — grocery store or otherwise — if a product doesn’t sell, the manager can’t take up shelf space for it.
- That said, I know that people would buy more if they only had the opportunity to try it. (This is addressed below.)
Dave’s Killer Bread | Aside from being about the best store-bought bread anywhere, if you’ve not read the history behind Dave’s Killer Bread, you owe it to yourself to Google it. It’s a story of redemption, human triumph and entrepreneurship, and we customers would do well to buy it and keep it on the shelves.

So here are two suggestions to remedy the above situations. (I say “remedy,” realizing I might well be the only one disturbed.)

I’m a writer and wannabe photographer, not a retailer or merchandiser, so these suggestions could be worth less than the paper this article is printed on. But since I’m a devotee of HEB and also spend the exorbitant amount of $11.99 on this domain each year, giving me a very small platform to spout off on, and since I shop a ton at the store, I’ll give it a shot.

An “R&D” area | Foods like SafeCatch currently sit alongside competitors like Chicken of the Sea. The latter retails at about 10 cans for a dollar, or something like that. Many of us view SafeCatch and similar higher-priced items as luxurious alongside their shelfmates. So we pass them by.
- SOLUTION: could HEB take a small area of the store toward the back corner, stock it with low-selling but high-profit products and brand the area like an “R&D Zone” for shoppers? A place for customers who consider themselves early-adopters to try something new that might be higher priced but which they’re willing to take a chance on. Maybe there’s even a coupon up front as they enter.
“Gleaning” | HEB is said to operate on “Christian principles,” as its founder set in motion. Many of us value the store for that very reason.
- SOLUTION: Gleaning has been part of a local area’s social welfare for millenia and is woven into the Judeo-Christian fabric. Could HEB provide a portion of a side or back wall that could contain small amounts of products that people could sample or take with them. These would be items that HEB might not want to take up prime shelf space for, but perhaps there’d be an accompanying coupon that satisfied customers could return and register their “vote” to have the items restocked. They’d be prepared in safe conditions within the Deli department.

These could be and probably are poor solutions, both practically in terms of execution and realistically in terms of market behavior. I believe in the free market system. I also believe that “what we do well today, we can do even better tomorrow.”

Is all of the above my personal opinion expressing my personal whims and wishes?

Absolutely!

But if HEB were more like the Massachusetts-based chain Stop & Shop, which a comedian I heard once parody as “Stop. Shop. Now get the hell out,” then I wouldn’t bother.

But since I love HEB, I bother.

Best Restaurants in Ruidoso, NM | #1 Breakfast Place

June 21, 2020 ~ Howard Freeman ~ Leave a comment

Being a visitor to Ruidoso, New Mexico, yet being a New Yorker, I tend to think I know about the best restaurants here and elsewhere. I also tend to think that by reading Yelp, Google, and online reviews I can divine the #1 best breakfast place here or anywhere.

Maybe I can.

But why take the chance?

Especially when I am choosing not only for myself but for my wife, my son, and his girlfriend also.I think we may have found not only the best breakfast in Ruidoso but also one of the best restaurants, period, in Ruidoso.

#1 Breakfast Place: Cornerstone Bakery Cafe

There. I said it: Cornerstone Bakery Cafe.

If you don’t think it’s that good, go look at their website, and you’ll see that the top menu bar even has a “Waitlist” tab. This is so you can see how long the wait will be, in order to time your visit.

How did I find it?

My nephew’s wife is from here, and I messaged both of them. He wrote back, “Our favorite breakfast place is Cornerstone Bakery Cafe.” Seemed like a more sure-shot than Yelp or Google. Or my assumed know-it-allness.

Nine-hour drive

From Kerrville, Texas, to Ruidoso, New Mexico, is about a 9-hour drive.

It’s not bad as drives go for these long southwestern states. And, as I love small towns and will write about another time, it was kind of exciting going through London (Texas). In fact, Texas is such a great state, that you can pile the family into your Ford F-150 XLT and drive from Paris (TX) to Rhome (pronounced Rome, just NW of Dallas) to London in just over 6 hours. Try that in your Fiat across the Pyrenees.

But after our drive here, I was pretty wiped.

We helped our son get moved in, and then had dinner, and then checked in to our room around 9:30pm, which was 10:30pm our time, since we crossed into Mountain Daylight Time.

Only this morning, after a solid eight hours of rack time, did I feel a bit normal.

“Starbucks?” “Breakfast?”

This morning, I got up earlier than Karen.

I wrote in my journal, got centered, and made a pot of hotel room coffee that looked more like rusted water. It was quite weak, but first thing in the morning, any coffee hits the spot.

There’s a Starbucks not two minutes away on foot, but Google Maps had me walking way over to a crosswalk and then down the other side. Next to the icons for Auto/Pedestrian/Bike/Airplane, there appeared no icon for jaywalker, but being that New Yorker I mentioned, that would be my route. I asked Karen whether she wanted a latte.

“Yes.”

I then got lazy and decided to drive.

See what living in Texas has done to me?!

On to the best breakfast in Ruidoso

We were soon hungry, being at 6,000+-feet altitude and — I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but — we were just hungry.

My nephew and his wife (from here) suggested Cornerstone Bakery Cafe. I called to see if the restaurant was doing dine-in and, yes, they were. In addition to several indoor dining rooms, they had tables out under a tent, and the morning air was a pleasant 65 degrees. Humidity here is very low: last night around 8%, this morning hovering around 12%.

Because of COVID, everyone first orders and pays at the front counter, and then sits and has their meal delivered, in order to minimize interaction. New Mexico is a lot stricter than Texas about precautions, and people here seem to be more cautious as well.

I ordered the Bernalillo Breakfast Burrito.

I’ve been “bad” all weekend — ordering food high in fat content and also eating large meals. But this was sooo worth it. Definitely rates among my 10 Best Breakfasts of all time.

If you go and have the option of getting home fries with any meal, be sure to get them “loaded.”

Fresh Orange Juice

As if the Bernalillo burrito isn’t enough, treat yourself to a carafe of fresh-squeezed juice from the finest oranges around. Simply slurpy. Word about town is that Cornerstone squeezes not only the pulp of the orange but puts the whole orange in, so that when they press them, it takes on what one local called a “floral” flavor. Well worth the money. When we first arrived, I noticed people walking out with coffees and plastic cups of orange juice.

best restaurant in ruidoso — Aprons in gift stop indeed give Cornerstone a “home” feel.

Now I know.

Cornerstone is great for families. It’s obviously a local favorite; lots of folks were hugging the cashier — yes, even during this pandemic people prioritize being human — and it has a very welcoming, hospitable feel. There’s a gift near the front.

I haven’t even touched on the bakery part in this article, but my wife got a cinnamon bun and the rest was sugar coma history.

> — If you’re looking for pastries to be delivered, try Seven Sisters Scones — <

Between savory entrees and sweet pastries, Cornerstone is definitely the best breakfast place and one of the best restaurants in Ruidoso.

Bernards Gourmet Foods | The Best Texas Salsa?

June 4, 2020 ~ Howard Freeman ~ Leave a comment

I’m a New Yorker, and we tend to think we know all about food, even salsas, Texas-made salsas. But we quickly learn, especially if we have spouses from Texas, that New Yorkers — in fact, everyone who’s not from Texas — don’t know about salsa, or Tex-Mex food, or chili. With $1.6 billion made in 2018 from sales of “Mexican sauces,” one needs to be discriminating about choice.

Having been married to a Texan now for almost a quarter century, longer than Gen Z Texans have been alive, I’d say I’ve earned some ranch creds to identify some of the best salsa around, even in Texas.

And my choice is Bernards Gourmet Foods.

Chips and salsa, a universal goodness

Isn’t it true that when you go to a Tex-Mex place, you expect to eat chips and salsa? And not just chips and salsa, but FREE chips and salsa, right? Along with a free plate, free utensils, and a free napkin. In New York City, this is often not the case, because you get charged for everything there. But everywhere else, Tex-Mex restaurants serve chips and salsa, and the expectation is that the salsa, perhaps more so than the chips — the delivery system — is good.

When you have a party, isn’t one of the easiest “hors d’oeuvres” chips and salsa? Easy, yes, but we want our salsa to be good.

Homemade vs. restaurant vs. store-bought

No two salsas are alike, though popular store-bought salsas are often made with the same ingredients and consist of a lot of water. In this section, I’ll walk through some of the distinctives of the different categories of salsas and my personal favorites in each.

> = = I’ll save you time and encourage you to CLICK HERE to order some Bernards right now! = = <

HOMEMADE

Some of the best salsas anywhere, of course are homemade.

This can be labor intensive, even if worthwhile. Personally, I have made better salsa verdes (green) than I have salsas rojas (red). But green salsa, if done right, definitely can take some time. And finding a good tomatillo outside Texas is another challenge.

So let’s start with what we might call “fresh tomato salsa.” (Salsa roja.)

Among the 317 million results you’ll get if you Google “salsa recipes,” my favorite is Stacey Homemaker’s “{Secret Ingredient} Cilantro Lime Salsa.” If someone tells me a salsa has cilantro in it, I’ll choose it every time over a salsa without. Why? Because cilantro makes the salsa taste so fresh! Like you’re sitting on a bar stool looking out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Other aspects of Stacey’s salsa that I like are the garlic — (just do it!) — and the cumin. Cumin, too, gives this recipe a distinct flavor that makes it irresistible.

The Best Texas Salsa — Roasting the tomatillos and garlic takes time, but it’s so worth it.

When it comes to salsa verde (a.k.a. green salsa; tomatillo salsa), there are two major sub-categories: Mamacita’s “green sauce” and all other green salsas. You might be wondering why I included a restaurant-made salsa here, but you can make Mamacita’s salsa yourself, and I made too much, and I was eating it for days, and it’s super fattening in addition to being super good. So unless you want the equivalent of sitting at Mamacita’s and eating their green sauce for like 72 hours straight, steer clear of making it at home. I was surprised at how much garlic it contains (1 tbsp of garlic powder for a 12-person serving), and that it’s made with cream cheese and sour cream. Cream, cream, cream. Talk about inflammation. Stick with Stacey’s vegan recipe.

The salsa verde recipe I like takes time, and you’ll want to be careful handling the jalapeños (or serranos, which I used) and cooked tomatillos, but the result is a crowd-pleaser.

The ‘little tomato,’ literally speaking, has lots of health benefits, including low sodium and high potassium to keep blood pressure down. The tomatillo has Vitamins A and C acting as anti-oxidants.

My sister-in-law also has one of the best salsa roja recipes, but I can’t share it here or I might not get invited back to Thanksgiving. I will add, though, that it has cilantro. (See above)

RESTAURANT

There’s actually little to add here, because frankly I never know whether a restaurant makes it own or buys it, and if they buy it, is it locally sourced or bought from some factory manufacturer? Unless I ask and trust the respsonse, I don’t know.

So I revert to simply expecting it as a freebie of my meal, as I mentioned at the top of this post, and judge it on that basis. But of the three categories, I know the least about what ingredients go in it.

STORE-BOUGHT

If you Google “best store-bought salsa,” you’ll get as many opinions as there are shoppers. So my choice below is just one more opinion. That said, there are some good and some poor choices; Delish has a whole run-down. But, curiously, it rates high those that lack the best or most flavorful ingredients:

Tostitos brand. Typically watery. It’s #1 ingredient is “tomato puree” (water and tomato paste)
Green Mountain Gringo. I used to like it until I learned its top ingredients are “Water, tomato, sugar…” Nope.
Pace. Made with “crushed tomatoes (water and crushed tomato concentrate), water, jalapeño peppers…” Again, lots of water.

This leads me to Bernards.

> = = CLICK HERE to order Bernards now or keep reading…hopefully you’ll be sold! :)) = = <

Why I chose Bernards

I came across Bernards at H-E-B. (This Texas-based grocery store chain has the best selection of foods almost anywhere, not just salsas, but chips, breads, tortillas, sausages and bacons, produce, yogurts, etc. The store was the inspiration behind my previous blog.)

Bernards Gourmet Foods is a McKinney, Texas-based small-batch gourmet salsa maker. Bernard has Lone Star and Bayou cooking roots.

To give you a sense of what sets this salsa apart from the ones I mentioned above, here’s a complete list of ingredients going into their “Tomato y Chipotle” roasted salsa:

roma tomatoes
roasted onion
apple cider vinegar
roasted garlic
dried chipotle pepper
kosher salt
cilantro
black pepper

What?! No water?

That’s right. No water. And yes: cilantro. Praise the LORD.

0g Fat, 2g Carbs, 0g protein.

Is it cheap? Well, compared to popular salsas, no. But if you want inexpensive, make your own. Barring that, if you’re going to eat salsa for salsa’s sake — as opposed to putting it in something else — then you might as well get the best. And I believe Bernards is not only the best tasting, but also its Texas soul makes it a pleasure to eat.

They offer five styles, and my favorite is the “Tomatillo y Poblano.” As I mentioned, salsa verde is my favorite to make at home, so I appreciate a good green sauce.

Where to get yours

In McKinney, you can buy it at these vendors:

You can order online: bernardsgourmetfoods.com

Or, as I mentioned, you can go to H-E-B — at least here in Kerrville you can — to purchase.

I can understand that for most of you outside Texas, the notion of paying to have salsa shipped might be cost-prohibitive, but you owe it to yourself to try it at least once. It’s really outrageously good. (Especially the salsa verde!)

As a final thought, and to encourage you to order online, here’s my experience with an “unboxing”:

Unbox your own!

What To Do In Comfort, Texas | #1 Best Pizza In The Hill Country

June 2, 2020 ~ Howard Freeman ~ Leave a comment

NYC, 96th and Madison — The pre-war building I grew up in. Frank’s Pizza was behind that bus on the lower right corner of the photo.

I grew up in New York City literally over a pizza parlor. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn about Comfort Pizza in Comfort, Texas (Facebook page here), which is in my humble opinion the best pizza in the Hill Country and, so far, the only edible pizza other than Home Slice in Austin.

Our building was on 96th and Madison, and Frank’s Pizza was not only the place my younger brother went every weekend morning — get a couple slices and a coke and go back upstairs to watch Godzilla movies — but most kids in the neighborhood went there. Another pizza place was on 97th and Madison, but no one went there. A block away, but no one went.

Danny was my childhood best friend and his mother told me not long ago that during the 70s, which is when we grew up and when the city was in such a mess that President Ford told us, in effect, to go fly a kite, that Frank was once robbed, and when the robber started to leave, Frank pulled out a pistol and ran down Madison Avenue after the guy. I don’t think anyone got shot, but you didn’t mess around with Frank.

So you can probably guess that I have become somewhat of a pizza snob, as I am also a bagel snob. (I think both snobberies come from knowing that NYC water is the best, though apparently that’s a myth, but a myth I choose to believe.)

The other thing to know about pizza is that it’s not only great “finger food,” as it were, but you can carry it easily and eat it for a block or two. You fold it lengthwise and, without letting the grease drip onto your shirt — hold it level or tilt your head — eat it from the point backwards. Spoiler: for all its virtues, Comfort Pizza sells only whole pies, not slices. Home Slice sells both. To be 100% authentic, you gotta sell it by the slice. And pair it with a soda, for a deal price.

Best pizza in Texas — Comfort Pizza pizza, this was a CPT Pizza style.

2000 feet and 1/4 inch

Comfort Pizza is about 2000 feet east of the Kerr County line, in western — I mean western — Kendall County. Which kind of burns me up, because I would like to claim that Kerr County has the best pizza in Texas, maybe the best pizza outside New York. Home Slice is good, but Comfort Pizza is both really good and different.

Different because it’s thin crust, about 1/4 inch it seems, but that’s not what makes it really different.

How often do you get pizza made with “angry Samoan oil”? Or “extra angry with jalapenos & chile-infused olive oil”? Do you like sausage from Opa’s of Fredericksburg? You can have that on your pizza. The only thing better might be a pill that helps your brain.

What?! There’s really one of those?

Yeah, there’s a “brain pill” out there.

Fountain drinks under umbrella

The two or three times I’ve been there have had blue skies, warm air, two large fans like they have in the NFL, and whimsically colorful metal lawn chairs under red umbrellas. As if angry Samoan oil isn’t enough, you get all that plus killer pink lemonade if you want it.

This is a great place to bring kids, since they can be noisy if they need to be and can be active. There’s good music piped in.

No inside seating, so be prepared.

And one more preparation tip, very important: call ahead to order your pizza. Not only are they in high demand, but they prepare the dough a certain way and in a certain amount, and you might miss out if they don’t have enough.

The man who started this joint was 18 when he did so.

Yea, America.

Yea, Comfort Pizza.

Our review on Yelp.com:

Restaurants In Utopia, Texas | REVIEW: Lost Maples Cafe

June 1, 2020 ~ Howard Freeman ~ Leave a comment

How could one not want to go to Utopia?!

I mean, that’s a no-brainer. But what to do once you get there and are there restaurants in Utopia; that’s actually harder than you think. Because Utopia, population 227, is actually a census-designated place (CDP) by the Federal Register, meaning that there’s only enough of a concentration of people — as of mid-March, even if the whole town showed up for a parade, this wouldn’t have broken COVID-19 regulations — to be a data point for the Census. A CDP doesn’t have legal boundaries, and for a town the size of a decent wedding ceremony, why would there need to be any?

So, what is there to do in Utopia, Texas? Why, go to The Lost Maples Cafe of course!

For more info, don’t use their dot.com

Their website will lead you only to an error message, so you can see their menu here, and I’ve also taken some photos of the interior and surroundings.

A friendly review

I’ve decided to start using my own rating system, standard stuff like 1-10, 10 being best (no half-points, please; 10 is enough of a scale). And also a rating of my own, STI, for Small Town Index, meaning how typical of a small town is this.

NAME | Lost Maples Cafe
ADDRESS | 384 Main St, Utopia, TX 78884
PHONE | (830) 966-2221
DECOR | 7/10
SERVICE | 9/10
FOOD | 6/10
NOISE QUALITY | 9/10
FAMILY FRIENDLY | 9/10
GOOD FOR GROUPS? Yes
STI | 8/10

The FOOD gets the harshest review, so I’ll start there, because it all gets better.

I had the fried fish plate, though I’ve been trying to cut down on fried food (am closer to 60 than I am 50). They had tilapia; previous night was catfish, which I prefer. The batter on the fish was good, and the fish was perhaps slightly undercooked. I mean, only slightly. The onion rings were to die for. Amazing batter, and you could bite into one without pulling out the whole ring. One of the best parts of the meal was having a roll of paper towels at the table. I get messy with greasy fingers. Big points on their sweet tea. Tasty and also served in a huge plastic cup.

THE STAFF WERE EXCELLENT

Service was great. The two servers appeared to be high school seniors, and each worked very hard and quickly to take our orders and did so with a smile. As I mentioned in a previous post, I got the hard sell on cherry pie and it almost worked. I kind of wish it had, yet my BMI is glad it didn’t.

In terms of the interior (Noise, Decor, and how good it is for Families and Groups), all of those get high marks. This is definitely the kind of place to come for early breakfast before getting on the road, weekend brunch — though I don’t think that word is used much around Utopia — lunch with co-workers, and an early dinner anytime. (I suspect that not many people go in for European dinner hours anyway; they close typically at 9pm.)

The STI was 8/10. Lost Maples Cafe has a real small town feel, yet it would gain another point or two if it wasn’t such a rose among thorns. Nothing else was open. Granted, it was close to 6pm on a Saturday evening, and offices were understandably closed — there was a Justice of the Peace building across the street — and shops were also closed. But other restaurants appeared either vacated or closed. Perhaps midday on a Monday would be different, but on this particularly Saturday night, Lost Maples Cafe was a candle in the dark. I would give it higher marks if the town around it had the same charm as it did.

But whether your destination is Lost Maples or Mac & Ernie’s Roadside Eatery in nearby Tarpley, either one is a good place at the end of a relaxing drive.