One of the nicest things about traveling around Texas while I try to sell things is finding a great little restaurant in a place you'd never expect to. Since our family has "train fever" (started several years ago by my brother Bill and carried to new heights by my daughter Amy and the boys), I am getting pretty good at spotting train-oriented stores and restaurants around Texas. For instance, there is a nice restaurant in Brady TX called the Cafe at the Depot Restaurant that is housed in the train depot right beside the railroad tracks running through town. Jan and I have eaten there several times, and we enjoy looking at the old train memorabilia and pictures while we eat.
But, there aren't any train tracks running through Kerrville, at least not now, so I was very surprised to see the (small) sign for the Rails, A Cafe at the Depot off to my left as I drove back to the hotel to pick Jan up for lunch. We decided that it would be a good thing to try a new restaurant this time, especially since its theme was trains and railroads.
The restaurant has two small rooms with high ceilings and tables for two and four near the front entrance. Towards the back there is a larger area with tables that can seat 6 or more. There are pictures of trains along the walls, toy trains in some of the corners, train tickets and menus from the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad in shadow boxes, and more nostalgic and interesting train "stuff" around the rooms to keep our interest as we waited. We sat in the smaller room (to the left as we walked in) and were greeted by a friendly young man dressed all in black, which seemed to be the uniform dress of all the wait staff.We started out with the spanokopita with peppadew sauce appetizer, a greek "ravioli" with spinach and feta cheese inside a crusty flaky phyllo wrap in the shape of triangles. They were so good and artfully presented. The peppadew dipping sauce was spicy without being too "hot," and was very much like chipotle sauce that we had had in other restaurants. We enjoyed that very much, and couldn't wait to get to the main course. Jan ordered the Soup of the Day, the Spinach Artichoke Florentine, and I ordered the Chicken Quesadilla Special that was actually two flour tortilla chicken soft tacos with sweet/hot red peppers and the same peppadew/chipotle sauce drizzled over the top. We were well satisfied and had no room for desert. Too bad! I would have liked to try the peach cobbler....
OOPS, I forgot to mention the wine list, and the wine Jan picked. The wine list is very unusual, with wines both local and California that I had not heard of before. Jan picked the Ironstone Obsession: Sierra Foothills, a sweeter white wine that reminded me of a Chenin Blanc, but milder and fruitier than that. It went well with our meal, and we will try to find some to take home with us for future meals. You can look at the menu and the wine list on their website.
There are probably many wonderful restaurants in Kerrville, and we intend to find them on other trips. But, we found a mighty good one on our first try at the Rails Cafe at the Depot. If you are ever in Kerrville, please stop by. You won't be disappointed.
Thanks for stopping by!
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