Huiscaho Grill & Wine Bar, New Brunsfels

TRAVEL THERE: A NIGHT OUT WITH THE GIRLS

Since this was Shana’s retreat, she was in charge of making all the decisions.  That in itself was a real treat.  I like it when I’m not in charge of anything except myself, but there’s still people around to enjoy.  I have a tendency to start herding any group I’m a part of, even when I don’t mean to.  I didn’t know most of the people in this herd and I wasn’t in familiar surroundings, so I just sat back and went along for the ride.  On this particular evening we headed into New Brunsfel to have dinner at the Huiscaho Grill.

The Huiscaho Grill and Wine Bar

If you’re looking for a great place to eat, you’re gonna wanna know about this place, but if you’re in a hurry, don’t stop here.  This is what you call an experience.  On Friday and Saturday nights, they don’t take reservations, but if you have 12 or more you can call the same day to give them a “head’s up.”  I’m not sure exactly what that means, but here’s how it went for us.

For some reason we were in a mad dash to get to the restaurant.  However, when we got there everything was in slow motion.  This was not a problem.  The restaurant, which seems to be in an augmented residential site, has a lovely lawn with eclectic furnishings scattered around for the enjoyment of adult beverages.  It’s also adjacent to a darling little lane of boutiques.

There were several car loads of girls on this adventure.  One carload seemed to be lost, in spite of frequent texting and conversations.  The balance of us divided out time between the shopping opportunity and adult beverage drinking.  Deb and I had been shopping for hours, so we sort of did our thing by anchoring the lawn table, irrespective of the rest of the ladies.  The restaurant had one hard and fast rule.  You could not be seated until your entire party has arrived.  I’m not sure we ever actually fulfilled that rule, but eventually they did give us a table.

See there were the lost girls and the shopping girls and the girls who walked around the building to see if they could find the lost girls and then the lost girls showed up, but the ones that walked around the building disappeared and we never knew whether someone was shopping, lost or making a love connection, but it was all fun.

When we finally all sat down in the restaurant with enough light to see one another, the shoppers started comparing their purchases.  If we’d ever had everyone sitting at the table at once, that ended the moment the shopping revelations began, because ladies started popping up to buy one of the whatever someone else had purchased.

Let’s Get Serious About the Food

For starters, Deb and I began with Fried Brie.  We pretty much love Brie anyway it comes to us, but this was a particularly delicious rendition of an old favorite.  When it comes to calorie counting and numbers of carbs, we probably should have stopped right there, but as I’ve said before, this was a retreat and indulgence is the name of the game.  So we ordered dinner.

I chose the Basil Grilled Chicken Breast.  Sounds healthy, right?  I mean brunch had been a fritatta, so I was being somewhat good.  When the plate arrived it looked so good that I dove into it with relish, but stopped myself after a few bites, because I realized that you would want to see what it looked like.  It was enough to feed an army.  Count them, not one, but two chicken breasts.  If Deb and I would have known, we would have just shared.  I’m pretty sure I managed to clean my plate.

So for food, I gave it an A+.  For entertainment, I would give this group of girls an A+, five stars and tiara.  I’m pretty sure everyone in the place thought we were the floor show.  I had a blast and wouldn’t trade the evening for anything.  But wait, we’re not through!

The Pour Haus

So, here we are, a large group of ladies, all gussied up for a night on the town.  We decide to stroll across the street to a beer garden called the Pour Haus.  In my memory, this sort of thing used to be so much fun.  Beer, people, live music – what’s not to love?  Well, nothing against the Pour Haus, but beer, people and live music just aren’t what they used to be.  It’s not their fault, it’s mine.

As the group entered the establishment and tried to figure out the lay of the land, we became a very large hindrance to foot traffic.  This place was all about cute young things in sundresses and cowboy boots.  We didn’t exactly melt into the crowd.  Some folks sidled up to the bar, but between the champagne cocktails at lunch and a few hours of wine, beer wasn’t even tempting.

Finally, we wandered around until we found a circle of Adirondack chairs and I would have been content to spend the evening there.  However, the single ones in the crowd realized we were out of the flow of traffic and that wasn’t what they were looking for.  There was a quick negotiation by those in charge.  Some were going back to the house and others were going to stay out.  While I could have happily sat there and listened to the music and people-watched for a while, I got the distinct impression that those who wanted to stay out weren’t exactly interested in the same thing I was.  So Deb and I opted for heading back.

It was a fun night I will cherish for a long time and I easily recommend both venues to you.