Trip to Fredericksburg, TX

My better 1/2 and I are flying from Michigan to T82 this coming weekend to visit our son. He lives in Austin but is meeting us in Fredericksburg to spend a long weekend. If anyone has recommendations for lunch and dinner spots that would be great. On Saturday my wife will be shopping while my son and I head out to find a nice place to fly in for lunch (BBQ). Any recommendations would be great. We don't mind flying for 150 miles or so from T82.

Thanks
Gary
N715AB

For BBQ you MUST fly over to Llano (KAQO). Get there early because you will be joining several other pilots (a dozen or so on a nice Saturday) in one of the 15 passenger vans that will make several trips to Cooper's BBQ.

As far as places to stay, if it's a special enough occasion, spring for a room right on the airport in the Hangar Hotel. It's decorated like a WWII british hotel complete with the overstuffed leather styled "Officer's Club".

There are several good eating places in Fredericksburg. If you like German food, the Auslander (downtown) is great. For BBQ, you'll find it hard to beat Hard Eight in Brady just "up the road" from Fredericksburg.
Oh, and if you need a place to stay, the Hangar Hotel at the airport is a treat.

Hondo's Burger is awesome!!
Rathskeller (Under Kuchenladen) is awesome!!

We go to T82 all the time.

Phil

Llano is some of the best BBQ I've found (Cooper's).

Chris

Just an FYI, there is a Swift fly in there this weekend. My Dad has a swift and he is going. Likely rooms will be hard to come by at the hanger hotel. The resteraunt accross the highway from the airport entrance road is excellent...don't recall the name.

Fredricksburg is also known for the wineries. Worth checking out a few while you are there.

They also have the WWII Pacific War museum downtown. It is really good.

The restaurant across the highway is called the Cotton Gin and you're right, it IS excellent. They also have B&B cabins and would be a great place to stay. http://www.cottonginlodging.com/

I have flown out there with friends for dinner and they sent a car to pick us up at the terminal.

Some ideas..

Hi Gary,

Hilltop Cafe - (830) 997-8922 - on Hwy 87 about 10 miles NW of Fredericksburg. It's a German/Cajun (husband/wife) restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. You'll see folks dressed in their Sunday's best to very casual. If you like German Chocolate Cake, best you call ahead and reserve a piece. The husband is into Blue's music and he'll sometimes come out and strike up a tune. Probably also a good idea to call ahead and reserve a table.

Willow City Loop - If you're in the mood for a small road trip and a nice sampling of the Texas Hill Country, then this is pretty hard to beat. It's best in the springtime when the Blue Bonnets are in full force. We've had drought conditions for quite some time so it's probably not in its best form, but still a pleasant tour. Take Hwy 16 North about 13 miles, then right on FM1323 (the FM stands for Farm to Market) towards Willow City for about 2.7 miles, the left on Willow City Loop. It'll eventually come out on Hwy on 16 - just turn left to get back to Fredericksburg.

No doubt that Coopers BBQ in Llano is great. If you'd like to take a less common drive to get there, Take Hwy 87 North for about 8.5 miles, then turn right onto RR2323. This'll take you right into the south side of Llano. Turn left on Hwy 16, cross the Llano River, then left on Hwy 29. Coopers is about .5 miles on your left. To get back to Fredericksburg, just get back on Hwy 16 south and that'll take you straight back.

If you're into historical sites, LBJ's ranch is "just east of town" on Hwy 290 by about 17 miles.

If you're into the casual of casual and motorcycles, there's Luckenbach, TX. Head east on Hwy 290 about 5.5 miles, turn right on RR1376 (the RR stands for Ranch Road) - there's KOA on the corner if I recall correctly, then head about 4.5 miles on your right.

Welcome to Texas!

Navajo Grill 830-990-5734 and I'll second the Cotton Gin

Cotton Gin is a good one too. Walking distance.

Other options

Burnet is also a nice place to stop. A barbecue restaurant, which I think is called the Feed Store is walking distance from the airport. It's good, but probably not as good as Coopers in Llano. There's also a CAF museum on the field in Burnet.

Llano is just a short hop from Burnet if you want to stop at the museum, but eat at Coopers.

lots of good ideas

We lived there for 2 years here are my thoughts:
Fine dining
1.) The Nest
2.) Navaho Grill

Casual but still nice
1.) Pastabella (one of our favorite restaurants ANYWHERE. we fly back there to eat still
2.) ?? one in the old Hospital off Main Street. Ask around I can't remember name but had nice dinner with in-laws there and food was great.
Others:
1.)Hilltop Cafe little ways out of town and i thought overpriced for the food but good.
2.) cotton Gin heard it was good never tried
3.) catfish place on West end of town i liked just standard fried fish and stuff
4.) the German place on West end of town was pretty good

There are others around and just off Main Street I can't remember.

My favorite again is Pastabella. Owner operated and some of the best pasta and sauces. My wife loves their Pesto, I get something with red sauce always. It is in town just off Main maybe on Lincoln street? not sure i just know how to get there.
My two choices would be The Nest ($$$) and Pasta Bella ($) both excellent in all phases of dining. You may need reservations at the Nest.

For flying:
Llano is closest with Coopers BBQ
Brady has Hard 8 bbq which i prefer over coopers. (also a Hard 8 in Stephenville not too far and its closer to airport than other two)
lots of guys on this site fly to KSEP (stephenville for Hard 8 bbq)
All 3 have courtesy cars or golf carts for you to go eat in.

The Nimitz and WWII Pacific Museums are EXCELLENT. If you don't want to shop, go there. I set aside 3 or 4 hrs and was not nearly enough time.

I liked Touring the LBJ ranch as well but research it first as it is mostly a road stop to me not a day trip. IF you are hikers, go out to Enchanted Rock.

To stay:
Try to stay at Hanger Hotel if you can if you want to be around planes. Rent a car or use your son's. TAxi service is barely there.
If Hanger Hotel is full there are TONS of Bed and Breakfast places to choose from.

Have fun!

Jeff
Austin tx

Octoberfest

We had lunch at the Airport Diner just yesterday.

I might be a bit confused on the timing, but be sure and call ahead for a room this time of year. People at the Hangar Hotel front desk were saying something about "only two rooms left in town".

If bbq is more important than being able to fly in, 4 of the top 5 in the state are close to Austin. The 5th is not far but only open on Saturday morning. http://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/top50. Two are in Lockhart. Took my dad on a one day tour the top five and ate ourselves into a near bbq coma. If I'm taking visitors, we eat the ribs at Smitty's in Lockhart. None better that I've ever found and I make it a point to try. Was in Memphis this past Friday and had their best dry rub ribs at Central BBQ and Smitty's are still my favorite by a good margin.

Here is a link for Hotel and Diner - very neat place - http://www.hangarhotel.com/index.html

Great information

Thanks to everyone that sent suggestions. We'll pack as much in as we can in 4 days.

Gary
RV7A 894 hrs
N715AB