Dining in Chappell Hill Texas

Small Town Texas

Today, I'm remembering a little feast from four years ago.

We were passing through the small Hill Country town of Chappell Hill and spotted the Lazy Mule. I liked the Mule X-ing sign.

Don and I were traveling with our son. Scott and I stepped inside to see if the saloon served food. We met Larry. At least I think his name was Larry. He was actually sweeping the floor when we first entered.

Larry told us he could heat up some pizza for us, but mostly the place was for drinking. It was a saloon, after all. We passed on the pizza and had a good time chatting.

3-Legged Dogs
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​Scott and I noticed a curious sign on the wall. We had just passed a dog on the porch. 

That poor little pup only had 3 legs, I believe. Nice to know he was welcome inside.

Looking Around
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Randy told us to feel free to look around. I admired the raccoon with his Mardi Gras beads and his jar of peanut butter.

I also noticed a list on the wall, with names of all the businesses that had been inside this funny little building. ​The first on the list was Zientek Grocery. Pretty funny, since some of my husbands relatives spelled his family name that way!

I wish I could remember better, the story that Randy told us about the building being moved. "There were people inside drinking. They just rolled it on down the road." I'm not sure if that was a tall tale.
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Moving Ourselves to a New Location

With hopes of something besides frozen pizza, we headed off down the road.

There's not a whole lot in the rural unincorporatated community of Chappell Hill. But we did find a cafe/meat market. 

And the business had been around since 1939! I love a cafe with history.

Cozy Seating

I'm always game for sitting at a counter, but that's harder with 3.

We passed up the cute red stools and headed for a table with a red & white checkered, vinyl cloth.

During blue bonnet season, I believe this place gets some tourist traffic. But it was just us and a few locals on this afternoon.

Food

I can only make a guess about what we ate, by looking at these photos from my computer.

I do remember thinking the hamburger, wrapped in red and white paper, was pretty classic.

I went for the baked potato and Scott had good old chicken fingers, fries and gravy. He must have shared a chicken finger with me. Surely my potato didn't come with that. ? As I recall, the food was tasty and the atmosphere was very small town comfy.

Shopping

When we finished, we paid up and took a visit to the adjoining market.

I'm pretty sure that Dziekuje was the name of the family that owned the biz... or once did. I wonder if the "Sweet Treat" rack was from 1939. There were some mighty fine sweet Honey Buns and Donuts for sale, but we didn't buy.

We didn't buy any potatoes or onions, either. I would have bought that wonderful wooden holder, if I could have. 

I loved the old photo of the original shop. I'll be they still get lots of cowboy hats at the cafe. And I wonder if they had Dr. Pepper on the menu?

This is a super lame write-up, but it is July 19, 2020 and I am not going on dining adventures during the pandemic. My biggest adventure today involved finding these old photos on my computer!