Dining in Downtown Blanco

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Downtown Blanco, Texas is flourishing in many ways, but especially for the Hill Country palate.  There are several choices of casual and upscale restaurants that offer fresh and organic produce, often locally grown.  We’ve highlighted three dining establishments that offer a variety of memorable and fresh dining experiences, but this is only a small sampling of the many scrumptious Blanco Texas restaurants serving this quaint and historic ranching community.

REDBUD CAFÉ, MARKET AND PUB

On the north side of the well-known square, directly across from the famous Old Blanco County Courthouse, is a little gem of a family-owned restaurant.  The Redbud Café uses seasonally fresh produce to create appetizing, casual and tasty food that they say is made with love.  The owners of Redbud are potters John and Jan Brieger, who also sell their handcrafted pottery and dozens of local lavender products at Brieger Pottery next door.

Redbud Café, Market and Pub has daily lunch fare of mostly sandwiches, salads, quiches, and soups with local Hill Country wines and Blanco brewed ales.   They’re open Monday – Saturday for lunch and Friday and Saturday for a casual dinner, too.  There is a wide assortment of live music offered on Fridays and Saturday evenings. Redbud has a website and Facebook app to keep you updated on menus and music, and a wonderful gift store to wander through after you finish your meal.   Also check out the ample supply of fresh baked goods and grab-and-go selections from their market.  The market plans to sell fresh produce seasonally.

UPTOWN BLANCO

Uptown Blanco is a relatively new upscale restaurant. The restaurant is part of a larger complex of historical buildings that cover a full block in historic downtown Blanco.  The final Uptown Blanco Arts and Entertainment center will include the restaurant, tavern, arts center, theater, textile center, ballroom, retail shops and more. The dining reviews of this fresh, epicurean addition to Blanco have been exceptional.   Some dinner favorites at Uptown are shrimp and lobster grits with Andouille sausage and Real Ale demi sauce, panko-fried Texas quail with apricot couscous and local grilled rack of lamb on root vegetable mashers and with blueberry and juniper sauce.  Need we say more?  Uptown offers wonderful lunches Monday – Wednesday, and both lunch and dinner on Thursday – Sunday, with an extravagant Sunday breakfast or brunch.  Find their current menus online.

ZOCALO ELECTIC CAFÉ

Zocalo Café resides in an older house-turned-restaurant a couple of blocks south of Blanco’s courthouse square.  The owner is a native Texan and musician who values live music, fabulous food, great coffee and art.  The café offers it all from the art on the walls to the unexpected menu. This eclectic Blanco Texas restaurant of gastronomic delights has recently hired Chef Michael Alvarez, the former executive chef from the Gage Hotel in Marathon.  Zocalo is open for lunch, Wednesday through Saturday where, among other things, you’ll find creative paninis and enchiladas of the day, pulled-pork sandwiches, interesting salads and daily specials.  It’s open for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings and brunch on Sunday.   The pan-seared quail with jalapeno cheese grits is a favorite.  Buffalo enchiladas, lobster crab cakes with chipotle crema, and Texas prime beef have all graced recent menus.  With their new chef, new culinary creations are expected. This restaurant is a hidden find.

BRUSHY TOP

Many people who visit Blanco fall in love with the majestic beauty of the Texas Hill Country.  The Ranches of Brushy Top capture this Texas grandeur in 5- to 75 –acre home sites for custom homes in a private, gated community.  There’s an 80-acre wildlife preserve, two lakes, and hilltop views of 40 miles.

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