Texas Highways Magazine November 2015

We could use a little comforting around here. For weeks now, the TH sta. has endured hundreds of drool-inducing food photos—brisket slices, chicken-frieds, meringue pies—in various stages of producing this issue. I think we somehow put on a few pounds just from the proofing rounds, all for the love of the Readers’ Choice Texas Top 40 Comfort Food Countdown, which begins on page 41. A big thank-you to all of the comfort foodies who responded to our call for your favorites. We had thousands of votes by mail, email, and social media, and the results show that while your favorite kinds of comfort food prove fairly consistent, there are a lot of great Texas restaurants that make them just like Mom … or almost. “Mom” came up oft en in your descriptions,…

GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? A wonderful piece about a place I know well and call home—South Texas and the beautiful resacas along our border. I have spent countless hours with friends along (and in) these oxbows. ANTONIO O. GARZA, U.S. ambassador to Mexico 2002-2009 OUR FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA OF THE MONTH... Here’s a magazine that gets the magic of the State Fair [October]. Thanks @TexasHighways and Michelle Burgess. Mitchell Glieber, @SpinnerMG The thing you’ll discover and love most about Texas is that you never know what you will find. Pamela McGhee Brown, Abilene Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Forty-year Fan In the early ’70s I was in an office in Houston to pick up a permit for a trucking company. There was Texas Highways, one of your first ones, I believe. I picked up a subscription…

30º 35’ 17.33” N 103º 53’ 40.80” W The 75-mile Davis Mountains Scenic Loop showcases an outstanding, biologically diverse ecosystem and passes many of the area’s attractions, including Fort Davis National Historic Site, Davis Mountains State Park, Davis Mountains Preserve (open specific weekends), and the McDonald Observatory (program reservations required after January 1). The drive—Texas 118 to Texas 166 to Texas 17—takes about 1.5 hours, leaving plenty of time to visit several of the attractions. Watch for picnic areas and pull-outs along the way to stop and enjoy the scenery. For more information, visitwww.fortdavis.com/attractions.html.…

STEPPING INTO THE BRIGHTLY COLORED DISPLAY AREA OF the Melissa Guerra Latin Kitchen Market in San Antonio was like entering into the kitchen of a good friend, albeit one whose culinary expertise far exceeded that of my wife Laura and me. The giant tamale steamer pots and the hand-painted Talavera ceramic ware made us long to host our own colorful dinner party back home in McAllen, which was precisely why we’d planned this trip. We were hoping to learn to cook like Melissa Guerra, the store’s namesake and owner, who is also the author of our family’s all-time favorite cookbook, Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert. Our journey had really begun several months earlier, when we discovered Guerra’s book in the cooking section of our local library. Laura and I both…

A LITTLE MORE THAN 25 MILES from where my feet tramped, a line of cars waited to enter Lost Maples State Natural Area, whose namesake trees blazed with red, yellow, and orange glory. But I had Hill Country State Natural Area pretty much to myself, and while no maples grow here, this rugged retreat offers a respectable display of fall color. Louise Lindsey Merrick donated most of the 5,369-acre natural area, the former Bar-O Ranch, to the state in 1976 on the condition that it remain “untouched by modern civilization, where everything is preserved intact, yet put to a useful purpose.” While the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department added a few amenities before opening the natural area to the public in 1984, “untouched” describes this place pretty well. You’ll find trails,…

MY FAMILY’S LOVE AFFAIR with the chewy and crunchy good taste of Collin Street Bakery’s DeLuxe Fruitcakes began years ago when we sent a cake by mail-order to my in-laws. The cake—loaded with pecans, cherries, dates, pineapple, and papaya—was so well-received that we expanded the list of recipients each December, but it wasn’t until recent road trips to Louisiana and Mississippi that our family had the opportunity to visit the original, historic Collin Street Bakery and Deli in downtown Corsicana. Now, even though there are Collin Street bakeries throughout east-central Texas, the original sweet shop is a regular stop when we’re passing through—exactly what we need to break up a long drive. If your nose wrinkles with aversion at the suggestion of fruitcake, Collin Street Bakery’s vice president, Hayden Crawford, proclaims,…