We often find there are many similarities between Texas and the German state of Bavaria we live in. The pride, historical sovereignty, conservative values, local traditions, the unique dialect, and in particular unique phrases for hello (howdy y’all = servus). Well we found one more reason to stretch the comparison after discovering the Lone Star Saloon Steakhouse restaurant in a small town outside of Munich (Seeshaupt). This place could pass for Texas in just about every aspect, until the people start to speak.
To provide some back story, my co-worker Andreas insisted on taking me to his favorite steak place after learning about my Texas roots. Although he was being nice and showing me new places, he was more interested to learn my opinion on the steaks. He wanted to find out just how good (or bad) his favorite steak really was compared to most reputable steaks of America. It would be like having a friend from Japan tell you that your favorite local sushi restaurant is the best. Another reason for the invite: I had told him our experience eating beef in Germany has not really been the best. Julie, the true Texan, couldn’t even finish her 4 oz steak the one time I cooked it at home. She said it tasted like steak that belongs in dog-food, and once she said it, it started to taste bad for me too.
So back to last fall: Once I realized how excited Andreas was to get my opinion, (plus the opportunity to eat a high quality steak) I went out with my co-workers for a steak dinner. Upon arrival I was pretty much in a state of jaw-dropping awe the entire night. How could a town with less than 3,000 people in the middle of Bavaria have a hidden portal back to Texas!? Let me start with the photos so you can see what I mean.
The amount of Texas memorabilia is really, really unbelievable, but what you can’t see is that Billy Ray Cyrus music was playing in the background. And just to make sure I got the full experience I ordered the biggest steak on the menu – a 16 oz rib eye which was absolutely delicious (surprising, considering this was German beef!). This was one of those moments that reminds me just how out of control food portions are in America when my co-workers could not believe an establishment would sell (and that I would order and could eat) such a big portion. Certainly, I would not normally order so much food, but if I remember correctly this is an average size steak at any American steakhouse. Everyone else ordered 8 oz steaks. In the end I had to give Andreas credit: this is a top quality steakhouse and really represents Texas very well.
I was so impressed by the place I took Julie along with our American friends Eddie and Laura to share the joy a few months later. That’s when I learned I found the key to a Texas girl’s heart – good quality steak.
But this place gets even better. The second part of this story is that the Lone Star Saloon offers all-you-can-eat TexMex fajita buffet on Thursdays, which if you have not noticed by all of the tortilla delivery requests is probably the one food we miss most from the States/Texas.
The other week I went out again with my co-workers and this time I made sure to bring Julie with me. I’m glad she did not miss it because it was quite humorous to watch a few of my German colleagues eat fajitas for the first time (wait, you mean that exotic food we heard about in the movies once!?!). Without any instruction their instinct is to spread out the sauce and toppings over the entire tortilla, like a pizza, and then roll it. Then they would pick up a knife and fork to commence eating it.
Luckily our waiter was there to give them better instructions. Though perhaps the funniest part of the night was when he encouraged everyone to fold the fajita in thirds - by tucking in the bottom (more like a burrito) to keep it nice and orderly. He was particularly insistent that Julie do this too. After she said “I’m OK. I am from Texas”, he said, “I lived in Texas for 5 years and you should fold the bottom”. Julie laughingly replied, “I lived there for 22 years, so I really am good!” I think then he got the point and everyone got a laugh out of the German trying to enforce his ‘true’ Texas methods on the only real Texan in the place. This did make for some nice conversation when we learned the inspiration for the restaurant. Our waiter actually lived his 5 years in the Houston Bear Creek Park area. This is an amazingly small world.
In the end the fajitas were some of the best we have eaten here, but relatively mediocre compared to good Tex-Mex. But then again, nowhere does it like Texas. It doesn’t matter though when there is some good old Texas flare to help wash it down. No doubt this is now one of our favorite places in Germany and we strongly believe it should be in all guide books – at least for the steaks.
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