Abilene, Lubbock (TX) - ???

Abilene - looks like I’ll be stopping for the night on my way to CO. Anything??? Belle’s Chicken Dinner House? Looks like a knock-off of Babe’s in Dallas. Sides might be more interesting than the chicken.

I know about Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap but steaks and burger, etc., look too big for my appetite. I don’t work up much appetite driving and I don’t like to eat a big meal at night.

Lubbock - passing through on a Sunday. Crafthouse Gastropub looks interesting but only does brunch and I might not make it in time. Funky Door is closed on Sunday. Otherwise, every chain imaginable (including Torchy’s).

Although I have lived in Texas most of my life, I have never been to the panhandle. A friend was there recently and enjoyed a meal at Abi House. I notice they close between lunch and dinner. Another friend says the best grilled quail he’s ever had was at Lytle Land & Cattle Co., also in Abilene. He says they have decent steaks and other menu items can be hit or miss.

Look forward to your trip report.

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Right now, I’m looking for a Houston restaurant with a patio for this evening. What a gorgeous day! So I’ll just drop this link that I found about Lubbock.

Lubbock

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Thanks very much Lambsy! I don’t think I’d come across Abi but certainly bears looking into; Lytle gets very mixed reviews - good to know there may be something dependable on the menu…

Great site on Lubbock. Hadn’t come across the Vine, either.

Mostly I’m trying to stay close to the highways to save time although that’s probably not where I’m going to find the best eats.

I’ll be looking in to these.

Abi-Haus looks great but it has limited hours and apparently is quite small. I hope I can get there at the right time and get in without a long wait.

Both The Vine and Manna in Lubbock are out of business and the menu of the Sunday brunch at Crafthouse doesn’t appeal to me. But I’ve found a couple of Middle Eastern places that look okay and a couple of Spanish places that look interesting although hours are a problem.

But things are looking pretty good for the Texas leg of this trip and I have Colorado and NM pretty well scoped out.

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Okay. Very late report.

On the way up I got to the outskirts of Abilene about 15 mins before the end of lunch service at Abi-Haus so I just skirted town on the loop and kept going. On the way back, I went right through town I thought on the very street Abi-Haus was on but didn’t see it. It was about 2.5 hours before lunch service began. So no Abi-Haus for me this trip. Biggest disappointment of the trip.

In Lubbock, I had a wrap from TJ’s in the car and plenty of snacks and I was dead so I didn’t go out that evening. Leaving town early the next morning I wanted to pick up a sandwich from a specialty shop inside a convenience store near TTU but the sandwich maker didn’t show up until 11 am, so no dice. On the way back through, I went to a Wienerschnitzel near my hotel! Gotta have a Wienerschnitzel fix every few years.

I stopped for gas in Cherokee at a Stripes/Sunoco station on the trip home and went inside to check out the Laredo Taqueria. I’ve seen Stripes stations around town and there’s one near me on S. Fondren but I hadn’t ever checked it out. An amazing variety of ready-to-eat foods and a manned kitchen. I got a chicken drumstick from a warming cabinet that was still nice and moist with crispy crust but bland. I waited in line to get a taco (they’re fixed like burritos and the place is apparently one of the most popular eateries in Cherokee). Large, warm flour tortilla (they claim to make their own on premises) but the carne guisada was mostly fat and I threw it away.

Then I drove on through town and passed a Brookshire Brothers with a Hot Deli about a half mile east. I’ll try to remember that the next time I’m through Cherokee.

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That sucks. It’s almost certainly what I would have ordered. I love me some carne guisada but to be perfectly honest, (tho’ not so humble), it’s hard to find any that’s better than mine.

Sylvia’s Enchi Kitchen and Lopez are decent, (but mine’s better :wink: ).

Best I’ve ever had was at that tiny Puerto Rican place in Montrose called Tex Chick (now known as Tex Chick Puertorrican Restaurant).

That was back when the original elderly mom and pop who started it were still running it. Family members have taken it over, I think. She was a very good cook.

I know this is an old thread but I recently had to make the drive from Dallas to Lubbock (I’m not from TX, so this isn’t a typical event for me). I was looking for somewhere to stop and eat along the way and came across this thread, so wanted to just add my one-time 2-cents.

We stopped at Belle’s Chicken Dinner House in Abilene. It was perfect. First, it is almost exactly 1/2 way along the drive, just off the freeway, and exactly what I thought it would be . . . a Texas road side fried chicken joint in all the tourist sense that that may mean, with really good fried chicken.
The place is just off the freeway, not near anything really, in a big metal warehouse type building hidden behind some trees. It is a giant open room, with a 1/2 exposed commercial type kitchen along one wall, concrete floors . . . . the staff was great, the parking lot full of nothing but pick-up trucks - we were clearly tourists but everyone else seemed to be regulars.

It sounds like the menu changes a little from time to time. We had the fried chicken, which was only served as a breast, wing, thigh, and leg. The sides that day were a creamed corn (much better than what we expected it to be), green beans with bacon (tasty but a little mushy - but that is what we expected them to be), mashed potatoes (perfectly fine), and sausage gravy (as tasty and not thick and paste like). We all agreed that the fried chicken was excellent - super crispy and nothing was overcooked, not even the wings, which is not easy to do.

They also had fried catfish (and one or two other options but we were there for the friend chicken). They also must do chicken and dumplings because a few guys came in to get it but were told they were out - those guys promptly turned around and left. :wink:

I don’t have a lot of things to compare it with, and have only been once . . . but if you’re making that drive and are looking for somewhere that isn’t a fast food chain, I’d stop there again.

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Thanks for the rec!