Food
by Patricia Sharpe, additional research
by Robin Barr Sussman.
Fredericksburg
The cheek-by-jowl shops lining Main Street make
the Central Texas town look like Christmas year-round. Though
the community was founded by German settlers, its best restaurants
have nothing to do with the Black Forest. The Nest, in a remodeled
old house, is serene in basic buff accessorized with a few judiciously
placed black and white photographs. Diners who can tear themselves
away from the signature steamed mussels in a butter, cilantro-tinged
sauce find plenty of variety in dishes like mahimahi in ginger-lime
buerre blanc or a half-chicken stuffed with spinach and portobellos
in a rosemary demi-glace (607 S. Washington, 830-990-8383; dinner
Thursday-Monday). Dressy but never stuffy, the Navajo Grill has
moved to a restored house just east of downtown, but the menu
still emphasizes Southwestern dishes like breast of chicken Chimayó,
marinated with New Mexico chiles and topped with chipotle aioli.
A sumptuous Stilton-stuffed fillet sounds and international note
(803 E. Main, 830-990-8289; dinner daily, Sunday brunch). At
the Fredericksburg Herb Farm, you can dine causally in a little
converted greenhouse or under the trees next to a a honeysuckle-covered
arbor. Delicious lunchtime salads and sandwiches come adorned
with fresh flowers. So do midday entrees like tender grilled shrimp
with wonderful, bright-tasting guacamole. Dinner might be juicy
quail with roasted-garlic mashed potatoes (45 Whitney, 830-997-8515;
lunch daily, dinner Friday and Saturday).
Shopping
by Suzy Banks
Fredericksburg
The shopping challenge
in this bustling Hill Country town west of Austin is sifting through
the chaff to find the golden kernels. Two standout shops are the
White Elephant (242 E. Main, 830-997-2175), whose textiles include
rugs made in Texas of Texas wool, supersoft cotton bodywear from
Switzerland, and baby blankets from Kentucky, and Villa Texas
(234 W. Main, 830-997-1068; closed Monday), a sun-struck "Mediterranean
lifestyle" shop (translation: old olive oil jars from Turkey,
lavender products from Provence and Tuscany, rustic tableware
from Italy). Homestead, which once boasted multiple stores across
town, is now condensed into a single three-story building, with
nooks devoted to past shops including Room #5, an ode to variations
on white, and Idle Hours, and epicenter for eccentric garden accents
(230 E. Main, 830-997-5551). Unique women's boutiques abound,
from the romantic Haberdashery (151 E. Main, 830-990-2462) - think
good fairies and seventies-era Stevie Nicks - to the more practical
Jolie Pêche (206 S. Adams, 830-997-9528; closed Sunday)
- think Flax and Eileen Fisher. At
the fourteen-acre Fredericksburg Herb Farm, the four-inch pots
of sage, creeping rosemary, and other plants will set you back
a few bucks each, but the gardening inspiration is free (407 Whitney,
830-997-8615).
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