Georgetown, Texas: Monument Cafe

For my money, the Monument Cafe is one of the great restaurants of Texas, with its high quality downhome cookin'. Off the square in this small Texas town not far from Austin, it's been newly built but has retained both its character and its food quality that made the old building on the way out of town a local favorite for over a decade. Unlike the decline of the rebuilt Frisco restaurant in Austin, if anything, the Monument has improved.

The Monument's visual theme is Twentieth-Century Streamline: lots of chrome and glass bricks with black and white tile and black leather booths in a room that seats around 100 and fills up fast at noon and six. The retro look is a nice contrast to the free wifi with electric outlets at each booth.

For lunch on a recent Saturday, Christine and Bill had burgers with french fried sweet potatoes and sides of chili, Carol had blackened salmon, and I had truck stop enchiladas. At the Monument, all entrees come with a choice of three sides, selected from a blackboard bulging with favorites.

For desert, Christine and I split a slice of dark chocolate pie with a pecan crust, Carol had a coconut cream pie slice, and Bill had a fried pie, cherry, with a side of Amy's ice cream. All of the deserts are homemade. The food was simple, fres, and good. Our server was friendly and attentative. The bill was far from breaking the bank.

Monument Cafe website

Welcome to Food Mensch

I'm just a guy with an appetite. Since I travel around the world, I find great food in the strangest places. Sometimes I go to restaurants I read about. Sometimes serendipity leads me to wonderful food found on the back end of pickups. If you find yourself near a place I review, you might want to check out what I've found.

As we know, 5 star reviews often come with a high price. However, while we would like to think that we get what we pay for, that's often not the case. Sometimes the bill reflects decor and social status, rather than food. While my interest is in food, I'm not immune to aesthetics and comfort, and I am a people watcher as well as a food eater.

Frankly, though, when excellent food comes at an affordable price, I'm willing to overlook the other factors that are included in "eating out." Oh, and please remember that the reviews only represent my opinion on the day of my visit.

--the Food Mensch