For my birthday the kids took me to our favorite little town in Gruene, where we love to at great restaurants and do lots of fun shopping!
Riverhouse Tea Room
Most often we eat at the famed Gristmill, whose Tex-Mex dishes are legendary! When I travel the country and people learn where I’m from, they know about Gruene and the Gristmill!
Just as wonderful is the River House Tea Room, unlike any other tea room I’ve visited.
Chef Carol Irwin serves real meals here, deftly created exemplified by her winning:
- San Antonio Chef of the Year
- Texas Chef of the Year
- River House Tea Room awarded Achievement of Excellence Award by the Culinary Federation (rarely awarded to a casual eatery)
My kids are even as enthusiastically excited as I am to eat here!
My favorite dish is a combination platter of savory tea items: quiche of the day, salad with balsamic dressing and parmesan chip, fresh fruit, and a cup of soup of the day.
Loving the flavored iced tea, I always buy some to brew at home. I sure do wish I knew where they sourced their tea from.
The day was perfect for eating outdoors underneath the trees. The ever-present humidity had vanished away from a recent cool front. A kitty even came to make friends with the kids.
Shopping
After lunch we shopped at several different stores. Located across from the Tea Room is one of my favorite stores, which sells tea accessories, jewelry, lotions, ladies’ attire, all French Country styled, that we visited right after lunch.
My daughter and I meandered towards the back while my son stayed up front to talk to the cashiers.
When I returned to the front of the store to purchase some items, the ladies were putting together a pink package for him. One lady cheerfully ran to the back for a pink bow, while he pulled out his wallet.
As I walked up to the counter they asked if he was my son. When they learned he was my son, they happily proclaimed he was a really nice boy. They asked if the girl was my daughter. When I said yes, they assured me they just knew she was nice too!
My son was collecting votes
Then they gleefully told me all about their conversation. They asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.
Knowing exactly what was coming, I just smiled while I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the story they enjoyed telling.
My son has a passion to become president of the United States, and he was busy soliciting votes while my daughter and I were in the back of the shop.
Only knowing his first name, which they had learned earlier, they asked him for his full name.
After he clearly stated his first, middle, and last name, the ladies looked at each other, got big round mouths, and exclaimed, “Even the name sounds presidential!”
Now that a few votes have been collected, we were off to do more shopping and see some pretty flowers!
Epilogue 2024
On recent trips to Texas we have sadly learned that the Tea Room has been sold. But the good news is that Chef Irwin has simply changed cooking genres and locations. You can now find her serving Southern breakfasts at a nearby location, Buttermilk Cafe.
My kids and I still miss the tearoom though. I’d buy a cookbook from her of her tearoom recipes if she ever writes one. (hint, hint)
