DRIP TRIP: BURGERS & BENINI IN JOHNSON CITY
In this third entry of our series of posts featuring fun activities no more than 30 minutes from Dripping Springs, using the intersection of RR12 and Highway 290 as our starting point, we Drip Trip to Johnson City for burgers and Benini.
The best sweet and sour shrimp I ever had was in Rome, Italy (sadly, I simply cannot remember the Italian name of that Chinese restaurant). The chocolate custard I had in New York City made my cheeks flush. My Paw Paw’s catfish was cornmeal crusted and crispy fried in a big black kettle by his barn in Driftwood. These are my conscious food memories. The last meal my mother ate before flipping me into this world was a cheeseburger, and it must have been a doozey, because on every birthday, for as long as I can remember, my immediate food thought is for a really great cheeseburger. While my birthday is on the horizon, I could not wait that long after receiving a tip from Dripping resident Kristi Greene about the Silver K Café folks' newest venture, Chrome Cactus Burgers in Johnson City. Kristi wrote of “hand-made thin (not hockey-puck style) patties in a bun with iceberg lettuce, chunks of onions, pickles and tomatoes…served in a basket with your choice of regular or sweet potato fries - thinly cut and perfectly fried.”
Sign me up!
On Saturday, five of us hopped in and headed out for the brief and scenic 28 minute drive to Chrome Cactus Burgers. Once you’ve veered right on 281, start looking for the red building with the chrome cactus. Cleverly constructed by the owner’s son, the chrome theme is carried throughout. Combined with the cheery, red tablecloths, the entire place feels both clean and homey.
With no caloric reservations whatsoever, we gleefully ate all of the above, washing it down with icy bottles of Mexican Coke (with the real cane sugar) and root beer.
With bellies full of burger (and buttons clinging for dear life), we waved our goodbyes (and despite being high on red meat, fried starches, and real sugar we managed to restrain ourselves from running behind the counter to hug everyone), and rolled about 8.5 miles to the Benini Sculpture Ranch to walk off our happy indulgence while soaking in some culture.
A stainless, carbon steel, and chrome glass Longhorn greeted us on our journey and, just beyond, massive concrete hands reached heavenward. A 20 foot steel warrior stood mighty, 35 giant concrete mushrooms huddled under an oak tree, and a curtain of rope shimmied from a 150 foot long steel structure. There were probably 80 pieces of art along the trails, most of which you can either walk or drive, each sculpture more unique and interesting than the next.
Between the five of us there could not be more divergent views on entertainment, politics, and whether onions should be on burgers, but we were unanimous in our art awe. And it didn’t cost a dime. Most of the sculptures are for sale, but you might not know it. You’re free to roam, unhindered and unbothered. More than one of us wished we had a few thousand dollars (or so) burning a hole in our pocket, but just the memory is more than enough.
To learn more about Benini and the Sculpture Ranch, including hours and directions, visit sculptureranch.com. On a Drip Trip scheduling note, the ranch will be closed for maintenance and inventory from February 27th through March 4th. Visitations during that time strictly by appointment only. They will resume regular hours on Thursday, March 5th.
But no matter what day you go, plan for a Chrome Cactus burger first and make your own food memory. For a sneak peek at the menu and their hours, visit their site at chromecactusburgers.com.
- Beverly
Do you have a Drip Trip suggestion? Drop us a line at driptips@gmail.com.
PAST DRIP TRIPS:
TWIN SISTERS DANCE HALL (January 30, 2009)
REAL ALE BREWERY IN BLANCO (January 16, 2009)
The best sweet and sour shrimp I ever had was in Rome, Italy (sadly, I simply cannot remember the Italian name of that Chinese restaurant). The chocolate custard I had in New York City made my cheeks flush. My Paw Paw’s catfish was cornmeal crusted and crispy fried in a big black kettle by his barn in Driftwood. These are my conscious food memories. The last meal my mother ate before flipping me into this world was a cheeseburger, and it must have been a doozey, because on every birthday, for as long as I can remember, my immediate food thought is for a really great cheeseburger. While my birthday is on the horizon, I could not wait that long after receiving a tip from Dripping resident Kristi Greene about the Silver K Café folks' newest venture, Chrome Cactus Burgers in Johnson City. Kristi wrote of “hand-made thin (not hockey-puck style) patties in a bun with iceberg lettuce, chunks of onions, pickles and tomatoes…served in a basket with your choice of regular or sweet potato fries - thinly cut and perfectly fried.”
Sign me up!
On Saturday, five of us hopped in and headed out for the brief and scenic 28 minute drive to Chrome Cactus Burgers. Once you’ve veered right on 281, start looking for the red building with the chrome cactus. Cleverly constructed by the owner’s son, the chrome theme is carried throughout. Combined with the cheery, red tablecloths, the entire place feels both clean and homey.
| When the food arrived, just a glance at the oozing cheese, visibly ideal bun-to-meat ratio patty, and griddled bun, and we knew Kristi had not steered us wrong. On its regular burger menu, Chrome Cactus offers burgers in 1/4 and 1/3 pound patties (and a veggie burger). Three of us went for the quarter pound with cheese, and two went for the burger special of the day, the Bluebonnet Burger with caramelized onions, bleu cheese and…wait for it…chicken fried bacon. Burgers come on a regular hamburger bun or a sourdough bun, which actually has just the slightest hint of sweetness, a perfect complement to salty-sour pickle slices and the bite of onion. We all chose the sourdough bun, which proved to be the perfect combination of soft (and slightly sweet), but sturdy enough to hold it all together. The steel magnolia of hamburger buns. |  |
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My family tends to be, shall we say, rather exuberant when happy with our food, which may be why we were graciously treated to a basket of their fried chicken. This was straight-up homemade fried chicken. It wasn’t trying to be pollo loco or Bourbon Street, it was after church-mashed potato-green bean-sweet tea fried chicken and it was heavenly. While scientific analysis of the chicken would no doubt confirm it to be fried, little tell-tale evidence was on the paper in the basket. Whatever magical frying formula they use for the chicken must be applied as well to their fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings and fried pickled green tomatoes (aw, yeah!) because they were all perfectly crisp without a trace of greasiness. |
With no caloric reservations whatsoever, we gleefully ate all of the above, washing it down with icy bottles of Mexican Coke (with the real cane sugar) and root beer.
With bellies full of burger (and buttons clinging for dear life), we waved our goodbyes (and despite being high on red meat, fried starches, and real sugar we managed to restrain ourselves from running behind the counter to hug everyone), and rolled about 8.5 miles to the Benini Sculpture Ranch to walk off our happy indulgence while soaking in some culture.
| We’ve often commented on the amount of outstanding art in these hills. At Italian artist Benini’s Sculpture Ranch in Johnson City, the art is actually in the hills, and it is awe inspiring. After winding your way down country roads, an arrow directs you to a gravel road to the “ranch” where you immediately begin your art-filled journey of larger-than-life sculpture. Some sit on concrete blocks, some hang from trees. Steel, limestone, aluminum, bronze, wood, concrete, granite, glass. Every conceivable material has been welded, chiseled, pounded, twisted, painted, and shaped into massive pieces of art. At the end of the gravel road is a visitor’s reception center where, on our visit, a friendly young woman gave us background on the ranch, Benini, and the other artists whose work is displayed. After a tour of the gallery connected to the reception area, we followed our sculpture trail directions and set off on our Hill Country art adventure. |  |
Between the five of us there could not be more divergent views on entertainment, politics, and whether onions should be on burgers, but we were unanimous in our art awe. And it didn’t cost a dime. Most of the sculptures are for sale, but you might not know it. You’re free to roam, unhindered and unbothered. More than one of us wished we had a few thousand dollars (or so) burning a hole in our pocket, but just the memory is more than enough.
To learn more about Benini and the Sculpture Ranch, including hours and directions, visit sculptureranch.com. On a Drip Trip scheduling note, the ranch will be closed for maintenance and inventory from February 27th through March 4th. Visitations during that time strictly by appointment only. They will resume regular hours on Thursday, March 5th.
But no matter what day you go, plan for a Chrome Cactus burger first and make your own food memory. For a sneak peek at the menu and their hours, visit their site at chromecactusburgers.com.
- Beverly
Do you have a Drip Trip suggestion? Drop us a line at driptips@gmail.com.
PAST DRIP TRIPS:
TWIN SISTERS DANCE HALL (January 30, 2009)
REAL ALE BREWERY IN BLANCO (January 16, 2009)
Posted by DSBabble.com at Wednesday, February 18, 2009 9:10 AM 
Categories: johnson city, benini, dripping springs, sculpture ranch, chrome cactus burgers
Categories: johnson city, benini, dripping springs, sculpture ranch, chrome cactus burgers
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