As you drive south of Dallas County, urban sprawl is like a slow-burning grass fire. Perhaps a result of soaring home prices, new apartments and residential developments are popping up in fields far and wide, sticking out like sore thumbs in some cases, isolated and seemingly hasty. Don't worry though, the Starbucks and McDonald's will soon follow.
There was a ghost tour at the courthouse square at 8:30 last Saturday evening.
Lauren Drewes Daniels
There's also a candy shop, a cafe and a few restaurants in town. An old theater on the square is being renovated by a local classic Texas country radio station, KBEC, 99.1.
We didn't hang around town for dinner, however, because as mentioned we had an Ugly Heifer to see about. It's just three miles southwest of Waxahachie's downtown area.
The Ugly Heifer is in a new, small strip mall just across from the entrance of Scarborough Faire. There's a piano at the front of the restaurant, and if you're inclined to play a few tunes, you can get a free burger plus whatever tips patrons leave you. Our server told us the two co-owners both play, so it's just a fun amenity.
We started with an order of fried pimento cheese balls ($6), which were served with a sweet chile sauce. These larger-than-golf-ball gooey orbs come five to an order and are encased with a thick cornmeal crust. They use the Pawley Island brand of pimento cheese for these, which is a small specialty food purveyor out of South Carolina. These were amazing and gave us great hope for the remainder of the meal.
A lot of burgers were passing out of the kitchen, all served on boards with a steak knife stabbed in the middle and a mound of fries on the side. And as much as we wanted to try the Fat Heifer Burger, two-half-pound patties were a bit much.
Besides, we were initially lured there by the chicken-fried steak. Here the quintessential Texas dish is called A Lil Bit of Chicken Fry ($18), and it's an 8-ounce black Angus steak from 44 Farms served with mashed potatoes and covered in a black-pepper gravy accompanied by a huge buttermilk biscuit and fried okra. The meat had a tinge of pink in the middle, which was great by us, and the crispy and thick crust was a perfect canvas for the well-seasoned gravy. The fried okra was a touch al dente inside with a thin, crispy crust.
Our second entrée was the Slow Burn Chicken ($20), a half "slow-smoked" chicken with an almost blackened skin and lollipop trimmed leg. This was an amazing half-bird, and for the price, is two meals easy. It's well seasoned with a kiss of smoke from the extra-crispy skin and meat. The mashed potatoes, broccoli and enormous buttermilk biscuit rounded out this rather comforting meal. (Actually, we wrapped up the biscuit and warmed it up for breakfast the next morning.)
Ugly Heifer serves Henry's Homemade Ice Cream from Plano, and a lot of people were ordering chocolate and strawberry shakes. The guy next to us had one as an appetizer. Also on offer are homemade peach cobbler and bread pudding, and as much as we wanted to try one of those, the shakes looked too good. An excuse to go back. And the strawberry shake ($5), like everything else, did not disappoint. The $12 lunch specials, by the way, include Cajun meat pies.
A few reviews mentioned how this spot does not serve beer or alcohol; no, it does not. A few other things to note before loading up the wagon: it closes for dinner at 8 p.m. and is closed all day Sunday and Monday.
Leaving the restaurant we noticed that Scarborough Faire is doing Screams Halloween Theme Park through Oct. 29. You could do a combo scream fest followed by chicken-fried steak. Ugly Heifer also has a few tables outside, if you like to travel with your dog or just want to eat closer to a field.
We took the long way home, winding up to Venus, just because of the celestial name, then Rendon, then home. A lot of new housing developments dot the backroads, mixed with older houses that have been there for likely 50 years or more. It was a fulfilling road trip and felt like perhaps we made it before traffic started to get heavy.
The Ugly Heifer Grill, 2498 FM 66, Waxahachie. Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
