The Hollow

Tonight the girls' gymnastics studio was doing a Parent's Night Out - 4 hours where they feed our kids and let them play for the low call-ahead price of $35! Sounded good to us! Now where to go for a date?

Kyla posed the question in our new hometown Facebook forum. We got most answers of "eat on the Square, walk around, drink a beer, hold hands" for what to do on a Saturday date night.

Yes, we currently live in a sleepy little town. We like it!

So, we dropped off the girls and walked around the town square. It was voted the "Most Beautiful Town Square" in all of Texas and after visiting a few towns, we agree!

We have a few favorites already. (We only moved here in January.) But in the quest to find somewhere new, we decided to go to The Hollow American Brasserie. Find it here, not that we looked it up before we showed up: http://thehollowbrasserie.com/

We arrived right after EVERYONE ELSE. Lynda offered to let us wait at the bar and find us a table after a few couples had left and the kitchen had a chance to catch up. We decided to wait at the bar.

Kyla scoured the wine list and found a Sonoma County Pinot Noir. Our last duty assignment was in Monterey, California and we were spoiled being in wine country with wine tastings as our dates. Tim went for a bordeaux. We were both happy with our wines.

The decor, if you've ever been to Monterey, is a cross between Lalla's and 1833. For those who haven't been there, it had original paintings on the walls, painted deer heads with antlers on the walls, old wood details and corrugated metal. Kind of a rustic chic. There was an upstairs that looked cozy and quiet, but we didn't go up to investigate.

As we sat at the bar, we saw a few lamb dishes served to the people on either side of us. It smelled and looked good. We learned the chef is Jacob and he seasons everything well. You will not find salt or pepper on the tables. If it's not seasoned to your liking, he requests you tell him, and he will season the rest of the food. Seth, the guy at the bar who likens himself to Norm from Cheers, gave the example of soup, that was "complained about" and was on the menu the next day and was better with the salt addition.

Kyla finished her first glass of wine by the time the table had been turned over and was ready for us. We got our official welcome from our waitress who explained the menus are new everyday. She pointed to the bottom right corner to show us which farms provided the food for tonight's dinner menu. Every day it is fresh farm to table food, served in new imaginative ways.

After a bit of reading the imaginative menu descriptions, Kyla decided on "The Pig is a Drunken Master" a pork dish that was marinated in a local brewery's beer with red cabbage. Tim had a duck dish with the clever title "What the Duck". Plus a small plate of bulgogi with "pickled things".

We were given bread that was baked fresh today with three types of butter, Beet, Herbed, and Honey Smoked Paprika. The Honey Smoked Paprika butter was our favorite as it was smoky on the first bite, but a honey smoothness on the way down.

The small plate came out next. It was DELICIOUS! So good, we are now in the mood for a whole plate of bulgogi and other Korean food.

Kyla's pork was so good she had to call it food-gasmic! It was a huge portion of pork with a generous helping of cooked red cabbage. Tim's duck had a crispy skin and moist meat that was fantastic, plus roasted peaches that were incredibly delicious!

Not only was the food good, but the staff friendly and helpful! Turns out Lynda recognized Kyla from her Facebook forum question. Yes, she uses her real picture as her profile picture. Our waitress checked on us as often as we expected/needed.

This place is expensive for Georgetown, but it's appropriately priced for a gourmet farm to table date night dining experience. We will go back! We may even use it as bait to make our children do our bidding for awhile. The girls love fine dining with us and have better table manners than some adults in restaurants. (We once got them to do chores for a whole year, by dangling a family date night to the Sardine Factory. It worked!)

We opted not to go for dessert. We wanted to try ice cream at the store next door. But that store closed at 6 pm. So we raced across the Square for cupcakes, but our favorite cupcake bakery closed at 8 pm. Since it was 9 pm, everything was pretty much closed. Did you forget about the part where we said we live in a sleepy little town? Sometimes we do.