#74 - Winewood Grill - Grapevine, TX

As I mentioned in the previous post, there was a lot going on my birthday weekend.  Tony generously offered to drive me to the half marathon, and waited for me until I was done.  He was bummed that nobody was out there tailgating.  At the Redbud Run in OKC, it's a big social event for the families that live in Nicholls Hills, and they have their own tailgates set up in their front yards.  I think that's an awesome thing, and more neighborhoods should do that.  Running is so boring, and having people out there cheering you on is awesome... even if they're eating food and drinking champagne while they do it.

After the run we went back and got cleaned up, and went to the State Fair of Texas.  I had never been, but had always heard great things about it.  The down side is that it was about a million degrees plus humid.  I did a pretty good job of eating my weight in fried food.  The fried nutella was by far my favorite.  The fried Cuban sandwich and fried jambalaya were a close second.  Not a fan of the fried beer.  Between the fried food, regular beer, and run that morning, I crashed like a log as soon as we got back to the house.

I had thought about driving back on Sunday, but when I woke up I decided I didn't want to drive all that way on my birthday.  So of course we had to find a place for a birthday brunch. And we decided on Winewood Grill. It's in historic Grapevine.  The building reminds me of a very comfortable log cabin.  There's a big fireplace near the hostess stand and bar, and the restaurant itself is just very homey and welcoming.  We were seated at a big semi circle booth.  I've never really understood those booths.  I've sat in one on a date and it's very romantic.  But for a group of 5, it's not fun being the one in the  middle if you have to go to the bathroom.

The Sunday brunch at Winewood includes a jazz band that's really good.  Of course we had to get the bottomless mimosas.  For $10, that's not a bad deal considering they are pretty big.

Joni and I both went with the chicken fried chicken, and it comes with seasoned potatoes and fruit. 

This was absolutely delicious!  A lot of times the breading on chicken-fried anything is way too heavy so you're tasting more dough than the meat.  But this was breaded perfectly.  I'm not usually a big biscuits and gravy fan, but these were awesome. The biscuits were homemade, and who can resist hickory smoked bacon gravy??  I had requested roasted corn bean salad instead of the fruit.  The server didn't get it right, but quickly brought me the salad as well

This salad was really tasty!  It had very good flavor.

We had also ordered the gouda mac & cheese for the table

Absolutely delicious!  The smoked gouda provided a really wonderful earthy flavor and the bacon just added that extra touch.

Will I go back?  Definitely!  The food was delicious, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere.