The County Line on the Hill
6500 W. Bee Caves Rd., 327-1742
Lunch: Monday-Friday 11am-2pm;
Dinner: Monday-Thursday 5-9pm; Friday 5-9:30pm;
Saturday-Sunday 11am-9pm
When the original County Line opened out on Bee Caves Road in 1975, the vista from the old rock lodge on the hilltop was miles of rolling hills and fabulous Hill Country sunsets out toward Lake Travis and beyond. Partners Bruce Walcutt, Rick Goss, Ed Norton, and Skeeter Miller discovered the Thirties-era cedar chopper honky-tonk and gambling parlor once known as the Cedar Crest Lodge. They turned the storied old lodge into the first outlet of what would eventually become a barbecue restaurant empire. The restaurant on the hill was where the dynasty started and it has remained a local favorite lo these many years, even as the suburb of West Lake grew up around it and the once pristine vista from the West-facing deck became dotted with lavish housing developments.
After an absence of many years, I dropped by the County Line on the Hill recently and found several new wrinkles in the successful old format. A kitchen fire resulted in some necessary remodeling, which moved and expanded the kitchen in October of 2000 and added comfortable new party rooms on the south end of the building that debuted in the spring of 2001. With so many new business neighbors close by to support it, the restaurant began serving lunch in June of 2001, and it has been warmly received.
While there’s still plenty of good barbecue to satisfy your cravings (and the best potato salad and coleslaw in town, to my particular taste), the menu here has been greatly expanded. One major change in the new kitchen was the grill, meaning the addition of several grilled items such as steaks, chicken, and vegetarian kebabs, as well as tuna or salmon steaks. These items can be paired with a choice of salads with homemade dressings and new sides like french fries, garlic mashed red-skin potatoes (yum), and my personal favorite, Southwestern black-eyed peas. They’ve also added sandwiches (try the wonderful pulled pork) and burgers (a Gardenburger in a Texas barbecue joint: What’s this world coming to?). Lunch here has something for everyone, and it’s all very tasty.
The County Line has always prided itself on making things from scratch, and they’re still doing things that way. The big, sweet loaves of homemade bread come out hot from the kitchen, and each meal can end with a scoop of their signature homemade ice cream on top of a Kahlúa pecan brownie ($5.49) or homemade fruit cobbler ($3.99). Save some room so you can try the bread pudding ($5.49) made with the house bread and served warm, topped with ice cream and doused with Jack Daniel’s sauce. That in itself is worth getting reacquainted with an old friend from the Seventies.
This article appears in July 12 • 2002.