5 Top Texan Tastes You Should Try

The Lone Star state is big and you better bring a large appetite to match because there’s plenty to love about this list of classic Texan dishes. Read about what to eat and where's best in the state to try it when you're on your next Texas disc golf road trip. 

TEXAN BBQ

Meaty, smoked and washed down with a cold beer! The classic BBQ here is as Texas as cowboy boots and bull riding. BBQ means different things in different cultures and countries around the world, but in Texas the style really means slow smoked beef like brisket. Different regions of the state do their BBQs differently but traditionally the meats include beef, pork or beef ribs and link sausages.

Whether you want to smother them in sauce is a personal preference. They love their BBQ so much that the Texas Monthly publishes an annual best barbeque guide. To read this is to salivate (if you’re a meat eater). The best of the best BBQ is not far out of San Antonio in Seguin called the Burnt Bean Company. The good news, there is disc golf nearby so you can at least earn your Sliced Brisket Sandwich followed by the signature dessert, Bourbon Peach Cobbler Taco with ice cream.

Pro tip for Texas is that the best BBQ places often smoke their meats overnight, so they don’t open until mid-morning and often run out mid-afternoon. Get in early. 

 Forty five minutes north of Seguin, you’ll find Flying Armadillo Disc Golf. Find out more about the course in our Weird & Wonderful World Courses Travel Guide . Flying Armadillo features among the best courses in Texas, the US and on the world list. There are two courses, one is a big course with multiple layouts and the other is like putt-putt for disc golf where you’re throwing at sculptures, statues and all sorts of yard art. 

TEX-MEX

This phrase on menu boards around the world has grown to cover all sorts of culinary dishes from ribs smothered in BBQ sauce through to tacos. However, Tex-Mex is a phrase coined out of San Antonio to encompass the hybrid cuisine that generally includes these ingredients: Beef, yellow cheese, wheat flour, black beans, cumin, and canned vegetables. The lines get blurred depending on where you are, but in Texas it covers a range of dishes that includes; Chile con queso, nachos, tacos al carbon, enchiladas, and fajitas. In Houston Ninfa’s on Navigation is considered the birthplace of the modern fajita.

Mama Ninfa Laurenzo started the tradition of grilling skirt steak then placing the sizzling meat in a handmade flour tortilla and the original restaurant features often in the State’s top Tex Mex places to eat. Pair it with a Ninfarita - their signature margarita and then settle in for the afternoon. If you’re staying in the city, there’s plenty of disc golf to enjoy in Houston including Brock Park Disc Golf course, T.C. Jester Park and the challenging wooded course Texas Army Trail.

GULF SHRIMP

If you love seafood then the Gulf Shrimp from the Texas coast is perfect to offset a lot of the red meat from elsewhere in the state. Down on the coast, they’re going to be fresher. What’s the difference between Gulf Shrimp and other shrimp? Apart from standard shrimp that are usually farmed, Gulf Shrimp are caught in the open ocean or coastal bays in the Gulf of Mexico. That gives them a different sharper flavour from the farmed variety. You’ll find them at most seafood restaurants on the Texas coast.

In Galveston, Shrimp n Stuff is consistently reviewed as having some of the best seafood in the State and to sound a little like Bubba from Forrest Gump has plenty of Gulf Shrimp from fried to coconut, boiled and stuffed. The Texas coast has some good disc golf options when you’re in town. Jack Brooks Park has two courses, Cedar Hills and Gulf Meadows that are popular. Texas City disc golf course is also recommended but can be quite windy.

KLOBASNEK & KOLACHES

When Czech immigrants, or Czexans as they’re known, settled in Texas in the 1800s they bought their traditions and foods. Kolaches are made of soft yeast dough filled with fruit. Sometimes they have poppyseeds and sometimes cream cheese and sometimes they have all three. The savoury version, Klobasnek,  was developed by Czechs in Texas and usually has sausage inside but has evolved to include Jalapenos, egg and bacon as well as ham and cheese. The Czech Stop and the Little Czech Bakery next door have consistently been reviewed online as serving the best of these tasty snacks in Texas and a famous road trip stop. They’re in West, Texas north of Waco. The good news is that they’re a perfect place to stop for a snack if you’re heading up I-35 to play some of the state’s best disc golf courses.

From here you’ll only have another hour or so to drive to the private Buffalo Disc Golf Course which gets fantastic online reviews with one saying it was hands down the best course in Northern Texas. You’re also only an hour or so from Dino Hills Disc Golf Farm. Here you can camp and enjoy three different courses, Carnivore Valley, Pterodactyl Ridge are championship courses and Microrapter. Microraptor is a putt-putt course made from materials left on the family farm and all the holes are Par 2s. It’s lit up each night for anyone camping on the property who wants to play. 

DEEP FRIED ANYTHING

Texas is the deep fried capital of the world. This may or may not be true but they love to deep fry stuff. Oreos, Coke, butter, cheesecake, bubblegum, spaghetti and the list goes on. And a good place to find all this deep fried artery-hardening cuisine is at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas that actually calls itself the fried food capital of the world.

It’s a fair held in fall at Fair Park over 24 days and promotes everything from agriculture to food. Some poor reporter actually has compiled a complete list of fried foods found at the fair. The mind boggles. Top tip, have a game plan for the foods you want to try and maybe hit this place post a disc golf round rather than prior. Once you’ve had your fill of fried anything then head up to Terrell’s Hideaway Disc Golf Ranch - home of the top disc golf course in Texas. The Roadrunner is a moderate level 19 hole course that’s ranked number one in Texas and 38th in the world. The Scorpion course is wooded with tight fairways and obstacles.