“Trains and Chains” is not a phrase that would cross your mind when hunger flips your switch, but Grand Central Café in Kingsland, Texas can give you a bit of both, while serving up an intimate dining experience.

With dishes like the Freight Train (a stack of four pancakes you will not be able to finish), and Chicken Fried Steak (voted best in Highland Lakes!), you’ll know you are on the right track for a variety of menu choices. Starving for something else? Then head upstairs to the Club Car Bar for a drink and enjoy the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie memorabilia…after all, this is the house Leatherface made famous.

Owners Drew Gerencer and Rick Gregory opened the restaurant in the Victorian era house located on the grounds of the Historic Antlers Inn. Four comfortable rooms, fashioned with Grand Central Station in mind, adorned with train décor highlights, have enough seating for up to 70 people. Drew says of the reasoning behind the train theme, “We both loved the era of architecture of the station matching that of the “home and hotel” and hoped that soon Grand Central Cafe would be nearly just as busy as Grand Central Station.” The extensive menu offers breakfast choices including classic eggs, pancakes, sausage gravy, and omelets, while lunch adds soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps, and burgers. For a more elegant dinner, the appetizers (think stuffed mushrooms or crab cakes) will complement the entrees of chicken chardonnay or Steak Oscar. And, if you listen closely, you’ll hear the train bell from the kitchen indicating your meal is on the way.

If chains, not trains, brought you to this unique setting, you’ll need to walk (don’t run) upstairs (yes, “those” stairs, for all you TCM lovers), where Brad and Sandy Jones have created a safe space for you to enjoy a drink or two while you all reminisce about the “dinner scene.” Now, if you ask real nice, Brad may show you the chainsaw and share with you the recipe for the Bloody Mary drink he made famous.

Grand Central Café is located off 1431 in Kingsland, Texas at 1010 King Court, TX. Dinner reservations are recommended (325) 388-6022

By Dawn Engler