A Weekend in Fredericksburg: A Wonderful New Restaurant Find
Recently, the Croatian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Pjer Šimunović made a return trip to Texas to help commemorate the opening of the Holocaust Garden of Hope in Kingwood. An article on this will appear in a future edition of Intown Magazine.
The Ambassador has been to Texas numerous times in his six years in Washington but had never been to the Hill Country. My wife, Lisa Powell, and I picked him up in Austin and drove to Fredricksburg for a couple of days prior to the Kingwood event.
I am confident that most readers know of the amazing growth of Fredericksburg involving the wine industry with vineyards galore, wine tastings, dinners, etc. Just as there are new vineyards each time we visit Fredericksburg, there are new hotels popping up in an attempt to handle the ever growing number of tourists and visitors. New restaurants are also appearing and we found one absolute gem this trip.
Jack’s Chop House, 505 W. Main Street, opened in mid 2023 and it is the complete dining experience. The building used to be a bakery and has been transformed into a classic New York / Chicago style eatery. Believe me, the modest appearance from the street belies what you will experience upon entering.
Jack’s has a top notch bar. We went on a Friday night, an hour earlier than our reservation of 7:00pm assuming we could wait for our table with a cocktail at the bar. Not so that night as there would be no open seats at the bar for the entire evening. Of course there are stuffed heads of gigantic Texas deer and elk, already adorned with holiday lights, but, for us, the walls filled with pictures of mafiaso and Sinatra characters really set the mood. At our corner table there was a huge photo of Pope John Paul II as a young Polish priest, with a faint smile as on the opposite wall were photos of Al Capone, various mobsters along with Sinatra’s infamous “Rat Pack” and photos of JFK and Jackie, Jimmy Hoffa, Tony “Pro” Provanzano, and other famous “Capo’s” along with a huge photo at the bar of Marilyn Monroe. You get the idea.
The coup d’grace, however, was the recording music being played. All Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and others of the the 1940’s and 50’s along with a charming variety of music with Sicilian and Gypsy influences. From 8-10:00pm, the recorded music stopped and was replaced by a very talented wandering duo of violin and bass viol playing requests table to table.
It is now time to discuss the incredible steaks offered with alternate dishes. Appetizers include “Parmesan Crusted Bone Marrow” served with grilled focaccia, “Burrata & Salmoriglio” which we had, along with fried calamari and shrimp cocktail among others. There is a nightly “chef’s Chophouse Special,” which on our visit was a tempting grilled 12 ounce veal chop. They encourage dishes that can be shared such as the 40 ounce porterhouse, a 30 ounce bone-in tomahawk ribeye. The Ambassador and I settled on the 16 ounce ribeye, his medium, mine charred rare. Lisa had a salad and some of my steak. The meat is served to each customer on two plates, the plate on the bottom for handling and the plate with the ribeye so intensely hot that the steak juices were sizzling for several minutes. They also served carrots on the side along with an entire roasted head of garlic! Jack’s offers to slice the steaks to make sharing easier but we asked for ours unsliced and they were superb. By the way, steaks are dry-aged at the restaurant.
The sides likewise were ample and delicious. We had the creamed spinach, hand-cut fries and spaghetti with pomodoro sauce.
If one prefers not to have beef, they offer garlic shrimp scampi, shrimp paisano and fresh Atlantic salmon and a 16 ounce pork tomahawk, chicken parmigaiana and chicken scallops. There must have been desert but that would have been impossible after such a meal!
Wines were reasonably priced by the glass and bottle. Yes, they served a delicious vodka martini that passed my high standards with flying colors.
After dinner, we met the owner, Greg Ball, from New York City. His goal was to replicate his favorite steak houses and atmospheres. Believe me, he succeeded. General Manager, Cristy Maguddayo and her husband, the Executive Chef, Evan Wintermantel, run Jack’s seamlessly.
Trust me, Jack’s Chop House is not to be missed when you visit Fredericksburg. We are very much looking forward to returning.