Cotton Gin Complex in Texas Hill Country Gaining Popularity
The Cotton Gin Restaurant and Lodging is an American Shangri-La in Texas.
Driving along Texas Highway 16, empty space and occasional nondescript buildings give way to a vision of Pioneer Days, a tiny village of 19th Century log cabins minutes away from downtown Fredericksburg. Closer examination of the grounds is even more pleasing to the eye: a water garden, wishing well, windmill, stable and blacksmith shop.
The complex is becoming popular. “We’re getting busier and busier,” says Ross Burtwell, who with his wife Mariana took command during the summer of 2002. “Our customers are from local places and as far away as Great Britain, Spain, Australia and Japan.”
The piÃ?¨ce de rÃ?©sistance is the restaurant. The couple changed the menu significantly. “The original restaurant concept was a seafood and steak kitchen, Cajun cuisine,” says Burtwell, the executive chef. “We switched to Hill Country cuisine. We use indigenous products: trout, quail, peppers.”
Numerous herbs growing among perennials in the landscape go into appetizers, salad dressings, soups and entrees: rosemary, sage, garlic chives, oregano, etc.
“We start from scratch,” Burtwell stresses.
As you enter the restaurant, an hour’s drive north from San Antonio, a cotton gin greets you in the foyer. There’s a boiler room tank over the stone fireplace and stained glass windows around the main dining room.
The luncheon buffet, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, attracts scores that often fill the first floor. Counting the dining loft, seating capacity is 120.
“We keep lunch very quick,” Burtwell says. “There’s not enough room for a desert station so we pass out cookies (two to a patron).” Hus wife, the sous chef, bakes about 20 dozen daily for the buffet.
Dinner, served 5-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, is more elegant. The full menu of meat, poultry and seafood ranges from jalapeno stuffed rosemary and garlic marinated grilled quail to spicy corn-flake and almond crusted pan-fried catfish.
“Our extensive wine features not only wines from around the world, but also some local Texas wines,” Burtwell says.
Guest comment cards are filled with rave reviews like this from an Abilene resident: “We have never gotten a bad meal here. Wish we would could come to Fredericksburg more often.”
Other patrons say:
“This is one of the 10 best meals I’ve ever enjoyed. Thank you for everything.”
“Best meal I have ever had in a local restaurant ever in Fredericksburg.”
“We’ve been here three times. Each time it’s even better. Thanks!”
For those wishing to stay the night or longer, there are seven log cabins, once home to Kentucky and Tennessee families in the 1800s. The structures — dismantled, moved to the Cotton Gin and reassembled — are furnished with period pieces and antiques. Added were modern conveniences such as central air conditioning and heat, a small refrigerator, microwave oven, Jacuzzi bath with shower and a television set.
The oldest is an 1854 cabin renamed Red River North and South, a duplex with a shared sitting porch. Others include the Guadalupe, built in 1890, featuring a loft bedroom looking down on a fireplace. There’s even an 1879 cabin called the Pecos that’s handicap accessible.
“It’s a place where you can step back in time and get away from it all,” Burtwell says, noting that some reservations have been made months ahead.
The couple, who consider the Cotton Gin a labor of love, met more than a dozen years ago during the summer at the old Sheraton Hotel in San Antonio that has changed names several times. “I was hired as the sous chef to develop a new restaurant at the hotel, the Cascabel,” Burtwell recalls. “It was my first day in town. It was my first day on the job.
“My future wife was the lead cook. We’ve been together ever since. We courted for about two years before we got married. During that time I was promoted to my first executive chef position.”
The Burtwells, who live in northern Bexar County with their young children, Marisa and Hunter, drive at least 1,000 miles a week. “It is 50 miles each way to the Cotton Gin,” Burtwell points out. “However, we work separate shifts so that one of us is always near our children in a time of need.”
On Sundays, the restaurant is closed except for private parties.
“My wife does the cooking at home nightly for the kids. I jump in on days off to try new menu items,” Burtwell says.
“I love to cook at home as well, but after working all day in an upscale restaurant I tend to keep the meals simple and convenient,” she says. “Now and then we have a nice dinner together.”
