Tuesday, April 23, 2024
A new menu item at Brock’s Food & Drinks is smoked quail with fresh rosemary and balsamic reduction, along with new sides of green Chile macaroni and cheese with bacon, and cowboy beans. The additional menu items are part of the restaurant’s transition into serving real Texas cuisine.
James Brock, owner of Brock’s Food & Drinks, poses with his new Santa Maria grill that he will use to grill steaks and other new items on the menu as part of the restaurant’s grand reopening.
After a week of being closed for its remodel, Brock’s Food & Drinks is back and better than ever.
Brock’s officially reopened for business as of Tuesday, and owner James Brock couldn’t be happier with the changes that his restaurant has undergone for the new year.
"We opened right at the beginning of the pandemic — and it was challenging to say the least — but when we bought the restaurant, we knew there would at least be several phases,” he said.
Phase one, Brock explained, was purchasing the building, remodeling the kitchen, and getting the recipes perfected. Phase two and three involved opening the bar and building the outside venue for live entertainment.
“Phase four was to get the cuisine where we wanted it to be,” he said. “I never wanted it to be just barbecue, but when I bought it, it was a barbecue place, so we continued that. We're not abandoning the barbecue — I mean it's brought us to where we are today — but we're expanding on that. We're moving to a real Texas cuisine.”
Brock said the new menu will include dishes like steaks, seafood, calf fries, and quail with side dishes of green Chile macaroni and cheese with bacon, Sriracha coleslaw, cowboy beans, and fried Brussel sprouts.
"We’ll have ribeye steaks, beef tenderloin, T-bones, grilled salmon, shrimp, sous vide chicken — and barbecue,” he said. “Everybody's worried about that. I get a lot of phone calls but no, we'll still have the barbecue.”
Some crowd favorites like the taco salad and the wagyu chicken fried steak that were previously only offered on specific days, will now be offered seven days a week.
“We did steaks on Saturday night; now, we have steaks seven days a week,” Brock said. “Everything is seven days a week now.”
The steaks will be cooked on a Santa Maria grill that Brock’s friend specially built and designed for him.
“It weighs over 1,000 pounds,” Brock commented. “I’m so excited about the product. It's all hand-cut steaks and it's all done in house. Everything's made here.”
Although many of the new menu items are considerably more on the expensive side, Brock said the "pricing is fantastic for what you’re getting.”
“A beef tenderloin with a salad, that's $29. Anywhere else in town, it's 50 bucks,” he said.
Other changes to the restaurant include new tables, walls and plates, plus a waiter service.
"We'll wait on you at the table now, so you come in to be seated. We've made wood plates and tables that are just gorgeous and added an extensive wine list. Our glasses also look like beer cans. We're getting fancy," Brock said, chuckling.
He said live entertainment will still be offered five nights a week and he is currently booking several “big bands” for the new year.
“We've got Poo Live Crew coming, Gary P. Nunn and dwarf wrestling,” he said. “Brandon Rhyder and I will also be doing a cook-off out here.”
Brock said he is most excited about grilling steaks outside and cooking more Texas cuisine.
“I'm having so much fun cooking steaks," he said. “I like to cook to be more creative.”
Brock added that he and his staff will continue to “try to be good stewards of the community” for 2023.
"We want to continue that because we love Granbury, we love the people in Granbury, and we try to be good citizens and good human beings," he said.
He said, “I’ve been very blessed,” noting that his restaurant gave away 20,000 meals in 2022 as a way of giving back to the community.
To kick off Brock’s grand reopening, the restaurant will have live musical performances from Mike Graham and Coby Wier this weekend.
“I've been very, very blessed. I really have been,” he said. “I have a great life. Tommy Alverson, Randy Brown and Walt Wilkins will all be coming here — all the guys I write music with, so I have a pretty good deal.”
He said he is excited to bring “real” Texas cuisine to Brock’s Food & Drinks.
“It’s something I've looked forward to for three years. This is where I wanted to be in our fourth phase,” he added — hinting that there may be more phases in the future.
Brock’s Food & Drinks, located on 4021 Acton Highway, is open daily from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
