“Best” is such an ephemeral quality that it’s
hard to really define, but Van Zandt County Line readers did their best
to at least quantify “favorites” in 33 categories. During the past three
years, the number of first-time winners testifies to the depth of
quality in all of the categories.
This year’s multiple winners are Edom Bakery & Grill (five first-place
awards) and, with two each, Dairy Palace, Don Santos Mexican Grill, Lone
Star Grill, The Shed, and Sister’s Café.
Only two categories have had the same winner all three years: best salad
bar (Lone Star Grill) and best DJ (Tom Perryman of KKUS). Over the same
three years, two-time winners in various categories include Circle E
Steakhouse, Dairy Palace, Edgewood Senior Citizens Dance, Edom
Marketplace, Jewel’s, Log Cabin Bazaar & Festival, The Park on Cherry
Creek, Salt Palace, The Shed, Two Senoritas, and actress Lois Arneson
and Wal-Mart greeter Joyce Roe.
Best Barbecue
For the
third year in a row, there’s a new winner –
Rod’s in Canton.
Rod’s has been in business on Hwy. 64 for about six years now. The menu
is basic beef, sausage, pulled pork, ribs, and hot links available with
pinto, baked, and green beans; cole slaw, corn on the cob, French and
home fries, potato salad, baked potatoes, fried okra, macaroni and
cheese, and stewed macaroni. It’s available 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday
through Saturday.
Runner up. Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Breakfast
Voters
couldn’t decide between Lone Star Grill in
Wills Point and Edom Bakery & Grill,
so we won’t either. It’s a tie.
Edom Bakery & Grill’s extensive breakfast menu includes – take a deep
breath and then read this – salt-rising, rye, dark Russian, raisin,
banana, zucchini and carrot-pineapple breads; an assortment of muffins
including cranberry nut, Hawaiian, cinnamon chip, and blueberry; lox and
bagels with capers; eggs Benedict; and an assortment of eggs with
biscuits, gravy, Belgian waffles; and fresh seasonal fruit. Hours are 7
a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and
Sunday; and 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Lone Star Grill’s fresh-daily offerings include thick golden waffles
with strawberries, whipped cream, or even ice cream; Texas scrambler
eggs with diced ham; the hungry Texan breakfast with three eggs,
potatoes, center-cut ham, biscuits, or toast; French toast; pancakes,
wraps, omelets, breakfast sandwiches, etc. Hours are 6 a.m-9 p.m. Monday
through Saturday and 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, with breakfast available all
hours. Past winners for best breakfast are The Shed in Edom (2005) and
Jewel’s in Canton (2004).
Runner up: The Shed, Edom
Best Catfish
The Shed in Edom,
which won in 2004, is back on top of the voting for best catfish, edging
a crowded field that includes 2005 winner Rocky’s in Grand Saline. The
catfish is available Friday and Saturday nights from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.
as a four-piece dinner or “all you can eat.” It comes with baked
potatoes, regular fries, or sweet potato fries; salad or cole slaw;
pinto beans; and all the trimmings.
Runner up: Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Chicken-fried Steak
Sister’s Café in Canton
beat out two-time winner The Shed for best chicken-fried steak. Leigh
Ann Jacquez, who now runs the café with her mom Judy Johnson,
reports that each five- to seven-ounce steak from Mineola Packing
Company is hand-battered and comes with two side dishes. It’s a lunch
special for $5.79 on Thursdays, and is available for $7.99 the rest of
the week from 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 6:30 a.m.-9
p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Runner up: Lone Star Grill, Wills Point
Best Coffee
Edom Bakery & Grill
came up with the most votes for best coffee, edging two-time winner
Jewel’s and a whole bunch of other places. It’s a Costa Rican blend that
comes in both caffeinated and decaffeinated and with a choice of
flavored creams including hazelnut, amaretto, Irish cream, chocolate
cream, French vanilla, and Southern butter pecan.
Runner up: 10-way tie.
Best Enchilada
Two Senoritas in Canton
won for the second time in three years for best enchilada, beating 2005
winner Bluebird Café. The enchiladas come in the usual concoctions –
cheese, beef, and chicken – and covered with a choice of toppings. Beans
and rice of course, and tortilla chips. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Runner up: Ochoa’s, Canton
Best Gas, Grub, Grocery Store
In this first-time category that celebrates function over form,
Sam’s Exxon in Ben Wheeler
gets the nod for its fine burgers, its malts and shakes, and for
wide-ranging breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus that include – hold your
breath again – grilled chicken, fried chicken, chicken-fried steak,
barbecue, fries, corn dogs, hot dogs, chili dogs, egg rolls, beef
fajitas, chicken fajitas, beef tacos, chicken tacos, homemade chili and
stew, breakfast tacos, eggs, bacon, hash browns, grits, oatmeal, and a
variety of croissants all served from behind an old-time soda fountain
counter. The rest of the store’s interior is filled with groceries,
gifts, trinkets, and seasonal stuff. During the winter, the T-shirts
have been replaced by coats. Oh, yes, Sam’s sells gas, too.
Runner up: Mr. D’s with the Subway sandwich shop in Canton
Best Hamburger
Dairy Palace
won best hamburger in 2004 and again this year. Even setting aside the
obvious quality, the choices are tantalizing: varieties include bacon,
chili, catfish, salmon, bison, and two kinds of vegetarian burgers. The
old-fashioned burgers come in six sizes – fifth-pound, third-pound, and
half-pound, with double meat available on each – and the main ingredient
is fresh (not frozen) ground beef chuck processed on site. It’s all
available 24 hours a day and, thanks to First Monday Trade Days crowds,
it’s all world famous. Wild Flour Café was the 2005 winner.
Runner up: Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Hot Sauce/Salsa & Tortilla
Chips
Don Santos Mexican Grill in Van,
which was known as Jamie’s before moving to Edom and then moving back to
Van. The best chips won’t break in the queso or hot sauce, and are
crisp, hot (at least when they get to the table), and consistent. The
best hot sauce and salsa are about taste, not necessarily heat. Owner
Albert Santos reports that both the chips and hot sauce are made fresh
on the premises. The hot sauce is a combination of jalapenos, cilantro,
garlic, onions, and crushed red peppers, with the heat depending on that
day’s crop of jalapenos. Both are available 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday
through Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-2
p.m. Sunday. The Edom location of Don Santos is expected to re-open
sometime late in2007. Enlaces in Edgewood was voted the tastiest in
2005, and Two Senoritas in Canton in 2004.
Runner up for hot sauce/salsa: Ochoa’s, Canton
Runner up for tortilla chips: Juanita’s, Canton
Best Malt/Shake
Dairy Palace
won the vote for best malt and shake in 2004 and again this year, and
was runner up in 2005. It’s no wonder, with Blue Bell ice cream, real
milk, and 36 flavors including moo-lennium crunch, chocolate chip cookie
dough, caramel pecan fudge, pecan pralines and cream, cotton candy, and
banana pudding along with basic vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
Runner up: Dairy Queen, Wills Point
Best Pie
Edom Bakery & Grill’s
selection of made-on-the-spot pies (and other desserts) includes
coco-nut cream, chocolate cream, lemon cream, German chocolate,
buttermilk, pecan, cranberry apple, apple, fudge brownie, chocolate
chip, key lime, cherry, and peach. Not all of the varieties are
available every day, but there are more than enough choices to fill a
tummy and tantalize the taste buds. The Shed won this category the past
two years.
Runner up: Ochoa’s, Canton
Best Produce
Edom Marketplace,
which won the first “best-of” voting in 2004 but finished second to
Graham’s Edgewood Market in 2005, was back on top for 2006. The big
news, however, is for 2007 when, by mid January or so, there will be an
expanded dining room and kitchen with more sandwiches and salads and
even a daily hot-meal special. The Walker Farms produce store doubles as
a small grocery store and deli with some of the usual stuff alongside
specialty items such as cookbooks, relishes, and Watkins flavorings and
soup kits.
Runner up: English
Best Queso
As the third different winner in three years,
Juanita’s in Canton
is a little “cheesier” than two other Canton winners, Ochoa’s in 2005
and Two Senoritas in 2004. The queso is made fresh every day with a 100
percent Velveeta base – it melts easy – and a variety of spices similar
to, but not identical, too, quesos at other places. Hours are 11 a.m.
until 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Runners up: Two Senoritas and Robles, Canton
Best Salad Bar
Ranchero in Canton tied with Lone Star
Grill in Wills Point,
which is now a three-time winner in voting for best salad bar.
Lone Star Grill diners can and often do make a meal out of the extensive
salad bar at Lone Star Grill. The salad bar includes crisp, mixed
iceberg and green leaf lettuce, black olives, cucumbers, tomatoes,
pickles, pickled okra, cheese, onions, beets, cottage cheese, peaches,
seasonal fruits, mushrooms, English pea salad, and potato salad.
Toppings include boiled eggs, bacon, six kinds of “regular” dressings,
and two fat-free dressings.
It’s all available 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Ranchero’s salad bar is open 10:30
a.m. to 9 p.m. and offers “a little bit of everything” – cobb, broccoli
and cauliflower, macaroni, Waldorf, pea, potato, and carrot salads;
beets; mushrooms; red onions; cole slaw; cantaloupes; pico de gallo;
guacamole; and a variety of dressings including tangy tomato bacon.
Runner up: Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Sandwich
Edom Bakery & Grill’s
gourmet sandwiches ruled the ’06 ballot box: Southern turkey, Rueben,
turkey panini, club wrap in garlic herb tortilla, barbecue with the
grill’s own sauce, grilled chicken, smoked chicken with mango salsa on a
fresh-baked croissant, grilled cheddar, and a half-pound hamburger.
Edgewood’s Wild Flour Café (2005) and Canton’s Tea Room on the Square
(2004) are previous winners.
Runner up: Joe Mama’s, Canton Trades Day Arbors
Best Steak
Relative newcomer Four Winds Steakhouse in
Wills Point,
near Interstate 20 and Hwy. 47, edged two-time winner Circle E from
Canton. The steaks – choice, hand-selected, aged, grain fed from the
Midwest – are cut to order when the ticket comes to the kitchen,
seasoned, and put on the grill. Specialties include a fresh, 26-ounce
bone-in rib eye with a brandy peppercorn sauce, pecan-breaded catfish,
fried shrimp, and marinated grilled chicken breast served with fresh
vegetables. There’s also the tomato mozzarella salad and cheesecake made
in the restaurant New York style with sour cream topping. The
restaurant, built as a house by former Dallas Cowboy Lee Roy Jordan,
seats 125 people in the main dining room, a semi-private room, and a
couple of private rooms, and there’s a huge front porch for sitting
before and after dinner. Hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through
Saturday.
Runner up: Circle E, Canton
Best Waitstaff
A good staff can even sometimes anticipate your order, and provides
prompt, professional, friendly service even in a crowded, noisy dining
room. Winning staffs also get orders right. With its experienced staff,
Dinner Bell
in Van took the vote in this service category. Carrie Derrick has eight
years experience, trained by her mom, Joyce, who worked at Dinner Bell
for 10 years herself. The Shed won in 2005 and 2004.
Runner up: Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Annual Event
For the second consecutive year, Edgewood’s
Log Cabin Bazaar & Festival
edged the Edom Festival of the Arts, which won in 2004. This jewel of a
setting draws a thousand or more people every November to see what life
was like in Van Zandt County at the turn of the century – the 20th
Century, and to just have some fun. The festival includes artists,
music, country crafts, gunfight reenactments by the “peacemakers,”
gourmet bake sale, quilt show, open pet show, classic car show, vintage
tractors, home-cooked foods, CASI chili cook-off, pinto bean contest,
music, square dancing, demonstrations by “smittys” with the North Texas
Blacksmith Association, photos with Santa in the dogtrot cabin,
demonstrations of vintage crafts, and the old presses in the Edgewood
Print Shop. The festival also features a vintage, HO-scale model train
in full operation in the baggage room of the Murchison depot, complete
with an “engineer” who’ll help visitors – children and at-heart children
– understand the importance of the railroads in American history. This
year’s armadillo races were also a big hit.
Runner up: Edom Festival of the Arts
Best Museum
The Van Oil Museum and Grand Saline’s Salt
Palace
tied for first place for 2006, inheriting the title from 2005 winner
Edgewood’s Heritage Park. Salt Palace also won in 2004. The Salt Palace
has been rebuilt on the same site in downtown Grand Saline three times,
most recently in 1993, of salt blocks from the nearby Morton Salt mines.
The museum exhibits salt mining artifacts and memorabilia along with
memorabilia from native son and aviator Wiley Post. Salt Palace hours
are Tuesday through Saturday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The Van Oil & Historical
Museum features a working miniature oil pump, an 1800s cotton mill, a
blacksmith shop, general store, tools and equipment, 1930 working
kitchen with gas refrigerator and kerosene stove, and many documents and
other memorabilia. Hours are 10 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday.
Runner up: Wills Point Depot
Best Play
“Sanders Family Christmas,” directed by Mary Scott for Edom Civic
Theatre on the group’s tenth anniversary. Conceived by Alan Bailey and
written by Connie Ray, the play tells the story of Rev. Oglethorpe’s
attempt to get a little down-home holiday spirit into his Baptist
congregation before the local boys are shipped off to WWII. He has
invited the Sanders family to return home, and he’s looking for
Christmas carols, vintage hymns, and funny yuletide stories from the
more or less devout family.
Runner up: “The Diviners”
Best Playground
The Park on Cherry Creek in Canton. The centerpiece of this eight-acre
park’s phase one is a sprawling, castle-themed wooden playscape to climb
and crawl through, surrounded by sandboxes and other amenities. Another
part of the master plan – walking trails – also is complete. Volunteers
hope to hear during January about a grant to complete pavilions,
volleyball courts, a splash pad, boardwalks, a Frisbee golf course, an
outdoor theater, and renovations to the soccer fields at the Old City
Park.
Runner up: Lester Park in Wills Point, which is in the early stages of
the same growth process as The Park on Cherry Creek
Best Small-town Dance
With County Line voters this year, Edom City Limits is a two-step ahead
of the Edgewood Senior Citizens Dance, which won best small-town dance
in both 2005 and 2004. The “opry house” – which can seat a hundred or so
people with room for a good-sized dance floor, too – has a few big
flings a year and is also often rented out for special events such as
weddings, anniversaries, family reunions, birthdays, etc. Owner Doc
Collins also hosts fundraisers from time to time.
Runner up: Edgewood Senior Citizens Dance
Best DJ
Three-time winner Tom Perryman, who can be heard 9-11 a.m. on KKUS 104.1
in Tyler, remains at the top of the heap. He’s got a couple of special
anniversaries coming up in 2007: celebrating both 60 years in radio and
80 years on Earth. Tom is a member of the Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and
the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, firmly rooted in East Texas. He
got his start in radio in 1947 at KEBE in Jacksonville, and promoted
stars including Jim Ed Brown, Hank Thompson, and Elvis Presley as a DJ
at KSIJ in Gladewater. Tom once co-owned KGRI in Henderson with Jim
Reeves.
Runners up: Bob Mauldin and Tim Carista, 1510 AM
Best Sign
First Assembly of God on Hwy. 243 in Canton has changed its message on a
sign out front just about every week since the Rev. Jimmy Allen and his
wife, Anneta, came to the church in 1986. The new sign, circa 2000,
allows more letters. Anneta pulls many of the slogans from books and
gets others from congregation members and other folks. The church sees
the signs as a ministry; Anneta says truckers and others driving along
Interstate 20 tell her they detour through Canton to check out the
latest inspirational sign. Dairy Palace’s “world famous” signs won in
both 2005 and 2004.
Runner up: Pizza Boy, Van
Best Slogan
Sister’s Café’s saucy slogan, “Put a Little South in your Mouth,” won
over The Shed’s “Get Fed at the Shed” from 2005, and Henry Lewis’ “I’ll
meet you at two in the morning if I know you’re coming” from 2004. Marcy
Darnell, one of three of Judy Johnson’s daughters who established the
café, came up with the slogan four or five years ago, sparked by
something she heard on a televised cooking show.
Runner up. Lewis Chevrolet, Canton
Best Website
www.edomtexas.com and
www.vzcountyline.com tied for the most votes.
www.edomtexas.com loads quick, includes a brief history and a calendar
of Edom events; contact information for the fire department, community
center, and city council; a succinct set of policies and ordinances; and
online links to local businesses and events.
www.vzcountyline.com includes the County Line’s event and music calendars; a list of where to
find full, paper copies of the County Line; club and organization
listings; a dining guide; a table of contents for each month’s articles;
and links to past issues. In 2005, the winner was
www.cottageinthewoodscandles.com and in 2004 the winner was
www.chambercantontx.com.
Runners up: Paige Bridges’
www.vintagetraveltrailerart.com and
www.vintagetrailerart.com
Best Artist
Zeke and Marty Zewick got the most votes. They still do a bit of
painting and sculpture, but 90 percent of their work now is in jewelry –
fabricated, not cast, Marty points out. Mediums include silver, gold,
jewelry, polished bone, rusted steel, and faceted stones. They’ve
operated their Edom shop for 30 years now; the sign beside the door says
“open most days, closed others.” The 2005 winner was Ryan Ayers and the
2004 winner was Jerry Hollister.
Runner up: Steve Riley, Wills Point
Best Barber/HairStylist
Christy Beall with Shear Paradise in Van was voted best barber/hair
stylist. Until January when she joined Shear Paradise full-time, she was
also working at Tyler’s Total Image. She managed Mastercuts in Tyler for
a couple of years, but has lived in Van Zandt County for six years and
picked up individual customers through word of mouth. She has always had
a passion for hair styling because it’s creative and it helps people
look pretty.
Runner up: Joe Pritchett, Edom
Best Chef
Jackson York joined Edom Bakery & Grill full time in August after
previously hosting the grill’s once-a-month gourmet dinners. He moved to
Edom from Fort Worth and has “a lot of years” in the food business,
having met co-owner Ann Berry, with her husband Bud, at a couple of
cooking classes he taught. The 2005 winner, Nellie Landaverde, is also
now at Edom Bakery & Grill.
Runner up: Carol Thomas, The Shed, Edom
Best Doctor
Drs. Carlos Reyes of Baker Clinic in Wills Point and Dr. J.W. Dailey of
Dailey Medical Clinic in Canton won the most votes in this category.
Both are in general practice. Dr. Reyes practiced vascular and thoracic
surgery in the Dallas area and East Texas before settling in at the
Wills Point Medical Center/Baker Clinic 10 years ago. He planned to
retire at the end of 2006, with Cozby-Germany Hospital taking over his
clinic as part of its expansion. Dr. Dailey opened his Canton clinic
five years ago, and brings in a number of specialists – cardiology,
pulmonary, ENT, podiatry, urology, orthopedics, and psychology – once or
more a month. Dr. John Turner won this category in both 2005 and 2004.
Runner up: Dr. Kenneth Nixon, Canton
Best Actor/Actress
Lois Arneson, who won this category in 2004, also won again for 2006.
She played Mrs. Sanders in the November production of Edom Civic
Theatre’s “Sanders Family Christmas” and, way back in April, directed
“Who’s Coming to Lunch.” Lois will also direct February’s production of
“Five Tellers Dancing n the Rain,” a comedy about five women working in
the same bank who share their life stories with one another. The 2005
winner was R.J. Norman.
Runner up: Russell Hall
Best Waiter/Waitress
Kena Lunsford at The Shed in Edom follows workmate Kathy Dunson (the
2005 winner) and Carlos Zarate (2004) of the Dairy Palace in Canton.
Friendly, prompt service and ready smiles always help. Kena has worked
at The Shed for four years after moving from Dallas, where she worked at
Primo’s, Gator’s, and other restaurants. She works the breakfast and
lunch shifts Monday through Friday and every other weekend.
Runner up: Lisa Byers, Edom Bakery & Grill
Best Wal-Mart Greeter:
Joyce Roe won a close vote as best Wal-Mart greeter over good friend
Sarah Musgrove; they tied for best in 2005. Both are long-time greeters
at Wal-Mart, Sarah mostly working evenings and Joyce mostly working
days. They like the jobs because they get paid, in essence, to visit
with friends. And strangers, too. They greet customers, make sure
shoppers have a buggy, and help carry purchases out when it’s raining.
Thanks to all those who voted and be sure to look for ballots later this
year for the Best of 2007!
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