3 Best Restaurants in Comfort, The Hill Country

This is a popular retro-style lunch spot and store, where you can shop for local pepper sauce, souvenirs, and artisanal crafts while you wait for your food. The daily menu of delicious soups, salads, and sandwiches includes the House Salad Trio, a scoop of homemade chicken salad and a scoop of homemade tuna salad on a fresh field-greens salad, served with gluten-free crackers. The Greek Salad Flax Wrap, a specialty, is a Greek salad rolled up into a flaxseed tortilla and slathered with thick, garlicky hummus. (Gluten-free bread is available.) For $2, throw in a side of zesty Highmade Cabbage Slaw. Save room for a sweet treat from the dessert case of fresh baked goods, including fudge-walnut brownies, lemon and blueberry yogurt cake, and chewy chocolate-chip cookies.

Colorful, quilt-draped walls and a cool ceiling-fanned patio make this a comfortable spot no matter the weather. The menu changes with the season, but you might find an entrée such as a juicy grilled New York strip steak in a balsamic reduction or sautéed rainbow trout. The 814 Burger is a half-pound of grilled bliss.

A former post office now serves appetites in the middle of nowhere. There are some unusual dishes like mahimahi (a mild, white fish) with tomatillo sauce, but also plenty of German fare. Start with potato pancakes served with apple sauce or sour cream. The schnitzel is fabulous, as is the rouladen—a tenderized beef fillet wrapped around dill pickle, ham, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese. If it's warm outside, sit beneath the vined trellis and watch the resident goats and donkeys grazing nearby. Live music accompanies your meal on Thursdays and Sundays. Reservations are strongly recommended.