The Texas Art Lover Trip You Need To Make This Summer
San Angelo Texas has a very unique, one-of-a-kind bed and breakfast that all locals of Tom Green County must take this summer. Located within The Chicken Farm Art Center, the aptly named The Inn at The Art Center is where you can get away and escape the usual hustle and bustle of town without going far at all and yet you will feel like you’ve been transported to someplace very different.
My wife and I made just this exact staycation over the weekend of June 2–3, coming in Friday night and staying through Saturday early afternoon. We got to capitalize on both the Friday night live music concert series as well as the First Saturday art and craft market. We also got to pair these amazing events with spectacular food at the adjacent (circa 1999) Roots at The Silo House Restaurant where Chef Ishma Parker and Angela Pitre tag-team the kitchen to create exquisite culinary delights you need to try as soon as you can.
The Inn has several room styles and themes to pick from. We selected the Santa Fe room which truly has an authentic Santa Fe New Mexico vibe going. Having stayed in Santa Fe with my wife before, we could truly judge this room for what it was shooting for. The color, the artwork, the decor, and the design, all showcased a genuine Sante Fe feel. See this video clip of our room. The AC was quiet and did well to keep the room cool yet let us sleep soundly. The TV has internet TV with all the major apps included. You do not have a in-room fridge or microwave but you have something better. Just two doors down from us is the “nook” a large shared kitchen space with all the necessities. They even have some staple food items available at no charge like cold drinks, coffee grounds and a coffee maker, frozen breakfast foods, oatmeal, dry cereal cups, and yogurt are available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the pantry, fridge, and freezer. Juston Oakes, Inn co-owner and operations director was a super cool host. He assured us we had all the directions and information we needed to get settled in and have a good stay. Super kind guy with top-notch hospitality.
The live music concert on Friday is open to all local musicians. A regular group showed up and played for a good while so we chose to pull out some drinks we brought (BYOB is permitted) and watched them play away while sitting calmly on a bench swing. This concert has the potential to grow to higher levels that can showcase all the local musical talent we have in this town and I hope it does.
The First Saturday Art and Craft Market is an artist’s dream space/event. Every type of art is here. Ceramics, ironworkers, painters, sculptors, stained glass, and more. Multiple fixed studios exist to give a dedicated workspace for the serious artist to practice their craft and then showcase it onsite come the first Saturday of each month. The scope of the artwork shown here is truly impressive. I am admittedly not a very artsy person, but I can’t help but be impressed by the fact that people are capable of making such beauty from their minds and hands alone.
Music and art are what you’re going to get in spades while you stay here at the Inn, I assure you. But you’re in for some culinary artwork and decadence as well. Grab dinner and Saturday brunch at Roots at The Silohouse Restaurant to experience this key aspect of your stay. My wife and I started our stay off with dinner shortly after checking into our room. Dinner is served 5–9 pm every Thursday-Saturday. Kevin our server took great care of us during our meal. The menu changes almost weekly so what we got may not be available by the time you read this. The nice thing about the frequent menu changes is that no two visits are ever the same thing. Watch this quick inside tour also.
I got the 14 oz NY strip steak medium. This was a really good steak for sure, but not the best I have had in town. My wife got the pork chop. We both felt the pork chop was rather small. We both pictured something thicker, meatier, larger. Tasty and tender, flavorful, yes, just lacking in true size. We also shared several appetizers including the seasonal berry salad, cooked cabbage in tasso, tuna tartare with tostones, bacon mac and cheese, and jalapeno blue cornbread served in a cast iron skillet. All of these items were great picks but the jalapeno blue cornbread was out of this world good! The best my wife and I had ever had. This could easily be dessert if topped with vanilla bean ice cream… hint, hint Chefs. They also have a good wine list of various red, white, rose’, and bubbly selections to pick from. The restaurant only seats about 45 people max. It allows for a more exclusive feel, and it never gets too loud. Artwork from the onsite studios adorns the walls as well. Next time I promised my wife we would get dessert to see how those are but sadly, on this occasion, we just didn’t have room left for anything else. See this short video of our spread.
The next morning after getting a great night’s sleep, we meandered into the same restaurant for brunch served 10–2 pm. We got in right at 10 to leave time for the art and craft market afterward. Sitting in the same window seat we did for dinner, Kevin was again our server. This menu changes every weekend as well. I got the Cochinta Pibil made from Mexican-sourced blue corn tortillas, packed full of tender citrus-achiote rubbed wild boar, topped with queso fresco, and pickled red onion. This was severed alongside Mexican rice and creamy refried beans. This was a truly delicious dish across the board. The blue corn tortillas were a huge surprise as I was not expecting this but rather yellow corn. Blue corn tortillas are my favorite! My wife got the Turkey-Swiss Monte Cristo with fresh fruit. She said it was “truly one very good monte cristo.” Both of us showed our clean plate club status without hesitation to these menu picks.
So no matter where you live in Tom Green County, be it right here in San Angelo, or a bit further out, make sure to set plans this summer to spend a weekend at The Inn at The Chicken Farm Art Center. The spirit of true local artist and artistry has been alive here since 1971 when the location arose from the idea of Roger Allen and two of his best friends who slowly converted a large 1940s chicken farm into the art studios and apartments you see today. This will be a fun, simple, local vacation that pleases the eyes, the mind, and the stomach. Enjoy!
Originally published at https://original.newsbreak.com.
