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There are so many people who came to Texas from that part of Europe. German names are everywhere! Shiner Bock, brewed by the Spoetzl brewery, also started by G

There are so many people who came to Texas from that part of Europe. German names are everywhere! Shiner Bock, brewed by the Spoetzl brewery, also started by German immigrants, brewing the kind of beer they were used to. And of course between Dallas and Texas, you have the Czech Stop in West, Texas (which is not in west Texas) which is a great place to stop for some kolaches on the rip.

_bin_ 2y ago
Yep, I grew up in Texas and tons of German-Czech influence. Hruska's beats on kolaches for my money, if it's on your way :) There are also some hidden historic dance halls that are great if you can make it by. I know one dates to 1912 and a buddy's family refurbished it last year; lovely place.
- dylan604 2y ago
  Gruene Hall is the classic example. If you’re into red dirt and have not made the pilgrimage, then you’re just doing it wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruene_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruene_Hall
  - EdwardDiego 2y ago
    Red dirt?
    - dylan604 2y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dirt_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dirt_music
      - EdwardDiego 2y ago
        Thank you :)
  - scarecrowbob 2y ago
    Gruene is good. Luckenback was always more fun for me, but I lived in Fredericksburg and enjoyed the picking circle. Coupland was cool- cooler than Gruene, at least to me. We played there once to about 4 people and I quit the band because that night was supposed to be the "paid" gig after the band hauled me all the way from Lubbock to play the Saxon for free.
- MandieD 2y ago
  Just before New Years, we were headed to The Woodlands from my hometown in Bell County, and passed through Zabcikville. I decided to get a hostess gift for the high school friend we were visiting, so dropped into Green's Sausage House for a dozen kolaches. I figured I'd be out about $30-40, given how expensive everything else had gotten both where I live now and where I grew up. It was still $16. The cottage cheese and the peaches and cream are the best two, in my opinion, followed closely by the cream cheese and the apricot. If you're eating lunch behind the wheel, their sausage and sauerkraut "kolaches" (more like sausage rolls, but made from the same dough as the sweet kolaches) are an excellent option. One is a heavy snack, two are a solid meal. Discovering that there were kolaches over the border in Czechia after moving to Central Bavaria: happiness! Discovering that those are more like what Americans would call a danish than a Central Texas kolache: heartbreaking.
  - nvahalik 2y ago
    I live in Bell County now but I spent a lot of time in and around small TX towns (smaller even than Zabcikville or Cyclone) where a lot of the residents were 3rd generation or 4th generation immigrants. Growing up we learned some Czech and "Czech identity" was (is still, at least for my "elders") a big deal. Anyway those "sausage rolls" are called klobasneks (or Klobásniks). It's a bit of a shibboleth since the only people that seem to know that are the Czech. ;) Interestingly we never called anything a danish—but we did have a lot of strudels.
    - conductr 2y ago
      I mentioned it in another comment myself, but I think it’s funny how online every time I see this topic this comment about the misnomer comes up. IRL I’ve lived all over the Texas triangle my entire life and have never actually heard anyone say anything other than kolache regardless of sweet/savory. My Czech great grandmother died when I was about 10 though so maybe I just don’t remember hearing it.
      - stephenhuey 2y ago
        My kids have learned the precise term for the savory ones from me, but you're right that most Texans, even many Czech Texans, do not know it! To be fair, the origin is that Czech Texans used the same kolache bread and stuck meat in it. People might not think it matters, but many kolaches I've had from shops do not use the bread I'm familiar with from my grandmother (and cousins). I won't name names, but their bread doesn't taste very good, and only a few shops make the same bread I grew fond of at my grandmother's house, and that same kind of bread was used for both the sausage ones and the sweet ones at my grandmother's house.
inglor_cz 2y ago
The explosion in West, Texas in 2013 attracted a lot of attention in Czechia and I believe also some charitative help.
Javalicious 2y ago
A few years ago we did a road trip through that part of Texas, looking at the "painted churches" (https://thedaytripper.com/the-painted-churches-road-trip/ https://thedaytripper.com/the-painted-churches-road-trip/ - there are other itineraries). This article sparked that memory, as one of the painted churches is actually a Wendish church. And yes, there's a painted church in Shiner as well! :-)
- stephenhuey 2y ago
  I hadn't heard of Wends until today. I'm Czech Texan, and more Czechs ended up in Texas than any other state, but of course we were still outnumbered by the German immigrants, so I'm not surprised by a subset of immigrants I didn't know about coming from that region. I haven't toured the painted churches, though many people I know have done so. Their story sounds pretty interesting, and I'm quite delighted to see this come across HN.
chachacharge 2y ago
Plenty of Swedes also. Creating churches and schools. German/Swede congregations helped each other. Later it was the Irish who renovated, buying up old neighborhoods, creating today's hospitals and universities.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
  Interestingly, the diaspora is mostly concentrated around the same area too. New Sweden and Lund, TX are located just east of Austin, which is fairly close to the area mentioned in the article (Giddings) and the original Sweden, TX and Norway, TX are located south/southeast. Those towns are not terribly close, but also given Texas size, relatively close to above.
wileydragonfly 2y ago
Prasek’s man, myself.
- stephenhuey 2y ago
  Hear hear! Fortunately HEB sells it so I don't have to make it all the way to a Prasek's store. Their sausage recipe is the closest flavor to the sausage my Czech Texan grandparents would make, although my grandparents often had venison mixed in as one of the meats.
  - wileydragonfly 2y ago
    Praseks has some with venison in it, too. :) Any other brands you like? I sense I can trust your tastes. I was out in the middle of nowhere near Tyler recently and got some “famous” sausage and it was the same bland, hot dog like texture I can’t stand.
    - stephenhuey 2y ago
      HEB also has Slovacek's sausage which is not exactly the same but I still like the flavor. Some people I know are really into Chappell Hill and it's fine for me (just not exactly the same if nostalgia is leading me to go for that specific Prasek's flavor).
conductr 2y ago
It’s a controversial topic in Texas, especially since I live in Dallas as an adult, but since you mentioned the food and drink legacy- the immigration waves that come through Galveston/Houston continue to make absolutely amazing food scenes. A set of my great grandparents were actually a Czech immigrant who married a German immigrant. First part of my life I thought everyone in the world ate kolaches every weekend for breakfast, lol. Also, when modern Texans say kolaches they generally mean a sausage klobasniky. The Czech stop is a well know spot, but the thing that distinguishes them and some other places in West is they still serve a wide variety of actual kolache (fruit/sweet).
- stephenhuey 2y ago
  As a child, I also ate them for breakfast every time I spent the night at my grandparents' house. I'm in Houston now, and this afternoon I was talking to a neighbor from the town of West (which is a few hours northwest of here). My Czech grandparents lived an hour south of Houston but the neighbor and I both agreed on how much we like prune kolaches. I also love apricot. Some places use canned fruit which might taste fine to someone who doesn't know better, but it's a terrible clash with memories of what my grandmother made (and what some of my cousins still make), and I refuse to pay for them at any shop which does that. We also talked about the poppyseed ones, and how for us it's so heartwarmingly nostalgic but often other people who didn't grow up with poppyseed struggle to understand the appeal.
  - grendelt 2y ago
    I did the same at my grandparents in Crosby, just north of Baytown. That land was passed down through the family going back to our ancestors who were part of the Old 300. The Czechs that moved into the emerging area now known as Crosby passed along amazing recipes like kolaches and my grandmother befriended the wife of a Czech coworker of my grandfathers - now kolaches are absolutely part of the family recipe book.
  - conductr 2y ago
    Yes, I love those flavors and the cream cheese ones too!! If memory serves me, these ones were actually the most popular with our grands generations and they’ve become quite a rare treat these days. Many places don’t serve them and you really have to seek them out

_bin_ 2y ago

Yep, I grew up in Texas and tons of German-Czech influence. Hruska's beats on kolaches for my money, if it's on your way :) There are also some hidden historic dance halls that are great if you can make it by. I know one dates to 1912 and a buddy's family refurbished it last year; lovely place.

dylan604 2y ago
Gruene Hall is the classic example. If you’re into red dirt and have not made the pilgrimage, then you’re just doing it wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruene_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruene_Hall
- EdwardDiego 2y ago
  Red dirt?
  - dylan604 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dirt_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dirt_music
    - EdwardDiego 2y ago
      Thank you :)
- scarecrowbob 2y ago
  Gruene is good. Luckenback was always more fun for me, but I lived in Fredericksburg and enjoyed the picking circle. Coupland was cool- cooler than Gruene, at least to me. We played there once to about 4 people and I quit the band because that night was supposed to be the "paid" gig after the band hauled me all the way from Lubbock to play the Saxon for free.
MandieD 2y ago
Just before New Years, we were headed to The Woodlands from my hometown in Bell County, and passed through Zabcikville. I decided to get a hostess gift for the high school friend we were visiting, so dropped into Green's Sausage House for a dozen kolaches. I figured I'd be out about $30-40, given how expensive everything else had gotten both where I live now and where I grew up. It was still $16. The cottage cheese and the peaches and cream are the best two, in my opinion, followed closely by the cream cheese and the apricot. If you're eating lunch behind the wheel, their sausage and sauerkraut "kolaches" (more like sausage rolls, but made from the same dough as the sweet kolaches) are an excellent option. One is a heavy snack, two are a solid meal. Discovering that there were kolaches over the border in Czechia after moving to Central Bavaria: happiness! Discovering that those are more like what Americans would call a danish than a Central Texas kolache: heartbreaking.
- nvahalik 2y ago
  I live in Bell County now but I spent a lot of time in and around small TX towns (smaller even than Zabcikville or Cyclone) where a lot of the residents were 3rd generation or 4th generation immigrants. Growing up we learned some Czech and "Czech identity" was (is still, at least for my "elders") a big deal. Anyway those "sausage rolls" are called klobasneks (or Klobásniks). It's a bit of a shibboleth since the only people that seem to know that are the Czech. ;) Interestingly we never called anything a danish—but we did have a lot of strudels.
  - conductr 2y ago
    I mentioned it in another comment myself, but I think it’s funny how online every time I see this topic this comment about the misnomer comes up. IRL I’ve lived all over the Texas triangle my entire life and have never actually heard anyone say anything other than kolache regardless of sweet/savory. My Czech great grandmother died when I was about 10 though so maybe I just don’t remember hearing it.
    - stephenhuey 2y ago
      My kids have learned the precise term for the savory ones from me, but you're right that most Texans, even many Czech Texans, do not know it! To be fair, the origin is that Czech Texans used the same kolache bread and stuck meat in it. People might not think it matters, but many kolaches I've had from shops do not use the bread I'm familiar with from my grandmother (and cousins). I won't name names, but their bread doesn't taste very good, and only a few shops make the same bread I grew fond of at my grandmother's house, and that same kind of bread was used for both the sausage ones and the sweet ones at my grandmother's house.

inglor_cz 2y ago

The explosion in West, Texas in 2013 attracted a lot of attention in Czechia and I believe also some charitative help.

Javalicious 2y ago

A few years ago we did a road trip through that part of Texas, looking at the "painted churches" (https://thedaytripper.com/the-painted-churches-road-trip/ https://thedaytripper.com/the-painted-churches-road-trip/ - there are other itineraries). This article sparked that memory, as one of the painted churches is actually a Wendish church. And yes, there's a painted church in Shiner as well! :-)

stephenhuey 2y ago
I hadn't heard of Wends until today. I'm Czech Texan, and more Czechs ended up in Texas than any other state, but of course we were still outnumbered by the German immigrants, so I'm not surprised by a subset of immigrants I didn't know about coming from that region. I haven't toured the painted churches, though many people I know have done so. Their story sounds pretty interesting, and I'm quite delighted to see this come across HN.

chachacharge 2y ago

Plenty of Swedes also. Creating churches and schools. German/Swede congregations helped each other. Later it was the Irish who renovated, buying up old neighborhoods, creating today's hospitals and universities.

SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
Interestingly, the diaspora is mostly concentrated around the same area too. New Sweden and Lund, TX are located just east of Austin, which is fairly close to the area mentioned in the article (Giddings) and the original Sweden, TX and Norway, TX are located south/southeast. Those towns are not terribly close, but also given Texas size, relatively close to above.

wileydragonfly 2y ago

Prasek’s man, myself.

stephenhuey 2y ago
Hear hear! Fortunately HEB sells it so I don't have to make it all the way to a Prasek's store. Their sausage recipe is the closest flavor to the sausage my Czech Texan grandparents would make, although my grandparents often had venison mixed in as one of the meats.
- wileydragonfly 2y ago
  Praseks has some with venison in it, too. :) Any other brands you like? I sense I can trust your tastes. I was out in the middle of nowhere near Tyler recently and got some “famous” sausage and it was the same bland, hot dog like texture I can’t stand.
  - stephenhuey 2y ago
    HEB also has Slovacek's sausage which is not exactly the same but I still like the flavor. Some people I know are really into Chappell Hill and it's fine for me (just not exactly the same if nostalgia is leading me to go for that specific Prasek's flavor).

conductr 2y ago

It’s a controversial topic in Texas, especially since I live in Dallas as an adult, but since you mentioned the food and drink legacy- the immigration waves that come through Galveston/Houston continue to make absolutely amazing food scenes. A set of my great grandparents were actually a Czech immigrant who married a German immigrant. First part of my life I thought everyone in the world ate kolaches every weekend for breakfast, lol. Also, when modern Texans say kolaches they generally mean a sausage klobasniky. The Czech stop is a well know spot, but the thing that distinguishes them and some other places in West is they still serve a wide variety of actual kolache (fruit/sweet).

stephenhuey 2y ago
As a child, I also ate them for breakfast every time I spent the night at my grandparents' house. I'm in Houston now, and this afternoon I was talking to a neighbor from the town of West (which is a few hours northwest of here). My Czech grandparents lived an hour south of Houston but the neighbor and I both agreed on how much we like prune kolaches. I also love apricot. Some places use canned fruit which might taste fine to someone who doesn't know better, but it's a terrible clash with memories of what my grandmother made (and what some of my cousins still make), and I refuse to pay for them at any shop which does that. We also talked about the poppyseed ones, and how for us it's so heartwarmingly nostalgic but often other people who didn't grow up with poppyseed struggle to understand the appeal.
- grendelt 2y ago
  I did the same at my grandparents in Crosby, just north of Baytown. That land was passed down through the family going back to our ancestors who were part of the Old 300. The Czechs that moved into the emerging area now known as Crosby passed along amazing recipes like kolaches and my grandmother befriended the wife of a Czech coworker of my grandfathers - now kolaches are absolutely part of the family recipe book.
- conductr 2y ago
  Yes, I love those flavors and the cream cheese ones too!! If memory serves me, these ones were actually the most popular with our grands generations and they’ve become quite a rare treat these days. Many places don’t serve them and you really have to seek them out