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My wife and I have eaten at Justus Drugstore in Smithville several times in the past year, and it is officially our favorite restaurant. I’ve heard it described as “gourmet comfort food” though I can’t remember the source.  We ate there again last Saturday night and they did not disappoint.  Like any good meal, a meal at Justus is never rushed.  We have always spent more than 3 hours per meal when we go to there.  We started off with the always awesome crawdad cakes. Then moved on to the salad; mixed greens with maple smoked Berkshire bacon wrapped local goat cheese, crostini, shallot white wine vinaigrette and apple with the suggested Argyle sparkling wine.  I’m a fan of mixed greens with vinaigrette, but the warm goat cheese wrapped in bacon really make this salad worth trying.

After the salad, we had our main courses.  In the past, I’ve enjoyed the Brisket (the most tender brisket I think I’ve ever tasted) and the Berkshire Pork Loin Chop. This time, though, I decided to try the flat iron Akaushi beef steak.  This was one of the tastiest pieces of  beef I have ever tasted.  Cooked medium-rare, the marbling of fat was unparalleled.  This was a well seasoned, juicy piece of beef.  Oh yeah, the Luna Benegas cabernet sauvignon went very well with the beef.  Although I found myself eating more steak than drinking wine.

The jaunt to Smithville is well worth it to sample one of the great restaurants in the region.  They use local ingredients where they can and it’s apparent that they enjoy inventing new and flavorful dishes as much as they enjoy seeing the happy faces of their clientele.