Restaurants in Canyon Lake

Hearty steaks, Italian dishes, American classics, and seafood specialties meet in the multicultural milieu of Anchor's Landing's menu. The heaping plate of golden fried pickles or onion rings that's included with this Groupon pumps appetites with crispy panache. Then dive into a hearty 10- to 12-ounce rib-eye steak ($16.99) or a fried combo platter (one catfish filet, four fried shrimp, and a crab cake, $15.99). Anchor's Landing proudly serves imported pasta swimming in homemade sauces. Slurp seafood linguine (sautéed shrimp, scallops, and clams with a garlic wine sauce, $15.99), fettuccine alfredo ($7.99), or linguine carbonara ($8.99).

Casual al fresco dining and kid-friendly recreation come together at Beefy's Backyard to form a veritable family-fun sandwich, while Beefy's on the Green offers a slightly more formal dining area with an expanded menu. Like the North Star, Beefy's glowing menu provides guidance to peckish patrons eager to sink their teeth into bread-bound fare. Begin by foraging through a forest of crispy appetizers, sampling delicacies such as fried pickles, jalapeños, okra, and mushrooms ($4.99–$5.99). Beefy's bevy of burgers are dressed with edible accoutrements including bacon, grilled onions, cheese, salsa, and that unmatched new-clothes confidence ($4.29–$6.49). Symphonies of salads, including the southwest pulled chicken salad ($6.99) and the grilled sirloin salad ($7.49), await those who hunger healthfully. Satiation seekers can retire to the indoor dining room at Beefy's on the Green, or choose the Backyard's basketball court and AstroTurf field for rousing rounds of dunk-the-patty and kaiser roll keep-away.

Lucky Sailor's Lakeside Grill blends jaw-dropping views of the water and jaw-shutting meat and seafood dishes to scenically savory effect. While you wait for your life's first mate to park the boat on top of the parking lot's dirtiest car, nibble on Nearly Famous Diamondbacks, bacon-wrapped jalapeños stuffed with shrimp and jack cheese ($8), before deep-sea dining on a plate of fiesta-fried gulf-shrimp, crispy morsels fried and served in a spicy cocktail sauce ($17). People born with the heads—and bodies—of parrots, meanwhile, will relish every bite of the Cheeseburger in Paradise, a half-pound of Angus beef lounging on a jalapeno-bun cushion with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles that's best when paired with Lucky Sailor's locally made beers and wines ($8). When the summer weather returns from its vacation in a warmer climate, dine in open-air style on Canyon Lake or dollop a dessert of fried cheesecake and raspberry sauce ($7) with a spot of live music on Sundays and Thursdays.

Just a touch crooked, the timbers that hold up New Braunfels Smokehouse's awning impart both a rustic and timeless look, which hearkens back to the smokehouse's 1940s beginnings. The Dunbar family bought five local ice plants including one in New Braunfels that formerly housed a brewery. With limited storage options, farmers brought their meats to the ice plant for refrigeration. Then employee Benno Schuennemann had an idea: he'd help the farmers preserve their meats even longer by curing and smoking them using old German recipes. As word grew of the smoked meats coming from the icehouse, the Dunbars found a whole new business on their hands. They added a restaurant in 1952, and by the 1960s, they fielded smoked-meat orders from across the United States.

Today, the Dunbars continue running New Braunfels Smokehouse from a new location, producing hickory-smoked beef, chicken, pork, and turkey using Benno's methods at their USDA-inspected facility. They also bake their own bread each day, plus insist that their chefs craft every side from scratch and smith every utensil by hand. The restaurant surrounds visitors in rustic style with decor that incorporates old-barn siding and knotty-wood paneling—many of the materials salvaged from the original smokehouse. After savoring meals ordered from the counter, visitors can peruse the country store for sausages and other packaged meats fresh from the smokehouse.

Texas Harbor Seafood's chefs hand bread fresh catches and assemble both individual platters and family-size portions of seafood and comfort fare. After perusing the menu, diners can declare their allegiance in surf vs. turf skirmishes, choosing from a roster of palatable options that includes a half-pound of crab legs ($8.99) or chicken-fried steak ($6.29). Twenty catfish nuggets perform original choreography from A Chorus Line before simultaneously splashing through tangy tartar sauce ($11.99). Families can feed every Tom, Dick, and Popeye with a 13-piece order of Alaskan pollock ($18.89), and individuals can keep an order of grilled salmon all to themselves ($8.99).

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