This is a reprint from my other blog which I remembered while doing the previous restaurant review on Good Times Burgers. The Sunset Grill is a real gas station/convenience store/restaurant northwest of Dallas.

Spouse and I were on US Hway 287 coming from Ft. Worth, Texas last spring when we both realized it was past 1 pm and we were running out of small Texas towns to stop for lunch. A few minutes later, a sign for  ” The Sunset Grill” came up which said it was right by the next exit, beside a gas station. Now that is convenient.

The Sunset Grill is not a place you’d expect to see in a big city but hey, this is small-town Sunset, TX – middle of nowhere, right? We both look at the dilapidated sign above the low, brown, boxlike structure and read “The best burgers John Wayne ever had” Of course Spouse has to comment “Hey, how bad can it be…” and I just give him the “Don’t even say it…”  look in reply.

So we go in and as soon as we enter the restaurant we both think we’re in the wrong place. All we see is a rattier-than-usual-looking convenience store like what you’ll find in the middle of nowhere….stained ceiling, nasty looking floors and an old sub-continent Indian guy. He’s standing behind the cash register with beautiful, lazy eyes and a tired smile. He’s friendly enough and greets us warmly. Then we notice the grill next to the the display of lunch sandwiches and what-nots and it hits us, Ahhhh so…this is the restaurant and that is the grill that looks like it’s seen more sunsets than it cared to…

We’re hungry and the guy is patiently waiting for us to make up our minds.  We order 2 cheeseburgers, a couple of drinks and large fries. After that, we look around and see tables on one side of the place and take our seats behind 4 large, dusty looking Texas cowboy types with their large hats sitting on half their table. I overhear the biggest – and I mean HUGE guy – who’s in a an old cut-off camouflage army-type shirt saying in the laziest Texas drawl you’ve ever heard “I?ve gotta go and take care of Momma”  Mmmm….a few more minutes hanging out here and I can write a country song – momma…dog…pick-up truck.

MMmmm….funny smells..sniff….sniff…gasoline? petrol? something…

OMG!  We’re sitting right next to the shelf of brake fluids, coleman lamp fuel, and other flammable stuff your everyday convenience store in the middle of nowhere carries – and this is the smoking area?!  We jump out of our seats and move to the other side of the place and find more tables there, next to the ice cream freezers. Good, hopefully nothing’s gonna burn here.

And not a minute too soon, our burgers are served by the aging blonde in shorts who was also manning the grill. :Y?all enjoy yourselves now,”  she says with a big smile.

MMMM….smells good,,,,mmmm…not  bad looking at all. The burgers were actually good and we wolfed it all down in about 10 minutes. Then our cashier/convenience store owner comes to our table with his beautiful, lazy eyes and tired smile and asks us in  his very best 5-star maitre d’ manner – “How did you find the food? Everything alright I hope?” We liked the burgers and our tummies were full so what the heck…”The food was good, thank you,” we tell him. Not so bad we say to each other. The food was actually good.

Okay, okay….so the dark and dingy rest room was right next to this ancient looking walk-in freezer where I’m sure our burgers came from!

And what about the sign about John Wayne?  Well…no, we didn’t ask about it.  But we have come up with several versions to explain that but  I’ll save it for another day and time.