Victoria Palms Restaurant

The Man, The Myth, The Legend?

                                   Omelet you decide

If you have never had an omelet made by Dave at the Victoria Palms Restaurant located at Victoria Palms RV Park, the experience is a must. In fact, recently a couple drove from Rio Hondo to Donna to partake of a masterpiece creation by “The Omelet Guy.”

“I told them they probably had passed 50 restaurants that served omelets,” said Rountree, in his 11th season making omelets and waffles and more for customers. “They said they read it in the newspapers and just had to come and try one.”

Similarly, I had to try what is becoming a local legend - an omelet by Dave.

“It’s just an omelet,” Dave said as he tossed some mushrooms, onions, bacon and jalapeños into what was to become my three-egg breakfast, with hash browns and wheat toast. “It’s not rocket science, or I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Dave is coming up on his 100,000th omelet being served in his 11 seasons here. He began as a breakfast cook in St. Louis back in 1969, hitchhiking from the Valley not long after graduating from PSJA High that May.

“I started as a breakfast cook in St. Louis and now I’m a breakfast cook here,” he joked. “With a lot of mileage in between.”

The omelet was perfect - and a meal in itself. Soon, others lined up asking for a variety of Dave’s creations.

The omelet, however, is just part of breakfast. For the complete experience, one needs to just sit near Dave, and, for no additional charge, a fantastic conversation will surely ensue.

“This is the time of year when grandchildren will come visit their grandparents here,” Dave said. “This one girl told me I was making her first omelet. I asked her old she was, and she said she was 12.

“I told her the bad thing was that if she lives to be 100, she won’t have one that’s better than her first.”

Dave loves to cook. He loves to talk with people. Once a month he will cook for 52 people - 26 in one group and 26 in another - from the deck of he and his wife, Lynne’s, trailer.

“When I retire - not anytime soon as long as I can put my feet down and come here - I’m thinking about cooking from home like that once a week. I love to cook.”

And that’s a good thing. From omelets to fluffy and crispy waffles, the “Omelet guy” is a must to add to your bucket list. Maybe you’ll be the lucky one to eat his 100,000th omelet at Victoria Palms. If not, you’re still lucky to experience Dave and an omelet any chance you get.

Victoria Palms

Tantalizes Your Taste Buds

Whenever I stop into the Victoria Palms Restaurant there’s one thing that I can be guaranteed, even the simplest of dishes will tantalize my taste buds.

My taste buds and stomach thank the Chef.

Let me get right into the hamburger steak. The menu describes it as a half-pound patty topped with grilled onions and brown gravy. That is too simplistic of a description. First, the patty was probably a little closer to two thirds of a pound and the flavor was more exquisite than a hamburger steak usually has to offer. With a decent portion of grilled onions and some brown gravy that had a perfect consistency — this was a fabulous meal.

It tasted like being at home and not in a restaurant, but that’s how Chef Marcus Arevalo is. He cooks with a passion and people in mind. He does it with care, with caution and with fabulous flavors – and he is always there.

Instead of mashed potatoes I ordered a double of green beans. Look, they are just green beans, but the flavor went beyond what green beans should taste like. Kids would eat their veggies more if it tasted like these beans.

The Victoria Palms Restaurant is a hidden gem, a massive pearl inside an oyster. Service is quick, the price is eye-popping in a good way, and the flavor goes above and beyond.

I can’t wait to get my seat for the Nov. 28 Thanksgiving Buffet Lunch, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Victoria Palms Ballroom. There, Chef will have herb-roasted turkey, beef roulades, honey glazed ham, crusted tilapia, roasted cauliflower with Parmesan panko, corn O’Brien and several other dishes for the main offering. There will also be three kinds of salads and a half a dozen desserts.

Christmas Day, they do it again, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This time the offerings include garlic and herb roasted turkey, sweet and spicy roasted turkey, chicken champignon, cranberry stuffed pork chops and more and more and more.

Tickets are sold at the hotel lobby. For more information call (956) 782-3256. And come with pants that might be a little too big... they’ll be nice and snug when you leave.

Golfers share their favorite Hidden Gems

For six months out of the year, John McCutcheon works on a golf course cutting grass as the Legacy Ridge’s groundskeeper in Owenstown, Ontario.

Now, however, he and his wife are back in the Rio Grande Valley and enjoying the weather, food and friendly people at their Victoria Palms winter home. And for these six months, McCutcheon is playing golf instead of working it.

“Whenever I can get out on the golf course, I’m just thrilled,” said McCutcheon, who has been golfing for 49 years, since he was 16 years old. “A friend back home was telling me he just pulled his boat off the dock and he was walking on ice. He said it turned icy Nov. 12, the earliest in 50 years.

“So, yeah, I’m pretty thrilled to be on a golf course any day here.”

McCutcheon, like most golfers, have his favorite courses and within those favorite courses there are a few holes that are more enjoyable to play for the golfer than others– it could be because of the challenge, or because they do well on it or simply because of the scenery and nature. These are the course’s hidden gems, holes that rise up to the player’s favorites list and keeps them coming back for more.

McCutcheon said he plays Tierra Santa, Los Lagos and Palmview the most, but added that “Palmview is the most challenging because all the balls run into the water.”

“Tierra Santa is close, so we play that one a lot. I think the thing down here that’s different, and I like, is the fact that the fairways are wide, especially at Tierra Santa. They are very forgiving, there are no out of bounds.”

Almost every golfer who has played anywhere in the Valley probably knows of Tierra Santa’s No. 18, possibly the most challenging, and picturesque ending hole in the RGV. Of course, it’s the first one McCutcheon mentions when talking about his list of “hidden gems.”

“No. 18 at Tierra Santa is very challenging and fun to play,” he said.

“Another one I enjoy that’s challenging is the little par 3 at Los Lagos, it’s kind of like an island green and you never know what the wind is going to do out there.”

Another extremely popular hole at Tierra Santa is the split fairway No. 8. A golf can try to go over the water on the left side, or be safe and go right – then still have to go over water for an approach shot into the green.

“You can find water on every shot on that hole,” McCutcheon said. “I’ve taken a 7-iron down the right side and then another into the green and I feel more comfortable there. I enjoy playing that hole.”

McCutcheon has one hole-in-one to his name, that came back in Meaford, Ontario, off a tee box that was elevated 150 feet, making the shot to the green downhill.

“I was playing with my son and we couldn’t see the green and we didn’t know where it went,” he said. “Usually my best shot is like that, one you can’t see.”

Barry Janssen also loves challenges and he said that he gets a good challenge especially with holes No. 8 and 18 at Llano Grande Golf Course and with 1 and 11 at Tony Butler Municipal Course in Harlingen.

He especially likes starting off his round with the big dogleg right at Tony Butler.

“It’s a real big dogleg and if you don’t get your tee shot in the right spot, you are almost guaranteed to not get over the creek on the second shot,” said Janssen, a Minnesota native who lives in Lakewood Village and enjoys playing Llano Grande, Tony Butler, Monte Cristo and Treasure Hills golf courses.

“I also like No. 11 there. It’s a little shorter par 4 from 340 yards out, but with a good drive you can reach the green because it’s downhill after that. You can make quite a few birdies on that hole.”

Janssen actually picked up the sport when some of his softball teammates saw how far he could crush a softball – the same can be said now off the tee.

“I liked hitting the crap out of it,” Janssen said, adding he didn’t start playing golf until he was 29 or 30 years old. “But I’ve learned in the past year or so to slow down and hit the ball square and it will go just as far as if you’re trying to hit the crap out of it.”

Janssen added the biggest difference to him on South Texas golf courses is the grass.

“I just wish I could get out more often to play. I was a contractor for 47 years and was out working whether it was 87 degrees or 20-below. I’d be working today, so I’m glad to be down here.”“It’s a lot different,” he said. “The fairways up there are almost like carpet, except for the six inches of leaves down the middle when fall arrives. I’d say, though, that the challenges are different, but over all about the same.

David Engstrom, of Kansas City, has been coming to the Valley for the past eight years and started golfing “30 or 40 years ago,” he said. He lives at Stuart Place in Harlingen and leans toward that course as his favorite, even though he also enjoys Treasure Hills.

“It’s not overly long but it does test you,” Engstrom said of Stuart Place, a nine-hole course. “You have to hit the ball straight to stay in the fairway and the greens are good. You’ll be rewarded with a good putt.”

His favorite gem is No. 6, a long par 5 where each shot is paramount in setting up the next shot.

“You need to hit a great tee shot and second shot and then you have to get over water to get to the green,” he said. “But if you do all those things then you will have a shot to be rewarded with a birdie.”
Of course, on any hole there’s also the wretched South Texas wind to face.

“You know how the wind is down here, No. 6 is a hole that plays into the wind a lot of the time

 because it faces south and that adds a lot of challenge to it,” he said. “A golf buddy told me once that wind doesn’t affect a well hit shot but one thing about wind is if you hit with a little slice or hook it makes it a big slice or hook, if you hit under it, it will make bigger what you’d done wrong. But 6 is also reachable if you have the wind behind you – and you hit a great tee shot.”

Engstrom is still waiting for his first hole-in-one (“there will be a big party when that happens”) but said that the “Valley needs to do more to get the word out about this place and about the Valley itself.”

“First of all, Stuart Place is the best kept golf course and best kept secret in the Valley,” he said. “It’s just like the Valley – the Valley is the best keep secret in the nation.”

Now, that is truly a hidden gem.

Favorite golf holes: Upper Valley hidden gems

For several years we have gotten Winter Texans’ input on the Valley top golf course and favorite holes at the golf courses in the Rio Grande Valley. This year we are starting a little early with our series that introduces some hidden gems at the more popular Valley golf courses.
 

Read more: Favorite golf holes: Upper Valley hidden gems

Favorite golf holes: Mid Valley hidden gems

For several years we have gotten Winter Texans’ input on the Valley top golf course and favorite holes at the golf courses in the Rio Grande Valley. This year we are starting a little early with our series that introduces some hidden gems at the more popular Valley golf courses.

We will be running a three-part series introducing these hidden gems in three categories – lower, middle and upper Valley. These hidden gems are recommended by the golf pros, or regulars, at the golf courses.

In turn, we would like to hear from you during the series. We will have a survey on our website, www.wintertexantimes.com, for you to vote on your favorite hole. We will be taking votes until November 13.
We will announce winners in an article on November 20. 

Hidden gems, diamonds in the rough, unexpected surprises — like finding an extra $20 that was forgotten in the pocket of a pair of pants — can have a profound positive effect on one’s day.

Similarly, golf courses have some hidden gems of their own. Sure, they have their “signature holes,” usually the most difficult, most scenic or most unique (most of the times all three) hole on the course.

But hidden away are those other holes that bring a smile to a golfer’s face (sometimes dread) but, just like a mystery writer who throws twists and turns throughout their novels, golf courses do the same. Three of the courses in the Mid-Valley that often appear on top of Winter Texans’ favorite places to play are no different.

TIERRA SANTA GOLF CLUB, WESLACO

This course is loaded with gems. Everyone knows about what many consider the favorite closing hole in the Valley, the long par-4 that leaves most golfers with a decision on how to approach with water across most of the front.

Go for it? Or be safe and hit left, where a chip to the green awaits.

But everyone remembers No. 18 at Tierra Santa. Still, other holes await.

No. 3 is a gem of a gem. The par-4 starts the golfer off with a split fairway. Go the direct route and you have to fly the left-side lake, which means carrying your drive 190 yards and straight. Go slightly right and you may end up in the right-side lake. There are big rewards hitting a perfect drive, setting up for a short or mid-range pitch and run to the hole on the large green.

For the golfer who goes right, there’s plenty of open fairway. Slice the drive, however, and there’s a long approach over water and, if the pins are on that side of the green, you better “stick it.”

“It can be a pretty tough hole – it’s definitely made for golfers to think about it,” said the pro shop’s Dylan Martinez, who said he would play the course often when he was on the golf team at Harlingen High. 

“It has rick and reward based on which way you go.”

VILLAGE EXECUTIVE GOLF COURSE, WESLACO

Walking into Village Executive Golf Course – which is about five miles from Tierra Santa, is like walking into the bar “Cheers,” instead of everybody knowing your name, it’s manager Marvie Torres who welcomes you in and knows you like family.

“Everyone considers this a mom and pop type place,” Torres said. “I know them all by name; I know what they like to drink and a lot about them.”

The mainly par-3 nine-hole course is a favorite among the Winter Texans “because it feels like home, it’s very comfortable. We’ve developed relationships, I have them on Facebook and we keep in touch.”

It’s also home to No. 9, the only par-3 that a hole-in-one hasn’t been recorded on. While it’s a straight shot – but with a crossing win usually, there seems to be a barrier around the finishing hole. Torres said that there’s a registry that goes back to the opening days of the golf course and taqueria (the official name is Village Executive Golf Course and Taqueria Del Golf).

“I don’t know why nobody has gotten a hole-in-one there,” Torres said. “Everybody likes No. 9. But they just haven’t (made a hole-in-one).”

Another gem is the fact that Estero Llano Grande State Park (part of the World Birding Center) is just across the road.

“A lot of golfers bring their cameras here because there’s a lot of nature on the course,” Torres said. “There are all sorts of beautiful birds that come to the course too.”

TONY BUTLER, HARLINGEN

This course is a jewel of golf history. That alone is a gem for golfers of all levels and experience.

The 27-hole municipal course doesn’t, however, just rest on its laurels.

David Arce, interim golf manager, said that No. 23 — a 348-yard par 4 — is a hole that isn’t very difficult, but it can be.

Most golfers are encouraged to lay up about 110 yards from the green where two ponds on each side of the fairway challenges golfers to “go for it.”

“The crazy ones like to think they can get it over,” Arce joked. “I guess potentially some of them can get across.”

For a bigger challenge, Arce said, go all the way back and tee off from the tips, where there’s a large ditch-like hazard that needs to be carried before attacking the rest of the sharp dogleg right.

“You can’t see the green from those tees,” Arce said. “If you hit too far right, you’re in an area with some natural terrain like mesquite and there’s a holding pond and a lot of native vegetation. It’s very brushy. On the other side we have more manicured trees. You can hit under and play through those.”

Click HERE to vote for your favorite golf hole.