Mustard on That?

Galveston locals have been torturing tourists at this fabulous old hangout for the last 60 years

Comments (0) By Robb Walsh Thursday, Aug 31 2006

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Bebout, who had become understandably skeptical about anything a Puccetti told him, thought Junior was putting us on about the olives. But Junior told us to drive over to the corner of 17th Street and Avenue K after lunch. The house on the southwest corner has six olive trees in the yard, and the olives are just now turning black, he said.

Junior grinds his own meat because that's the way Mama Theresa did it. All the talk about his grinding his own beef made me want to come back and sample chili con carne and the retro classic called Tex-Mex pasta, spaghetti topped with chili, cheese and jalapeños. That's a throwback to the spaghetti mexicano found in old Tex-Mex joints like Felix at Westheimer and Montrose or Larry's Original Mexican Restaurant on 90-A in Richmond.

Troy Fields

The spaghetti sauce is made with plenty of olive oil and freshly ground meat.

Location Info

Map

Sonny's Place

1206 19th St.
Galveston, TX 77550

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Galveston

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Details

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Mama Theresa's spaghetti and meat sauce: $9.99
Mama Theresa's spaghetti and meat sauce (1/2 order): $7.99
Double meat cheeseburger: $4.35
Muffuletta: $10.50
Half-muffuletta: $6.50
Gumbo (bowl): $5.75
Gumbo (cup): $3.95
Tex-Mex pasta: $10.99
Tex-Mex pasta (1/2 order): $8.99

1206 19th Street, Galveston, 409-763-9602.

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I'm still looking forward to trying the gumbo, which is served only on Fridays. You get your choice of shrimp, crawfish or mixed, and young Larry thinks it's the best thing they serve.

The other outstanding item I did sample at Sonny's was something the menu described as a shrimp bun. A toasted hamburger bun is covered with three or four hot, juicy jumbo fried shrimp that have been butterflied and spread out to cover the bread. The bun is then spread with a lot of homemade tartar sauce that's deliciously heavy on the pickle relish. It comes naked or dressed (I got dressed). Which means topped with onions, lettuce and tomato. The hot dressed shrimp bun may be the best thing I tasted at Sonny's Place.

There were four women paying their bill at the cash register right next to us as we finished our lunch and got ready to leave. "Those are beautiful sunglasses. Can I take a look at those?" Bebout asked, extending his right hand toward one of the women standing a few feet away from our table.

"I know all about the mustard," she said to Bebout, who had his left hand on the yellow plastic squeeze bottle. "You should have tried it on her," she said, pointing to one of the other women. "She's new here, too."