This week’s episode of Dining on a Dime takes host Lucas Peterson into a true Texas time warp: a dance hall, tavern, and restaurant that’s existed for over a hundred years. The destination, the Old Coupland Inn and Dance Hall, is about 30 miles outside Austin city limits in the tiny town of Coupland, Texas, population 298. The business, which also has a small hotel and restaurant, is in a building that was originally a drug store around the turn of the century. In 1910, a tavern was founded on the same property; the old bar and bar-back from the tavern is still used today.
In 1992, Barbara and Tim Worthy converted the property to a dance hall and, the following year, added a restaurant and bed & breakfast. Peterson chats with the Worthys before trying some of their home-cooked recipes, including brisket and a huge chicken-fried steak. After dinner, Peterson is taken next door into the dance hall by Barbara Worthy and given a dance lesson, Texas-style. To the strains of the visiting band, the Tejas Brothers, Worthy educates Peterson in the art of the two-step, giving meaning to the motto of the Old Coupland: "Just a Two Step Back in Time."
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