Amarillo College Ranger

Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Kristie Kinser Chef Rory Schepisi, who has starred on two cable TV reality shows, prepares food in her Boot Hill Saloon and Grill in Vega.

Imagine traveling back to the mid 1800s, back to the Old West times, and walking through the swinging doors of a smoke-filled saloon.

As you walk in the door, you are greeted by pretty young women wearing silky burlesque dresses and huge Texas smiles as they show you to your table.

That's the feeling you get as you walk into the Boot Hill Saloon and Grill in Vega.

The restaurant is themed back in the Old West and decorated with velvety red furniture and ceiling-to-floor curtains, swinging doors at the entrance, a high, tin ceiling and a brass foot rail around the bar. It is complete with hitching posts for those who wish to tie their horses up before going in to dine.

The hostesses are dressed in old-style burlesque dresses that were worn in Old West days.

The restaurant offers comfortable seating in the dining room and saloon areas, and smoking is allowed in the saloon area.

Boot Hill's menu is served on cast-iron skillets or miniature washtub-like buckets, and the drinks are served out of mason jar mugs.

Each table features an old kerosene-type lamp, adding a little extra, rustic feeling for your dining pleasure.

In its first weeks, a limited menu is being served in the restaurant. Specialties include delicious steaks and burgers and the largest baby-back ribs in the area.

The list of appetizers includes Atascosa Nachos - a mountain of tortilla chips loaded with nacho cheese, grated cheese, salsa, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream and jalapeños; Chicken and Green Chile Wontons - a chicken and green chile filling inside a wonton, deep fried until perfectly golden and crisp; and a delicious onion soup topped with a golden crust.

The succulent, half-pound burgers, steaks and baby-back ribs served at Boot Hill are made from locally raised, 100 percent pure black Angus beef cooked to perfection and made to order. You can't go wrong with burgers named Billy the Kid, Jack Ryan, Hog Town or the XIT Ribeye Steak.

Let's not forget to add an order of sweet potato fries - yes, fried sweet potatoes; it just doesn't get any sweeter than that. The shoestring-cut sweet potatoes are deep-fried until crisp and topped with a dash of salt that gives you a wonderful mix of sweet and salty flavor - YUM-O! They are a perfect addition to any burger or great all by themselves.

A reasonably priced children's menu is offered, including a smaller version of the yummy hamburger, chicken strips, mac 'n' heese, nachos and cheese sticks. Each is served with fries and a drink.

Boot Hill's owner, Chef Rory Schepisi, isn't originally from the Texas Panhandle but came here a couple of years ago on the reality television show, Popularity Contest, featured on CMT, in which she placed second. More recently, Schepisi was a finalist on the Food Network Channel's The Next Food Network Star contest, where she also placed second.

Schepisi isn't done yet. She plans to expand her horizons and open a bistro in Amarillo, and who knows: maybe another reality show is in the works.

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