For nearly 20 years Dale Cockerell has grown Dale’s Essenhaus from a country bar to a restaurant and entertainment destination in Walburg, just northeast of Georgetown on FM 972.

Cockerell originally purchased the then bar, known as Joe’s Place, from Joe and Frances Lamer in 1997.

“It just kind of went in its own way and turned from a bar into a restaurant,” Cockerell said.

Cockerell said he wanted the businesses to be a place for families, and he changed the name to Dale’s Essenhaus, which means eating house in German.

Over time Cockerell added a biergarten and turned the property’s 100-year-old barn into a stage and dance floor. In 2002 the business added a 4,800-square-foot banquet hall to create a venue for events, including wedding receptions, parties and other private events.

On Fridays and Saturdays between April and October the biergarten hosts live music, Cockerell said. Guests can eat in the restaurant’s dining room or from the restaurant’s outdoor food counter and bar.

In May, Cockerell said he hopes to open the restaurant’s newest feature, a wedding garden with a water feature.

“We’ve had a lot of wedding receptions here, but we’ve had very few weddings,” he said. “We really didn’t have a place for a wedding, except for in the hall. … [The garden] is going to be very unique.”

The restaurant’s menu features home cooking “like grandma used to make,” Cockerell said, adding that he has a hard time naming his favorite dish.

“The No. 1 thing I take pride in is our food,” he said. “We make sure we have good-quality, fresh food.”

The restaurant grinds its own hamburger meat and started making its own sausage—in regular and jalapeno cheddar varieties—in 2015. The restaurant also features all fresh-made vegetables and sides, Cockerell said.

Bonnie Warwick, who has worked in the restaurant for the past six years and became the restaurant’s co-owner in January 2015, said the restaurant’s variety of hamburgers, known as Walburgers, are a customer favorite. However, she recommends guests try the fried catfish, smoked sauerkraut and schnitzel.

The most popular burger, she said, is the Black Jack Burger ($7.99), which is a hamburger patty cooked in blackened seasoning and served with grilled fresh jalapenos and pepper jack cheese as well as mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and grilled onions.

The restaurant also started offering breakfast on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 7:30 a.m.