Angel's Icehouse

"We were almost too early to the party," Blumer said. "But there has been about a 500 percent population growth [in the area]over the past few years."

Shulman said the restaurant has a number of regulars, and with them come some unbelievable stories.

"The Angel's sign we have out front is the original 1950s red porcelain neon sign from Pasadena, Texas, owned previously by the Angel family," she said. "One morning after we opened I had a truck driver stop and ask about the sign. I told him it was the original sign from Pasadena, and he said he had been eating at that Pasadena restaurant as a little boy when he began to choke and was saved by a little girl. When he first saw our sign it jogged his memory, and he told his wife that story only to find out his wife was the little girl that saved him."

Restaurant manager Trenton Radicke said Angel's is full of those kinds of stories because of its focus on customer service and creating a family atmosphere.

"The family environment is paramount," he said. "It is really neat to see people become family, and that is how you grow a business."

Radicke said that because of the popularity and limitations on seating, it is not uncommon to see strangers have dinner family-style just to have a place to sit.

"Everyone is welcome, and we try to accommodate everyone," he said.

The restaurant serves a variety of foods such as Angus burgers ($9.49) and Chicken Fried Steak ($11.99).

One step the restaurant is taking to accommodate its clientele is by adding a wine menu along with switching from a four-beer tap to a 15-beer tap including local craft beers.

"That is our big winter project," Blumer said.

She said the wines are available now, and the new beers are planned to be available in February.

The restaurant also includes outdoor seating in the front, referred to as the "welcoming committee," as well as in the back plus an outdoor dance floor and stage, playground, games and is pet-friendly.

Shulman and Blumer said they do not have any plans to expand or open a second location but are not opposed to the idea.

"It'll happen if it's supposed to happen," Blumer said.

Wall of Willie

A few years after opening, co-owners Sara Shulman and Mary Blumer realized they were one of the only restaurants in the Spicewood area that Willie Nelson had yet to visit.

"When we realized that, we thought we would do something about it," Shulman said.

The restaurant had T-shirts printed to tempt the country music star to come to the restaurant, only to see Nelson himself holding the T-shirt up at different locations.

The count nearly reached 1,300 days before Nelson stopped by Angel's on a stormy Tuesday night, had dinner, visited with the staff and took pictures with everyone at the restaurant, Blumer said.

Angel's Icehouse, 21815 W. Hwy. 71, Spicewood, 512-264-3777, www.angelsicehouse.com