Grapevine Twice-Baked Potato
Grapevine Twice-Baked Potato
One of the college restaurants in College Station where you wanted to take a girlfriend was The Grapevine. It was definitely a chick joint that served simple sandwiches, salads and sangria. But the star of the show was their twice baked potato. Theirs didn’t include cheddar cheese or sharp tasting cheeses but instead some variation of smooth and creamy cheeses. It had little bits of bacon scattered throughout. They served one half of their potato with a sandwich or salad.
The other day The Grapevine came up in conversation and it got me thinking about that baked potato. I knew one of the cheeses might be swiss and the other a muenster or gouda. I went with muenster this go round and it turned out really delicious and certainly a nod to The Grapevine twice baked potato.
For my simple sandwich I picked ham with Duke’s Mayo and a little white horseradish cheddar on a thin delicate white bread. Small little sandwiches like this remind me of a picnic, school lunch or even grandma. You can just imagine it wrapped in wax paper. A perfect little sandwich.
Ingredients
2 Potatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
Homemade bacon bits
1 oz Swiss cheese
2 oz Munster
Directions:
1. Wash the potatoes and poke them with an ice pick. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cover the potatoes with olive oil and then salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for about 40-50 minutes until they are tender. Do not cover these with foil.
2. I went ahead and put the bacon also in the same oven to roast until crispy. Typically I like to do this at 300 degrees but wanted to take advantage of the oven while it was on.
3. When the potatoes are tender. Remove and let them rest until you can handle them. Scoop out the inside of the potato and mix it with the rest of your ingredients until well combined. Spoon them back into the potato shells and top with cheese and put them back into the oven (turned down to 350 degrees) and cook until the cheese is melted.
My roommate at A&M worked at the Grapevine. She would never share the recipe, and maybe didn’t know the whole thing, but she said it had munster & provolone cheeses. I’m going to try that with your recipe. They were so good! Thanks for posting your re-creation.
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Thanks for the tip. I will try it with muenster and provolone and compare the two. Sure loved the Grapevine and hated to see it shutter it’s doors.
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I worked at The Grapevine while an undergrad at A&M. I made many twice-baked potatoes. The cheeses were muenster, provolone, cheddar and swiss… as far as I remember.
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Thanks for the input. I liked that place and was sad to see it go.
Regards,
Jason
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I worked at The Grapevine for four years while attending A&M and surely made thousands of TBPs! We only used two cheeses, Swiss and Muenster. We would put the Muenster in the freezer for about 30 minutes before putting it in the large chopper we used to dice it up. It’s too soft of a cheese otherwise and would stick to the blades. Swiss is a harder cheese, so it was no problem right out of the fridge.
I still make these potatoes at holidays although I no longer go to the trouble to scoop and refill the skins. I use all of the same ingredients but call it a loaded mash casserole. That also works best when you don’t know how many people to expect.
If you are still filling the skins, it’s best to use a convection oven as it circulated air and makes the skin crispier than a traditional oven.
Such fond memories of that place! I also make the quiche recipe I learned there along with a few other items.
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Thanks for the insights. Miss the ole Grapevine
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I loved the sangria. Can you share the recipe if you know it please. Thank you.
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