December 12, 2015 - Bread Winners, Plano

Bread Winners - Yelp

Vickey: I woke up late - we did not make it to breakfast until 9:30.  Our choice this morning was the suggestion from a co-worker.  It was a place Christine and I were not familiar with and we thought it was a good choice to mix things up.  When I called Christine to let her know I was going to be late we decided to meet a bit later.  Christine has noticed on their website that they took reservations, and knowing how busy some place get after 9:00 am she thought it might be a good idea to see if we could get a reservation.  NOT!

The website kept telling her there was a 2 1/2 hour wait.  She decided to call and confirm the wait time. When the hostess answered the phone she stated they don't take reservation on the weekend??  So why does it say they do the on the website??

I happened to arrive first and was informed that they would not seat a party until everyone has arrived.  I was the only person in line, there were 15 empty tables that I could see and it is 9:30 in the morning.  This is breakfast - not a 5 star dinner place.

Christine arrives and we are taken deep into the back of the place in another room, passing empty table after empty table.  I did take a shower before coming?  Once seated it took forever to get anyone to acknowledge we were there and bring us coffee and water.  I guess we have become spoiled by the simple mom and pop joints where they value your business and treat you that way.

Once we did get a waitress, I will say she was very attentive.  She brought us a tray of wonderful breads to taste and munch on before our meal arrived.  She kept our coffee cups filled and checked in regularly to make sure we were OK.

Christine gave me a Christmas gift today.  I now have a dashboard Christmas Tree.  It plugs into my USB, lights up and changes colors.

Christine: Vickey was waiting in the entry way, as I soon learned they would not seat an incomplete party regardless of the many empty tables that were available. But we were undaunted as this restaurant received rave reviews and our expectations were high. We sat at our empty table chatting, wondering when coffee would be served. In a blink of an eye, our waitress tossed the menus on the table and was gone before we could even see her face. Still no coffee.  The breakfast menu was extensive and I decided on the Eggs Benedict. Our waitress appears and takes our order.
Finally our coffee arrives along with a platter of
fresh baked breakfast breads.

Everything was delicious! With our checks come a survey form which I intend to complete. Our waitress takes our money and checks along with our blank survey cards. I am determined to give my feedback. As soon as I get home, I got on their website and contacted the manager to explain our torture and poor timing waiting for coffee in a breakfast restaurant. She responded in a very timely fashion, and now we can go back for our free dinner.      

November 28, 2015 - The Cracker Barrel in Lewisville

Cracker Barrel - Yelp

Christine: One of the best features of the Cracker Barrel is their incredible gift shop that you have to meander through to get to the restaurant.

Walking in on Saturday was like traveling through a Christmas village. The gift shop was full with Christmas ornaments, decorated trees, scented candles, and the best of all, a mountainous display of stocking stuffers. Several people with baskets in hand were shopping among the many displays of unique items. I had to wonder if they made a trip here just to shop, or did they come in for breakfast and got the impulse. Vickey and I visited the wall of lotions and sampled a scented hand lotion from the tester.

We made our way to the dining room which was the usual busy on a Saturday morning. The server was there immediately to pour our coffee. Their service was outstanding. I ordered the Smokehouse Breakfast with two eggs sunny side up, grits with Sawmill Gravy, homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, with real butter and preserves, and thick-sliced bacon. 

I think any restaurant that gives you grits AND biscuits gets special credit because I couldn’t decide if I had to choose one or the other.  Vickey and I talked about what we each did over Thanksgiving and what foods we ate. When we left, I showed Vickey my new car parked in my favorite end spot, and we headed off to the explore the nearby quilt store in Lewisville.

October 31, 2015 - Mama's and Daughters Diner, Carrollton

Vickey:  It is Halloween, grey, misty, and kind of cold.  Not very good weather for the kiddos to go Trick-or-treating.

Mama's Daughter Diner - Yelp

Christine and I have this amazing ability to arrive just before the crowd, and because we are so slow eating and talking the crowd is usually gone before we are ready to leave also.  Today was fun because all the the staff were dressed in costumes.  We had a clown, Wonder Woman, a bumble bee, princess, ladybug and lots of other things.  And once again we got the best waitress in the place.  She kept brought us coffee very quickly and kept coming by to fill our cups.

There are several different Mom's and Daughter Restaurants around the area, and this particular location used to be Chuck's Burger House.  It is decorated in red, white and blue and just has a fun atmosphere.

Left over bacon.

Breakfast was great, and they gave me Lots of Bacon.  I am not complaining - it was good.


Christine: Halloween day was a very fun time to come to this restaurant. It was bustling and all the wait staff went all out in elaborate Halloween costumes. Our waitress was excellent though I wondered why the chef was so attentive to a nearby table until I realized that too was a costume!  Portions were hearty and the food was delicious down home cooking at it's finest.

October 17, 2015 - The Dream Cafe in Addison

Dream Café - Yelp

Christine: This seems to be the hip spot to eat on Saturday in Addison at the Village on the Parkway. We ate on the outside patio shaded by large stately trees and watched expensive cars drive through the parking, often too fast and too loud, but they did get our attention. I guess that was the idea!
The dog friendly atmosphere of the outside patio brought interesting small furry bundles to breakfast, one nearby barked at anyone who came within three feet of their table, another spoiled creature shared her owner’s food right off the plate.

This was a belated birthday celebration for Vickey, and our waitress decided to surprise us by switching our meals which Vickey suspected in the beginning, but I had already eaten some of mine and decided it seemed like what I ordered. We were finally able to get the waiters attention and confirmed that our omelets had been switched. Unfortunately, by then, they were half eaten and couldn’t be corrected. Another table sent their breakfast back for an incorrect order. There must have been somebody new in the kitchen delivering the orders.

Christine's Breakfast - Guess which one!

Vickey said she enjoyed my omelet immensely, and I complimented her on her choice of omelet which I enjoyed as well. Coffee flowed freely and the service was good, except when you needed to ask someone what you were eating. Now we need to go back to experience their famous “Cloud Pancakes”, but we will be on alert next time for the "ole switcheroo"! Great place to eat on a beautiful fall morning in Dallas.

Vickey:  What a fun little place with lots of atmosphere.  We wanted to sit outside, and the air was just crisp enough that you needed to wear a sweater and it sure felt like fall.  I was entertained just people watching. 

Christine and I have found that 9:00 am is a good time to meet for breakfast.  We find we have missed the real hard core "Get up and go to breakfast at 7 am folks," and the "I want to sleep in Saturday morning" crowd is not up and about yet.  We get to watch them all arrive, and a lot of times watch them stand in line.


Popover with strawberry butter, yumm

There were lots of good things on the menu.  I don't remember ever having a popover so that was an appetizer must. Yeah, you don't usually do appetizers for breakfast, but sometimes you have to break the rules.  So popovers with strawberry jam it was.

As Christine mentioned I kept looking at the stuff in my omelet.  At one point I even asked her,  "Does this look like sausage top you, and where did all of my mushrooms and spinach go?"   There were a couple guys a table next to us and one of the ordered the Cloud Pancakes.  That is a must try for next time.  The guy he was with ordered French Toast - I figured it would be tough to mix those two up, but I would have been happy to taste test those pancakes to make sure.

 

August 22, 2015 - Norma's

Vickey: Christine is doing a great job of researching and finding places for us to eat.  This week we were on a real adventure.   I am in my car driving there when my phone rings and Christine tells me there is no resturant at the address where we are going.  It was some car or tire repair place.

Find another Normas  right off the toll road and frankfort.



Very interesting decor....   Waitress was very attentive...   Biscuits were a little dry for me






Christine: After wandering around this industrial area which was supposed to be the location for Norma's in Carrollton, I called Vickey, then headed off to the real location where she was already waiting.  Don't always trust the WWW!

Our waitress was great and we had coffee immediately, as well as our menus. When we each decided we would order the biscuits and gravy with our meals, she suggested we order a platter which we could split and would give us more of everything than if we ordered it individually. You do not want to run out of gravy and we did not! Great service and great home cooking in a funky, hip atmosphere.

August 21, 2015 Dinner and Theater

Vickey:  I had written a post about a Friday night out.  Christine and I went to This Star for dinner and then the Firehouse Theater  to see a play.  Somehow this post has gone MIA.  

Here are the pictures to enjoy until I can get back in here and re-write my post.

 

 

 

 

August 8, 2015 - Cindi's in Addision

Cindi's Deli - Yelp

Vickey: I got there first and the guy let me sit at a table right at the door.  I really like the feel of the place. I never felt rushed or pressured to hurry and leave.  Casual and warm atmosphere.

One thing I remember - BEST Coffee Ever!!  It was fresh and hot and they brought a carafe and left it on the table so you could fill your cup any time you wanted.  There was also a basket overflowing with cream and sugar at each table.

Cindi's NY Deli, Restaurant & Bakery has a very divers menu, and it is gong to take many trips back in order to try everything I want to try.  It is surprising when you learn that this restaurant is owned by a dainty Vietnamese who came to America in the 70's with her husband and 19 day old baby. She said she never learned to cook in Vietnam and her first lessons in the kitchen came from the cook who worked with her. Chicken-fried steak and other Southern cooked specialties were the beginnings of her culinary career.

The food is wonderful, I had had a hard time choosing between German pancakes and and omelet.  The pancakes won.  It was the best breakfast I had all day.

When you leave they have a large pastry counter where everything look so GOOD.  If we had not bee so full we would have been tempted.


Christine: How can you go wrong with a New York Deli named Cindi's, run by a Vietnamese family! I have to agree that was the best coffee. It was not bitter or harsh - don't know their secret, but it was so smooth. The menu had everything you could imagine for breakfast in the deep south or in New York City. The lunch and dinner menu was exhaustive - from fish to beef from Italian to American. I had a traditional American breakfast and everything was cooked to perfection. The atmosphere was relaxing and quiet, even though the place was extremely busy.   

 

July 18, 2015 - Benedict's

Vickey: 

Benedict's - Yelp

Christine's sister Barbie was in town and joined us for breakfast.  It was great to meet her and her stories of their growing up.

July 4, 2015 Le Peep

Le Peep - Yelp

Vickey: You know those coupons where they come around and put them on your front door.  They are about 36" long and have special deals for businesses in your area, well one night as I was looking through the latest offerings that had been left when I noticed a coupon for Le Peep.  I did not know they had a Le Peep in  my general neighborhood.  I have eaten at this restaurant several times in other states, and told Christine we needed to go try it to see if it was the same franchise - plus we had a coupon.

It was not hard to find and almost on a quite residential corner.   It was the 4th of July weekend and the day was so nice, sunny and we had a beautiful blue sky.  There was some sort of bike race going on with police controlling the intersections for the riders, and me having to wait for them to all go by before I could turn in the parking lot.  Once in the parking lot it appeared as if Sport Car Nation was holding a rally.  Christine and I sat at our table watching cars pull in, drivers meeting and talking then coming in for breakfast.  At one point there were six or seven Lamborghini's, a couple corvette's, a Porsche's and who knows what else.  We were going to go out and touch them and take pictures but unfortunately several left before we got out there.  Yes, Christine and I have a tendency to visit and talk for a long time at breakfast.

Christine had been on a church retreat and we spent time talking about her trip, the speaker and all she insight she gathered.  Her pictures of the place were beautiful.

As for Le Peep, I know it is the same chain because I recognize the logo, but as we talked to the waitress we found out all locations are local and franchised. The inside was friendly and so were the people.   My breakfast was good, and they had very good coffee.  More important they brought a carafe to the table and you could drink as much as you wanted with out waiting for someone to come refill.  

June 13, 2015 - Poor Richard's Cafe

Poor Richard's Cafe' Yelp

Vickey: "I got stuffed at Poor Richards"  that is what is printed on the t-shirt that each of the waitresses wear at Poor Richards.  Boy is it a true statement.  I had so much food I could not eat it all.

There is usually a line at Poor Richards, and there is a sign on the door that says something like, "From this point the wait in line is less than 15 minutes."  We got right in, no problems and no wait.

It had been a while since I had been to Poor Richards and I had forgotten how extensive their menu was. It takes a while to read the whole thing, and sprinkled through out are quotes and sayings from Ben.  Food was ordered, coffee and cream were delivered, and Christine and I got down to business of catching up. It had been a couple weeks since we were both in town and free so there was a lot to talk about and catch up on.

Christine is always the one to take a picture of her food, but today I wish I had.  As their menu says they have EGGCEPTIONAL BREAKFASTS and OUTSTANDING OMELETTES.  I had Poor Richard's Eggs with a pecan pancake.  Yumm!

As I stated earlier - there was so much food I could not eat it all.  After breakfast I was headed to a sewing class for the rest of the day and never thought about lunch or a snack.

Christine: Poor Richards had outstanding reviews so this was a must visit breakfast spot. My GPS routed me the wrong direction and I ended up in a car repair neighborhood, but headed off in the other direction and there it was. 

The place was crowded and the line continued to grow after we got seated. It was so busy in fact, you feel a little guilty lingering over coffee as patrons eye your mostly empty table. I had the Texas French Toast Breakfast with eggs and bacon. The portions were very generous and the food definitely home cooking at it's best.

May 23, 2015 - Pete's Cafe

Vickey: Today starts Memorial Day weekend.  The true meaning of this weekend often gets lost amidst the excitement over a three day weekend.  This year I am reminded of the great sacrifices that the men and women of the Armed Services make to defend our way of life.  In the words of Lee Greenwood, " I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, and gave that right to me.”

Pete's Café - Yelp

I was sure we were going to have to wait to be seated at Pete's Café  this morning.  When I arrived there was no place to park.  I drove around the place once and as I made the second loop I found a spot all the way in the back.  It was raining so I wasted no time getting to the front door and inside. Lucky for me there was one table and I did not even have to wait.

Unfortunately Christine's commute was not as easy as mine.  She called right at nine to let me know the freeway had been shutdown and she was trying to get off and find another way.  The staff at Pete's were great.  They knew I was waiting for someone and even though they had people waiting for tables at times, they never once made me feel bad about sitting and waiting for Christine.  They kept my coffee warm and checked in regularly. 

Breakfast was wonderful and I can understand why they get good reviews.  I don't know for sure but it looked like they peeled and chopped up their own potatoes for the hash browns.  They added onions and boy were they good. Looking around the room there was no food left on any of the plates going back to be washed.

Christine and I were going to look at the Origami Owl necklaces my niece gave me, but did not feel like we should tie up a table when the line of people was out the door. Instead we drove next door to Target and sat at a table in the little café area inside the store.  For an hour or more we played with all the charms that go with my necklaces and visited.  Not a bad way to start Memorial Day Weekend.


Christine:  The weather was against me on what should have been a 20 minute trip to meet Vickey for breakfast. Deciding I-35 would be fastest despite the heavy rain,  I jumped on the Freeway. I was barely to the next exit when traffic came to a standstill. I was unable to get off for another 20 minutes. Torrential downpours made the side streets slow, and the flooding made only the center lane useable.

The restaurant was busy and continued to gather a crowd throughout our breakfast. We both ordered Pete’s special which was like two breakfasts in one – bacon, and eggs and hash browns and pancakes on the side. The hash browns included thin slices of onion that were so fresh it was if someone in the back had just peeled the potatoes, cut up the onions, and fried them up just for our orders. The pancakes were fluffy with a hint of maybe lemon, but something very fresh and tasty.

Service was great with no rushing us for keeping their table so long, since Vickey had a nurse her coffee while she waited for me to finally arrive.  The rain continued as we left. A tow truck was pulling a car out of the muddy overflow parking in the vacant lot next door. Vickey and I freed up our table and left to meet at a coffee shop nearby to talk a bit more and peruse Vickey’s new Origami Owl charms.

May 2, 2015 - Mama's Daughters' Diner

Mamma's Daughters' Diner - Yelp

Vickey:  I feel like I have been relocated to Seattle and someone forgot to tell me.  It is raining - Again! 

What a wonderful little place we went to for breakfast this morning.  There was a handwritten sign on the door that said, " Now serving fruit plates."  Once you stepped through the door you were taken to another world with the smells, sights and the sounds of an old fashioned diner and I am sure no one was ordering fruit plates.

We were quickly seated and had mugs, not cups, mugs of coffee.  I wish I had taken a picture of one. Our busboy was so attentive and we never ran out of coffee in the mugs. I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits and gravy.   It was wonderful, but I could not eat all of it.

A lot of our conversation at breakfast this morning was concerning me trying to move my office to another room in the house. I want to find an old desk I can use in the new room, and don't want to spend a whole lot of money on it.  After breakfast Christine and I went to consignment and thrift stores to see what we could find.  No luck today - I did not find anything I couldn't live without.

Next stop - WinCo, the new grocery store in town and it is employee owned.  It was nice, big, clean - and very good prices.  I was pleased and would come back. 

It is still raining, why do I even try to do anything with my hair?


Christine:  This restaurant should be the mold for the old-fashioned, down home, local diner. Even though it is located in an ordinary strip mall, when you walk inside you feel you are in an old restaurant in rural Texas. 

We got a booth and were served our coffee right away. Breakfast fare was the standard, bacon and eggs and grits or biscuits and gravy. Everything was delicious and our waitress was great. Their lunch/dinner menu looked tasty too, featuring chicken fried steak, meat loaf and mashed potatoes, and the like. It was all made from scratch and everything tasted fresh. 

This Saturday it was again raining and we ran for our cars to meet up at the nearby new WinCo grocery store that was having their grand opening. We bought a few things – they only accept cash or debit cards. The store employees were all super friendly, and as we left we were each handed a pumpkin pie in honor of Mother’s Day. Though neither of us are mothers, we didn’t decline the offer; some things are just better left unsaid.

April 21, 2015 Visiting the Bluebonnet Trails of Ennis

Vickey:  When you take a day off work to go see the Bluebonnets one of the last things you want is for it to be raining when you get up.  It was, but the the guys on TV kept saying the storm was fast moving and would be gone by the afternoon.

With fingers crossed we headed out, and what a beautiful day it turned out to be!

By the time we reached the Ennis Visitors and Convention Bureau the sky was blue and even though it was a bit humid the temperature was just about perfect.  They gave us a map with all the trails marked, and after gathering all the brochures we could carry it was time to find a place for lunch.
 

Firehouse Grill - Yelp

You can't go wrong if you eat at The Firehouse Grill in Ennis.
  1. Atmosphere - Check
  2. Friendly & Efficient Staff - Check
  3. Great Food - Double Check

I would put their burger and sweet potato fries up against anything I have had in a long time. But the Bluebonnets were calling our names and there were pictures to be taken.

I am really trying to learn how to take better pictures, and today I was thinking about compensation, and depth of field and all sorts of other stuff. I wish I had just taken tons of pictures.  I am used to shooting real film and it is different with a digital SLR.  It is a mental shift because you can just shoot and shoot and shoot, then delete what did not work.  I think the more I take and the more experiment the better I am going to get.

One of the things listed on our map was the Sugar Ridge Winery  and as we were driving along the ridge there it was.  Christine and I decided to stop to check things out and stayed for wine tasting.  It was such a pretty day and we sat out on their patio sipping wine, enjoying the scenery and good conversation.



Our other big adventure was assuming that the Kolache Depot Bakery was actually a Bakery with bakery hours.  Imagine my surprise when I called and  asked how early they closed and they told me, "We are open 24 hours!"  They were in a gas station.  At the end of the day we stopped and I brought home Kolaches for breakfast the next day.  They did not taste like they were baked in a gas station!  Very good and they had a large variety.



Here are a few of my pictures I will share - enjoy!

   

 

Christine: Vickey and I had planned for some time to take the Blue Bonnet Trail, but were waiting for a clear day for photography in this unusually rainy spring. We picked the following Tuesday though every day had been rainy, and the forecast predicted overcast skies with a chance of showers for Tuesday. As we left Dallas, it started to pour, but we continued on the knowledge that Texas weather is unpredictable, and we did not know how the weather would be 60 miles south. As we continued I-45 south, we drove into sunshine which followed us most of the day. The downtown tourist center was busy with a busload of retirees receiving orientation for their daytrip. We were given a large map of the Bluebonnet Trail complete with graphics designating photo opportunities for “longhorns”, “field of bluebonnets with Indian Paint”,   “red barn”, “Texas fence” and more.   

As Vickey and I started the trail, we were surprised at the lack of Bluebonnets during this peak viewing week. Everything was green and lush, but not blue. How could this be? Finally we came across a dilapidated old wooden house with bluebonnets covering the front yard, and there we had our first classic Bluebonnet picture.

An extra fun stop was to photograph longhorns in a pasture down a road we had not even intended to take. As we were at the fence trying to coax them to look at us, a tattooed young man came out of the house next door to ask if we would like him to bring them up closer for a picture.

We had not expected such attention and he jumped in to shoo them in our direction. He boasted that the largest of these longhorns put him through college with its stud fees. His wife came out to join us with their little girl Nicole, and we had a fun time hearing about the area and getting a recommendation for the best restaurant in the area which was the Bristol General Store, a sushi restaurant. So much for the cowboy stereotype. As we learned, the rainy spring brought out the Bluebonnets, but the cloudy days encouraged the grass to grow more than the flowers, so the Bluebonnets were not as showy this year. I got a couple of good pictures, but have much to learn about lighting and about the finer settings of my camera.

More pictures.

            

 

             

 

April 18, 2015 - The Original Pancake House

The Original Pancake House - Yelp

Vickey:  Today we ate at a favorite of one of our co-workers.  Carol and her husband have been eating at "The Original" for a very long time and Christine and I felt very honored to have them join us for breakfast this morning. So that we would meet their "all time favorite staff" we were given specific instructions of who to ask for and where to sit when we got there.

Before we knew it coffee appeared at the table, and it was good and HOT! 

Christine and I had to take a little time to look over the menu and decide what to order.  For Carol and Jerry their whole ordering process was completed with a couple nods and hand gestures. The waitress understood exactly what they wanted.

This place seems to be a local haunt where people come and gather and visit on Saturday mornings. As we waited for breakfast to arrive friends of Carol and Jerry came in and we had the opportunity the meet them and visit. 

Wonderful breakfast conversation.  Jerry asked how I got from Oregon all the way to Texas and how Christine made it from Ohio to Texas.  In turn Carol and Jerry recounted their life journeys.

Yes, we did have breakfast.  I ended up ordering Sourdough French Toast!  It was as good as you would expect it to be.

Christine: Following Carol’s instructions, I asked for a table in Robert or Lachanta’s section, where Carol advised we would be "treated well.” Vickey arrived shortly, followed by Carol and Jerry. The chalk board on the sidewalk announced Today’s Special, Apple Dutch Baby Pancake and I knew this was what I would be ordering. Since this was Carol and Jerry’s regular Saturday breakfast, they were greeted by many friends and neighbors who also included this spot in their Saturday ritual.
 
My Apple Dutch Baby Pancake arrived inflated and aromatic, covering the entire breakfast platter. 

 

I whipped out my camera to snap a picture as the perfectly timed creation was quickly beginning to deflate. The photo caught it sinking and did not do justice to the glistening caramelized apples that melted in my mouth.  Fun conversation catching up with old friends.