BACON BACON BACON BACON

What is the greatest meat in the world?

Sadly no it is not the rainbow flavored joy that comes in these cans, but rather the delicious concoction known as bacon.  The delicious cut of pork belly that has been flavored in some method goes great on just about everything and seems to find a place at every meal.  It is so good there is even an entire restaurant dedicated to it on the west side of Austin's downtown at 10th and Lamar.  Behold the beauty that is Bacon...

Even the door handles here are a homage to the magical meat...

Once you get past the overwhelming bacon theme (note I only provided a small sampling of the cult like decor ), you are forced to stare down an amazing breakfast menu featuring you guessed it, so let us dig in my friends.

First off, this place makes their own bacon, and yes that means it is amazing.  As you can see this day they had two choices of hickory or citrus BBQ so naturally we had to get a plate of both.

The hickory was rich and flavorful, but the star was the citrus BBQ, quite possibly some of the best bacon I have ever tasted in my life.  So good it even has me considering trying to make my own bacon some day just to replicate this flavor.

The favorite dish at the table was the Broken Yolk BLT, your standard BLT set up with a fried egg, between the amazing hickory bacon and the rich flavors of the egg this sandwich was awesome to say the least.

This was the special for the day, the Croque Madame, which was basically an open faced BLT topped with a fried egg, and smothered in a bechamel sauce.  This was not the best dish, basically should have stuck with something different but once again with this awesome of bacon it is hard to make a bad dish.

Behold, the chicken & bacon waffles, yes those are thick waffles with pieces of bacon inside of the rich batter.  Of course it only makes sense to top it off with a piece of battered chicken breast.  Sure it sounds completely crazy, but it is awesome, and once again I am sure it is healthy.

The icing on this awesome cake made of bacon is the soda fountain, housed with old fashioned sodas like Big Red, Dublin Dr Pepper, and Maine Root sodas that are quite frankly amazing.

Basically, if you love bacon you need to get to Bacon, it really could not be much simpler than that.

They Can't All Be Winners

So I generally try to only cover places that I enjoy.  I mean why would I want to put out all of the effort to write a blog on something that I did not even enjoy eating?  Then again there are days where I have to prove that quite frankly I do not enjoy everything, and some places are just that bad that I should probably issue a warning.

I had one of these experiences at Frank's Grill (1915 Mangum in Houston), I stumbled on this place while looking for a bank and a greasy spoon to fill my stomach.  The parking lot was full so naturally I figured that it must be a decent place, boy was I wrong.

I decided to go with the Southern greasy spoon staple of biscuits and gravy.  I mean really, it cannot get much simpler than some good old B&G but evidently not.  While the biscuit was decent I have no clue what that stuff on top of it is.  I mean I have seen white gravy but usually it at least has a few specks of pepper in it or something and instead this was simply a gelatinous blob ruining a perfectly good biscuit.  Strike 1.

After seeing the giant pile of hash browns cooking up on the flat top I at least had a little higher hope for my sides.  The eggs were once again flavorless, but then again eggs really are not rocket science.  The hash browns however did have some unique flavor to them, I am 90% certain that they season their hash browns with some for of cleaning product, they certainly tasted pine tree fresh... Strike 2.

I decided I did not even need a strike three to write Frank's off and there you have it... One place this guy will never be grubbing at ever again. Boom.

Chillax

It is no secret that I have an ongoing love affair with Mexican breakfast cuisine.  In my previous post Lost In Translation, I hinted briefly at one of my favorites here in Houston known as Jarro Cafe.  I first became aware of this little gem from an article in Texas Monthly suggesting the 50 best Mexican restaurants in the state.  Jarro may be known for its tacos which you might find in the trailer out front...

 and crazy salsa tray but I have fallen in love with this brightly colored joint for other reasons.

This is the home of not only numerous homages to the Beatles and a good selection of classic rock, but an amazing breakfast known as Aja Baraja.  The Aja Baraja is a version of my favorite breakfast chilaquiles, fried tortillas soaked in salsa, on steroids.  The plate comes loaded with chilaquiles covered in Mexican cheese, two eggs, and a thin strip of fajita meat.

The flavor is intense to say the least, a green tomatillo salsa with some kick to it really just ties the entire dish together and has me coming back as often as I can.

Austin Meets Houston

The Creek Group family of restaurants must be doing something right, as the 4 of them always seem to have a crowd clambering for some good grub or a good drink.  Their restaurants all bear a name of waterways in the Austin area, as well as a theme focusing on the quirky city.  I was a big fan of Cedar Creek until they got rid of the outdoor fire pits and replaced them with fountains.

I found forgiveness in my heart though and decided to patronize one of their other restaurants, Canyon Creek, located on Westcott near Memorial Park. 

As you can see, the art work on the exterior of the building celebrates life around Austin, with the floaters, musicians, and even some annoying UT fans. 

The interior is no different, an eclectic mix of decorations, and yes even some annoying UT duct tape.  I don’t know if you are catching a theme here, but as a Kansas State fan I have the right to pick on those Longhorns (sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I am still riding high from my Cats beating the Horns yet again this Saturday... BOOM!).

Now on to the more important aspects of Canyon Creek, the grub.  The theme of this breakfast outing was omelets, I rocked the chorizo omelet and my mom ate the spinach omelet. 

The spinach as thick and hearty, almost too much greenery for the omelet, but the flavor was good and the cheese definitely helped counter the overload.

The chorizo was spot on, a greasy Mexican sausage that just adds great spice and flavor to any breakfast dish.  Now as per my side, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and force myself to eat something that I usually refuse to even consider, grits.  I do not see the appeal to this southern breakfast staple, I mean it is bland flavorless mush, which requires either a ton of butter, cheese, or some other flavor to make it edible by most standards.  That being said, I decided to try their cheese grits, loaded with cheddar, thus proving my point, but my bowl of cheddar with a side of grits was delicious none the less.

Canyon Creek is not a bad spot for breakfast, they have lunch and dinner as well, but you have got to hit the place at the right time, or a parking spot will be next to impossible to find.

Breakfast of Champions

In case you guys have not caught on yet I love breakfast.  People say it is the most important meal of the day, I prefer to think of it as the most delicious meal of the day.

I am also a coffee junkie, if left to my own means I have been known to drink an entire pot of coffee all alone, yes I am a mess when it comes to coffee.  Specifically, I want it to be bold, a kick in the teeth, uninhibited by cream or sugar.

With those two loves of my life, a perfect storm is created at one of my favorite breakfast joints in Dallas, Café Brazil.  There are multiple locations throughout the Metroplex, but on this trip Kevin and I went to the location in University Park near the SMU campus. 

Now I will be honest, I do have a history at these restaurants including one alleged event of proposing to a waitress for a glass of water after a long day of a Rangers game and a night in Deep Ellum.  On this trip however, we were of clear minds just looking for a grub breakfast.

As you can see, Café Brazil is a Mecca for coffee lovers with absurd selection and a bottomless cup that is great/horrible for people like me.

Their food is amazing as well, I mean let’s be honest, and I would not lead to a place for its coffee alone.

We will start out with Kevin’s delicious but un-foodventurous meal.  He went with your basic pancake breakfast with the standard fixings.

When this was the only plate that arrived at first Kevin was truly heartbroken.  Poor little Kevin (ps- in the jumbo version of that photo the gray hairs are way too visible).

Once the fluffy pancakes showed up all was right with the world.

Then came my glorious meal choice.  Historically, I have been a fan of the El Gordo Crepe (which translates to the fat guy basically) that is loaded with chorizo, cheddar, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, bacon, all smothered in a spicy cream sauce.  Basically it is a healthy batch of heaven just waiting to clog your arteries.  Just for you folks though I decided to step outside my normal order and tried the Breakfast Relleno Crepes, filled with eggs, roasted poblano pepper, chorizo, cheddar, and once again that wicked cream sauce. 

This crepe was delicious, the chorizo is amazing, and the peppers give it a mild twist, but that side of cheesy hash browns was a dish that I could eat all day in a giant bucket.  Their other potato side, the rosemary potatoes are equally as good, but on this day the cheesy hash browns were calling my name.

After going to Café Brazil for years with my dad when he was in Dallas, and the time I have been there since he has left I am yet to be disappointed by a breakfast at this place.  Now they just need to open a location in Houston so I don’t have to drive 4 hours for a fix.

Mas Desayuno

Once again I have found myself in a hole in the wall Mexican joint scarfing down a delicious breakfast, perhaps I have a problem.  But if it is a problem, I am okay without finding a cure for the time being.

The last time I wrote about a Mexican breakfast for you I was at El Hidalguense on Long Point in North Houston, this time we are cruising west down Long Point (yes it is a hotbed for quality hole-in-the-wall Mexican food) to a restaurant in a strip center called Tacos Del Julio.

The restaurant is brightly painted, almost so bright that it burns the retinas.  The pain however, is quickly forgotten when a bowl of beans magically showed up in front of me.  Now you may be wondering “Who the hell would want beans early in the morning?” 

I had those thoughts at first, but as some condiments showed up, I quickly began to doctor the beans up with onions and cilantro and next thing I know the bowl was empty.  Surprisingly beans go quite nicely with a giant cup of coffee.

When it came time to order I was torn, the menu is nothing fancy, but there were enough appetizing options to make me go back and forth.  Finally, I asked the waitress for guidance through my difficult decisions and sure enough she led me down the right road, huevos divorciados.

The name is in reference to the fact that one egg is covered in green salsa, while the other is in red, thus they are divorced eggs.  This plate was served up with some bacon, bland potatoes, and some decent refried beans (yes more beans).  As you can see here it is almost set up like a Mexican version of Eggs Benedict, with corn tortillas on the bottom, a layer of ham steak, and then the eggs with the salsa.

As I mentioned, the potatoes sucked, but by taking the corn tortillas that were delivered to me I combined them with the beans and covered them in a few squirts of salsa and that issue was quickly alleviated.

Tacos Del Julio is a good cheap place to go and get a Mexican breakfast while rocking out to Mexican pop music with a dash of Justin Bieber sprinkled in.  However, there is one fatal flaw, there is a small play area off to  one side of the restaurant, and it leads to demonic behavior.  Go figure, a few piece of cheap plastic back yard playground equipment can turn a nice quiet breakfast into a migraine.  So do not linger too long here but it definitely is not stopping me from coming back in the future.

The Chef Knows Best

There are few places that I enjoy so much as Manhattan, Kansas, I understand it is not for everyone but for me it is a great place to go.  The town is small enough to not be hectic and crazy, it has an old feel to it while still having all the modern conveniences, and of course the buildings are amazing.  The local stone is a pale limestone and you see it in many of the buildings in the area, especially down around the old downtown on Poyntz Avenue.

That is where we find our next food destination, The Chef.  We discovered this bright little establishment later in my college career, but there was no turning back after we got our first taste.  The place is primarily a breakfast joint, but they also serve a lunch that I have never tried so for the sake of this article we will strictly be focusing on the most important meal of the day.

The biscuits and gravy here is absolutely premium here.  It is quite possibly one of the best gravies I have ever had in my life, which made my decision for breakfast all that much more difficult.  It was a complete tossup between some dish containing the B&G (such as The Grant) or my other personal favorite the Buenos Dias Frittata. 

In the end it came down to a decision of “pick a hand” my fall back plan when I cannot select a meal, assign a dish to each hand and make a third party select which hand I am going to eat…  Very scientific I know, I should probably patent it before someone reads this and jacks my idea.  In the end the Buenos Dias Frittata won out and you can see why.

The frittata is an egg dish filled to the brim with chorizo, pico de gallo, and jack cheese with a side of sour cream and chipotle sauce.  I am not a big fan of sour cream, but the chipotle sauce is kick ass and the pico rocked my world.  I mean tomatoes and onions are awesome in eggs, but the real kicker here was the lime juice in the pico that was an underlying flavor in the egg dish, pure awesomeness.

My mom got the Eggs Benedict; the ham on this Benedict was a thick steak so you got some great flavor coming in from that but it definitely could have used some more hollandaise sauce instead of going with the decorative approach like they did.

Both of these dishes came with a side of potatoes that were full of flavor and a great addition to any breakfast you get here.

This place makes an awesome breakfast, so if you ever find yourself waking up in the Little Apple, even if you are hung-over, make you way on downtown and wander into this bright festive little café and dig in.

Lost in Translation

 At last, a food review that can benefit so many more people than those of us blessed to be in Houston, or even the great state of Texas (yes it is that awesome).  Today’s post is over the most important meal of the day, breakfast, or as they call it in these joints desayuno.  

Now I will come clean that this breakfast was sort of an accidentally awesome kind of experience but then again those usually turn out to be the best ones.  The other day I went to El Hidalguense (which means someone from the Mexican state of Hidalgo), located on Long Point Road in Houston, and every review I read about this place focused on one menu item that I had myself salivating for, cabrito.

Yes, for those of you not familiar with the food or the term, cabrito is baby goat (as delicious as it is cute), succulent little goat that is slow cooked until it is falling off the bone good.  I understand that this is not for everyone and I first was unsure about it myself, until as a bus boy at an On the Border in high school I worked an early Saturday morning shift, and the Mexicans who were working the prep had some cabrito they had cooked up and basically forced me to try.  Of course I loved it; the rich meat wasn’t covered in spices or sauce, just allowed to explode in flavor of its own making.

Unfortunately, cabrito was outside of my morning breakfast budget and it appeared that it was actually a dinner meal (another misconception caused by that first experience), so that review will have to come another day when I am willing to part with $25 and maybe have a brave soul to split it with.

That pain was easily soothed though with the appearance of a free flauta (some of you may know it better as a taquito), some delicious smoky salsa, and a Mexican Coke (yes the recipe is different, much sweeter since it uses cane sugar instead of one of those syrups).  The salsa was thicker and smokier than most, almost an oil compared to a salsa that I am used to at other restaurants, but the chipotle, chile del arbol, garlic, and other flavors made it a good addition to all of the food.

So after pouring over the menu (a three ring binder with pagers slipped in plastic sleeves all written in Spanish) I settled on a familiar friend of mine from past breakfasts at places like Taqueria Arandas or Jarro Café, the delicious plate known as chilaquiles.

  Here is a picture of chilaquiles from Jarro Café, so good it will be getting a write up the next time I make it there.

Somehow this simple order got lost in translation, and I had a plate of scrambled eggs and beef show up in front of me.  I decided to roll with it rather than fighting it and that was definitely a smart move on my part, the flavor was great, especially once I started putting the eggs with beans in tortillas and pouring the salsa over it.

Sure the atmosphere was simple and the restaurant was empty, but the food was definitely good and basic.  These in my experience have always been the best Mexican breakfast joints, ignore the decor and sometimes the levels of cleanliness and find you some good meals whether it be huevos divorciados (two eggs one in green and one in red salsa), migas (eggs scrambled with tortilla strips), anything with chorizo (the “healthy” Mexican sausage that may require extra sopping up of grease with a napkin), or once again my personal favorite chilaquiles (tortilla strips in salsa, usually with eggs, and if you are lucky some fajita beef). 

As a preview of my next post, my meal ticket (mom) and sister went to a Houston landmark this weekend that has been on none other than Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives itself, check out the video here for a heads up of the next posting.