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Favorite Cafe


Forty  Rod SASS 3935

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Just got home from a place a half mile from my house where I had a breakfast burrito nearly as big as a football.  (most of it is in my fridge for later...a couple of times over.) with a total bill, including tip, of $23.00.  The menu is fairly large and the food is very close to excellent.

 

This place has tables for about fifty people and enough stools to seat about a dozen more at a counter.  There are maybe twenty five people, maybe more, working there throughout the day (open for 6:00am to 2:00pm every day).  They are a smiling, efficient group in an area where "no one can find a job" and most businesses are advertising for help that they can't get.  This place has a really low turnover rate.  Most are women from twenty-five to fifty five and a few young men in their twenties and early thirties.  All are smiling, happy, friendly, and very efficient.

 

Parking is an issue because if you aren' there between 9:20 an 11:00 you are going to wait up to thirty minutes or more and you'll walk up to a half a block from where ever you find to park and they don't have a waiting room.  It gets mighty cold outside this time of year, but it's worth it!

 

I know several of the people who work there and I have found the secret: The owner is a lady who was a California surf bum who fell in love with the area and fell right in.  She worked for relatives in a similar setting maybe five miles away (every bit as good in every respect) and started her own place a couple of years ago.  She hires and trains every employee herself, demands a lot from them, treasures her patrons,  and pays a decent wage.  The whole place is aimed at making your meal top notch with large portions, really good food, and fairly low prices.

 

Everyone there can do any job in the place, like today the cashier was out and about six or seven people were operating the register.

 

One of the ladies told me that she takes home and average of $100.00 or more a day in wages and another $100.00 or more a day in tips.  She also told me that everyone gets their birthday off a lot of other perks (like free or discounted meals depending on how many hours you work each day.)  They have a fair medical plan (no dental).

 

Caution: don't eat the cinnamon rolls or you'll

1. gain a ton and

2. become instantly addicted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am still looking for my favorite breakfast place here. I found a little place called “Grandma’s” in Westover. I have to go back there. I think it could become a favorite. 

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There's two or three places like that here in Tucson. I take my wife out every Sunday for breakfast at one of them. She works weekend nights, and to make sure that she eats well I have her meet me on the way home from her work at one of them. There's a couple more that we hit up occasionally during the week, too.

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A couple of times when heading out to Wyoming,  we stopped for breakfast at the Oregon Trail Training Post.  They had a table full of "regular" local customers.  Lady come out. Said she'd be our server and cook.  No menu, she had eggs, bacon,  ham, biscuits and gravy, and so on.   We made our choices and off she went.  It was as ordered and good. Maybe a little over $10 for two. 

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Forgot Casa Perez, Oliva's (they have sarsaparilla on the menu), and a Baja style place on Willow Creek (can never recall the name, but I can drive you to it), plus Zeke's Eatin' Place.

 

There are so many good ones around here.  Even a German place over at Lynx Lake and a good Sicilian cafe if you like a LOT of garlic...and I do.)

 

Notice that there isn't chain place on the list?

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Coming back from Wyoming, we dropped down out of Nebraska to 36. We were late on breakfast but hadn't seen anything along the way.   Got to 36 in some small town and spotted a cafe down the way.  

 

592302605_BreakfastinKansas.jpg.9f65b72c01b094d86f219ef03271f0dd.jpg

 

Can you believe that?  Wasn't much and coffee included.  Mary saved half her ham and we both saved a piece of toast.  Later down the trail, we each had a sandwich with the leftovers. 

 

Came back through the next trip and it was closed. I guess it was a Covid victim. 

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All our good ones closed.:(. Seems nobody wants to work since the pandemic. Lots of small business is gone and now vacant shops. Sucks.

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1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

All our good ones closed.:(. Seems nobody wants to work since the pandemic. Lots of small business is gone and now vacant shops. Sucks.

 

We don't eat fast food often,  but Friday I got the hankering for Arby's Ruben and curly fries. Mary had coupons.  She went in and ordered to go. Came back with the stuff and said the lady waiting on her was 82 years old. Convoluted story how that detail was let out.

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We have a place or two here that meet the criteria.

 

There’s Kilgore’s, about ten minutes away. Open from 10:00 ‘til 7:00 Monday to Friday.  Kind of a meat and three with a basic menu and daily specials.  The catfish is primo!!

 

Eldorado: Best Mexican I have ever eaten!! Run by a latino family that takes great pride in their menu and service and the place is NICE with clean floors and tables, polite and friendly staff, an atmosphere like many fine dining restaurants, and a great location.  It only fifteen minutes away and open seven days a week.

 

It’s a little farther away, but there’s a great hibachi restaurant a half hour away that’s outstanding. Koi is also family run.  They have five stations that’ll seat about 16 people and they have chef’s that are friendly and know how to cook and entertain.  Great food and great prices.  Closed on Mondays and the shut down for two hours between lunch and dinner.  Worth the drive and the money.

 

There’s Coco’s.  It’s a true Italian restaurant. There are two or three locations, all owned by the same family. Real, authentic Italian food and wines, a great grocery selection and a gelato counter too. They even arrange trips to Italy every year and have wine tastings and cooking classes!

 

There are others here as well.  Nashville is a great place to eat if you know where to look!  Hot chicken ain’t the only thing we serve!  We got as good a selection of barbecue and steak and even craft beer if that’s your thing, and some of the places have great entertainment too!

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We do still have the Fairlee Diner. Under new ownership since COVID, but still good. Going out to eat anywhere here is getting pricey. On top of the expensive food, we have a 6% sales tax and then a 9% meals tax! Then add a 20% tip and you end up spending another damn near 50% on top of the cost of food.:( 

We went out to the diner and I had a Bacon cheeseburger with fries, Ellie had a BLT wrap and both had iced tea. $50 out the door for lunch! Used to spend a bit over 20 before Squinty!

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We have a local bar in the little town I live near. The owner has had a lot of health problems...but she keeps the place going with the help of her son. She gives a LOT back to the community too. No qualms about supporting her. Had breakfast there this mornng. A three egg ham and cheese omlette with a little onion...hash browns with a little onion... wheat toast and water. Ten dollars and just a little change. Leave what you want for a tip. Decent food and for todays market...not bad prices. She has two dinner specials everyday that are nine daoolars. You won't leave hungry

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Talk about prices,   we stopped in to a restaurant almost local we hadn't been in before. (Other two options were closed.) Didn't look like New York or Los Angeles but a hamburger was the cheapest on the menu at $17.  We excused our selves and left.  Down and across was a butcher shop/deli. They had a barbecue brisket lunch special for $13.  Got one and split it.  It was plenty.

 

I'm seeing new price options like extra $3 for lettuce,  pickle and tomato. 

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Café?  Or diner? Most of you are describing diners or restaurants.   

 

Along those lines, we are still looking.  The last half dozen times we have gone out for breakfast we've been disappointed in one way or another.   Usually it's bad coffee and stale tasting breakfast meats.

 

For an actual café, there is a relatively new boulangerie et café near us, Sarmentine ( named for the Sarmentine baguette), that has wonderful breads, some pastries, some sandwiches, as well as coffee, tea, hot chocolate.

 

 

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The two that immediately come to mind for me are The Airport Cafe, a small diner located at Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio, where you can eat while watching small aircraft takeoff and land, and have great homemade pie. The other is from my college days, The Hamburger Inn, located in Delaware, Ohio, which is an amazingly good greasy spoon. I get to both whenever I can. Fortunately for my waistline, that isn't often.

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56 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

Don't know where cafe stops and diner begins.  Some are named such. Last week we drove all the way to Boonville to the Main Street Diner.  I checked on Google maps and they said open. Got there and it was closed.  

At least around here most Diners are the old rail car sort with multiple additions. But a few "Diners" are in store fronts here and there.

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The places we go to are Breakfast places. Open 6:00 to 2:00. I really wish we had an old type diner around here. Most places that are open later are Mexican places, or some Asian type place. The only place we like that's open all night is Waffle House. But we LIKE Waffle House, so that's not to bad. 

Just for the mention, Waffle House is the only place where I can get a old style waffle, not a Belgian Waffle. And they'll put PEANUT BUTTER on it!

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OK, Googed it.  Cafe started out mainly serving coffee and pastries and such.  Diners differ by serving basic comfort foods an usually all foods all day. I know some places are only open until say 6:00am to 2:00pm. Restaurants tend to open about 11:00 am.

 

Hit one place in small town in northern Iowa that opened about 6:00 am and served a limited selection of breakfast items, rolls and buns, etc.  They closed at 10:00 am and at 11:00 a Italian restaurant opened to serve pizza and spaghetti and such. 

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3 hours ago, DocWard said:

The two that immediately come to mind for me are The Airport Cafe, a small diner located at Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio, where you can eat while watching small aircraft takeoff and land, and have great homemade pie. The other is from my college days, The Hamburger Inn, located in Delaware, Ohio, which is an amazingly good greasy spoon. I get to both whenever I can. Fortunately for my waistline, that isn't often.

Suzie's Skyway Cafe at Love Field in Prescott, AZ is a marvelous little Mom and Pop place, especially for lunch.  A bit too far to eat there all the time but once in awhile....well, I get a craving.

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3 hours ago, Lone Spur Jake SASS #7728 said:

So Forty Rod, since I live in the same area you live in, what is the name of this restaurant you are talking about?  Would like to try it.  

See below (or maybe above by now) for directions.  Meet me there and you can buy breakfast, then I'll meet you a Gabby's in CV and I'll buy you breakfast.

 

Howzat?

 

4T

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5 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

We have a place or two here that meet the criteria.

 

There’s Kilgore’s, about ten minutes away. Open from 10:00 ‘til 7:00 Monday to Friday.  Kind of a meat and three with a basic menu and daily specials.  The catfish is primo!!

 

Eldorado: Best Mexican I have ever eaten!! Run by a latino family that takes great pride in their menu and service and the place is NICE with clean floors and tables, polite and friendly staff, an atmosphere like many fine dining restaurants, and a great location.  It only fifteen minutes away and open seven days a week.

 

It’s a little farther away, but there’s a great hibachi restaurant a half hour away that’s outstanding. Koi is also family run.  They have five stations that’ll seat about 16 people and they have chef’s that are friendly and know how to cook and entertain.  Great food and great prices.  Closed on Mondays and the shut down for two hours between lunch and dinner.  Worth the drive and the money.

 

There’s Coco’s.  It’s a true Italian restaurant. There are two or three locations, all owned by the same family. Real, authentic Italian food and wines, a great grocery selection and a gelato counter too. They even arrange trips to Italy every year and have wine tastings and cooking classes!

 

There are others here as well.  Nashville is a great place to eat if you know where to look!  Hot chicken ain’t the only thing we serve!  We got as good a selection of barbecue and steak and even craft beer if that’s your thing, and some of the places have great entertainment too!

Aruffo's Italian restaurant in Claremont, Ca is the best Italian I ever saw and Claro's deli in Montclair, a mile or so east of there, is a grand experience if you want fixings for your own kitchen or a postively wonderful sandwich.

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3 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

The places we go to are Breakfast places. Open 6:00 to 2:00. I really wish we had an old type diner around here. Most places that are open later are Mexican places, or some Asian type place. The only place we like that's open all night is Waffle House. But we LIKE Waffle House, so that's not to bad. 

Just for the mention, Waffle House is the only place where I can get a old style waffle, not a Belgian Waffle. And they'll put PEANUT BUTTER on it!

Come up north and you can check out Jaimies Waffle Express on Florentine at Windsong in Prescott Valley or it's sister place, Waffles and More, on Iron Springs Road in Prescott.

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My favorite is the Cowboy Cafe in Roswell, NM.  Great grub, big portions with waitresses all better armed than the customers.  I often camp at an RV park a block east of the cafe and eat breakfast at the cafe.  

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3 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

The places we go to are Breakfast places. Open 6:00 to 2:00. I really wish we had an old type diner around here. Most places that are open later are Mexican places, or some Asian type place. The only place we like that's open all night is Waffle House. But we LIKE Waffle House, so that's not to bad. 

Just for the mention, Waffle House is the only place where I can get a old style waffle, not a Belgian Waffle. And they'll put PEANUT BUTTER on it!

I've found that most Mexican places are about as real Mexican as Cher Boyardee is authentic Italian.  Generic tacos are not my idea of "Mexican" fare.

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Hey, y'all Google Grumpy Lunch Bunch and you can check out my bona fides for critiquing food places.  We had over a hundred eating establishments in southern California on our list and probably near a hundred name on my contact list.

 

Every other Thursday at 11:00 am, never at the same place twice in a row, an occasional field trip to someplace interesting, and fun, fun, fun.

 

Contact Cliff Hanger for his opinion.  He was the forth member, Lefty was next and gave us our mascot.  Lots of well known SASS names were part of it all, too.

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1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I've found that most Mexican places are about as real Mexican as Cher Boyardee is authentic Italian.  Generic tacos are not my idea of "Mexican" fare.

The thing is, I don't really care for Mexican food. But that's what abounds here. Interestingly enough, one of the places we go to is owned and run by a nice Mexican family. Cappy is the places namesake, and he's the cook. His wife is the Hostess and head Waitress. Two of his daughters and a sister of his wife works there. He of course has Mexican food, BUT, he serves good old American food too. 

It's primarily a Breakfast place, serving eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, home fries, hash browns, pancakes, and biscuits and gravy just about as good as it gets. 

He also has burgers, a grilled chicken sammich that I happen to love, an open faced hot roast beef or turkey sammich that's great, too. When they first opened, my wife asked them if they had a Ruben Sammich. They didn't, but now they do, just because she asked. 

But he also has most of the Mexican foods you'd expect. Even though I don't care that much for Mexican food, I really like his Chicken Fajitas.  And as far as I know, it's authentic Mexican recipes.

And the best part is, he'll make whatever you want no matter when you're there. My wife has her Ruben for breakfast, and I might have the open faced roast beef at the same time. And when I say breakfast, I mean at 6:00 in the morning.

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40 years ago, sister-in-law took us to a Mexican restaurant in Los Cruces, New Mexico where I first experienced Huevoes Rancheros.  A sinfull amount of food. First experience with chrizo sausage. I've had Huevoes Rancheros many times since but never equal or the same. Burp.

 

Now I'm hungry.  My breakfast habit this winter has been an egg omelet with taco cheese, pepper,  onion and mald salsa and BACON. 

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now im hungry for breakfast and i haven't even gotten to bed [cant sleep -  i tried a couple times ] sometimes we see things that remind of us of past/better times , that food triggered the memory for me , then another , and another , 

 

there was a maid rite in my home town of cedar falls that made such a breakfast - wish i could still eat there , gone in the 60s 

there was a waffle house in nashville that my friend gimp and i would eat at when we shot a sporting clays event there , 

there were four dinner clubs here when i moved here that served the best food - three fires ago and so many years , used to take the boat up the mississippi to eat at two of them ,  

BTW there were two others i cant attest to , never got to them ,  but wish i could - heard they were good , two more fires , all gone in the 80s/90s , 

there was a maid rite here that fed me lunch years ago wish it was still here , gone in covid 

there are still a couple nice places here - hope there arent any more fires 

 

funny thing about restraunts and fires in my life , seems all the good ones catch fire , 

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I did work in Alamo,  Tennessee.  Davy Crockett country.  I staid in Jacksonville,  nearest town with accommodations.  Asked natives where to get breakfast.  Oh, easy, Cracker Barrel.  It had just opened up and was the sensation.  I seen it along the street but didn't look like any eating establishment.   Looking back at Cracker Barrel history,  it wasn't the first but one of the early expansion branches.  

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Flo's Cafe at the Chino, Ca airport was a keeper and so was China Gate in Montclair and the Black Watch pub just north of there. (made the best fish and chips I ever ate.)

 

If any of you are lucky enough to get invited to the Magic Castle in Southern California, GO!  The place is owned by aprogessiinal magicians group and you have to have an invitation to get in.

 

It's a four or five hour treat with the best food (buffet style) anywhere and every person there is a magician.   Even the janitors, bar stall and waiters, folks at card tables in alcoves, my wife and daughter and her boyfriend and I even found four guys in a basement (we were lost) who were trading secrets. Two were visiting from Ecuador, one from France, and a guy from Las Vegas.  We spent almost a hour with them.

 

 They have an enchanted piano that can play almost anything you ask for....without anyone at the keyboard.

 

I'll never see it again because I can't imagine anything that will entice me to ever go back to California.

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Used yo shoot outside of Breckenridge. On the way back to the Metromess a gaggle of us would stop into Mary's Cafe in Strawn. Don't try it in deer season, though.

 

https://youtu.be/g5JGc1dtqfg

 

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15 hours ago, Lone Spur Jake SASS #7728 said:

So Forty Rod, since I live in the same area you live in, what is the name of this restaurant you are talking about?  Would like to try it.  

I thought he was describing The Lone  Spur Cafe by the courthouse ???

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8 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

I did work in Alamo,  Tennessee.  Davy Crockett country.  I staid in Jacksonville,  nearest town with accommodations.  Asked natives where to get breakfast.  Oh, easy, Cracker Barrel.  It had just opened up and was the sensation.  I seen it along the street but didn't look like any eating establishment.   Looking back at Cracker Barrel history,  it wasn't the first but one of the early expansion branches.  


The original Cracker Barrel was located off of I-40 at exit 32, in between Lebanon and Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.  That’s highway 109.  It was much like the pictures you see in many of their commercials.  The locations are still patterned after that original store/restaurant.  They had more nic-nacs and souvenirs and fewer T-shirts and retail toys and such.

 

The food was much the same , although it seemed to be more “home cooked” back then and the menu was smaller.  The biscuits and gravy was a damn site better than what they serve today.

 

Alamo, TN is northwest of JACKSON, TN!  It now has a Sonic and a Dairy Queen and there’s a Mexican “snack bar” too!

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