The Omelettry

I’ve driven by The Omelettry so many times since I moved to Austin. I’ve been wanting to try it for years. We finally had a chance to eat breakfast there a few Mondays ago.

The place is very Austin-like. It’s been around since the 70s, and it shows. The waitstaff is nonchalant, but seem comfortable in their work environment. I noticed the regulars got better service, but that’s typical in small places like this; no big deal.

We both had the ham and cheese omelet with home fries. The portions were huge and the prices reasonable. My omelet was good but the homefries were a little on the overcooked and bland side. I wanted to try the gingerbread pancakes but it seemed a bit too much, even as hungry as I was.

It was a fun way to spend a Monday morning having breakfast. I enjoy people watching and The Omelettry doesn’t disappoint. Although, I could have missed seeing the guy with way too much of his ass crack showing, and been better off. I just strategically moved out of his half moon view. I must go back to try those gingerbread pancakes! Oh, and make sure you have cash; they don’t take plastic.

Garden Spot Cafe

Every time we drove by Garden Spot Cafe on Burnet Road, Martie and I would say we needed to try it. So, one rainy Monday we were in the area and finally stopped for lunch. It looked like a cute little place and had been open for a few years now.

I ordered the Monday Special (genoa salami, pepperoni, and smoked provolone on foccacia) and Martie ordered the Italian meatball sandwich. My sandwich was ok, but the bread was kinda dry and bland. Martie’s meatball sandwich was about on par with something you would get from Subway, although I think Subway’s is a little better. The meatballs were the kind you would buy frozen in the bag. The people working there were not friendly or happy. We both agreed it was a little pricy for what you got. Don’t think we will go back there.

Panera Bread

One Sunday morning, the kid and I headed out in search of some place to get something for breakfast. I remember my boss at work told me about a bakery in the Gateway shopping center by Whole Foods. So, we decided to venture there to check it out for ourselves.

I was a little disappointed they had a small selection of items to choose from, but it still looked and smelled good. We decided to get a selection of several items and bring them home and share. We chose the fresh apple pastry, cheese pastry, bear claw, chocolate croissant, and a spinach and bacon baked egg souffle. We also picked up a few sourdough rolls for dinner which we forgot about so our Doberman reaped the benefits of them. The rolls got hard as a rock after a few days so he had a few giant dog treats to gnaw on.

Every thing we tried was good. I especially liked the fresh apple pastry. The spinach and bacon baked egg souffle was very good. Next time I will try the spinach and artichoke baked egg souffle and maybe pick up one of their Asiago cheese sourdough loafs.

Dan's Hamburgers

Since I just blogged about Weir Country Store’s burgers yesterday, I might as well rewind to a few weeks ago when we went with a friend to Dan’s on Manchaca Road. He tried to convince us that they had the best burgers in town.

I got the hickory cheeseburger with onion rings. The burger was good, but not the best in town. Not even close. My favorite was the onion rings. They say they are homemade and I can believe it. They were very good and I could tell they weren’t the frozen kind in the bag. They were done to perfection and not in the least greasy. I tried a few of Martie’s fries. The fries were ok but nothing special.

If I went back to Dan’s I would get their onion rings again, although I wouldn’t go out of my way and make a special trip for their burgers. There are several other places around that have much better ones.

Weir Country Store, Weir

It was a nice day for a ride on the motorcycles last Monday. We ventured out and hit several of the county roads north east of Austin. We were starting to get hungry and were about ready for a break from riding. Since we were in the Walberg area, I suggested we go to Dale’s Essenhaus for a burger. Well damn, they are closed on Mondays. We were out in the middle of somewhere with not much in the way of food choices. We stopped at a little country gas station/auto repair shop and Martie went inside to see if any of the locals had any ideas. I stayed out by the bikes and counted our nacho flavored corn nuts and jerky from our last ride, just in case we had to divvy them up for lunch.

When she came back, she informed me the “natives” told her the Shamrock station in Weir had good burgers and fries. She was surprised when I readily agreed we should try it. After all, anyone with anything other than an iron clad stomach is smart enough to stay away from gas station food, right? Well, it was such a nice day and I wasn’t ready to stop riding. There certainly wasn’t enough corn nuts and jerky for two of us. Besides, if things turned out badly for my stomach, we could be long home before it got ugly.

The Shamrock station is called Weir Country store. It has a little bit of everything. Besides your typical convenience store, it had school supplies, a bait shop, and a sign saying the bar was open Friday and Saturday nights. There was a small area with some booths and tables. They had a couple of big slabs of smoked brisket, smoked sausage, and those really bad for you but oh so good deep fried burritos behind the counter in a hot holding area. I was encouraged not to see any hot dogs endlessly rolling around on those heated roller things that see in most convenience stores.

We both decided on the cheeseburger and fries basket. The cheeseburgers were pretty good, and the fries were very good; not in the least greasy. A note to self for next time though, one order of fries is plenty for two people. They also have Bluebell ice cream but we were both too full for that.

It was a fun place to stop and take a break. We did get a few stares from some of the locals. We must look pretty scary to the country folk, being two women on motorcycles.