Breakfast is the most important first meal of the day. Or something. This episode of 5 Things! is a little more difficult due to a few factors. First, I don’t eat breakfast that often, and when I do – Tr3s Leches, the delicious bakery and restaurant that makes awesome breakfast burritos, is right next door. Well, the issue is that I included Tre3s Leches in my “Downtown Lunches” 5 Things! and, although I will be doubling up on naming locations (naturally) in the future, I didn’t want to do it so early in the series. So, my next-door neighbors to the north were left out of this one (if you don’t count this awesome subliminal mention in the first paragraph.) One other place I can’t include in this 5 Things! because I included them in the lunch episode – Grazed and Confused – has a fantastic breakfast that I won’t mention here or in the next paragraph. (wink, wink)
Second, breakfast is a tiny bit… problematic… in Brownwood, Tx. I’ll be straight with you; Brownwood isn’t a real breakfast kind of town. It’s not a gastronomic wasteland, but it’s not really edgy and experimental either. For the most part, it’s basic, and that’s what a lot of people like in a breakfast.
In one of my favorite TV shows, Patriot (not the movie, the television series,) Leslie asks John to share “a breakfast.”
Leslie: Would you like to join me for a breakfast, John? … Breakfast is the meal where… Well, it’s the optimistic meal, John. The day’s ahead of you. Let’s have a breakfast.
John: “Cool.”
Leslie: “It will be cool, John. Maybe we’ll go crazy. We’ll get a whole spread. Muffins, Breakfast Breads, etc. Sound good?”
Well, there aren’t that many places to go breakfast crazy in Brownwood, but we can only hope that this optimistic meal gains traction and importance as revitalization and economic growth continue.
There are a few great places to eat the first meal of the day, but not many, and not all of them are open every day (or on the days I would want to go.) People in Brownwood are not that adventurous, breakfast-wise, and tend to have their favorite places and they go to these same places whenever they have breakfast in town. Because of that, breakfast service is hard to get started for a new place, and the variety (both in food choices and the number of places open and available on a given day) is limited. Grazed and Confused has some awesome variety, with fruit, and brioche bread, avocado, you know, fancy and sassy ingredients (a whole spread!,) in both their breakfast and brunch offerings. But, as I said, I’m not mentioning them in this article. (wink, wink)
Listen, if you want standard and steady pancakes, biscuits and gravy, an omelet, or a breakfast burrito (or taco) in Brownwood, you’re covered. There are a handful of places open on any given day that will do a good job for you. Some are classic diners, and others are great for a drive-thru burrito in the morning. Let’s check out 5 places to get a yummy breakfast in Brown County!
Diamond R Store & Café, Zephyr
The Diamond R Store and Café just ten minutes down the road in Zephyr is a place for your old-style Texas breakfast staples. Located at 11801 Highway 84 E in Zephyr, you’ll find it right beside the road there when you’re on your way to Goldthwaite or Lampasas. We read their hours wrong and got there ten minutes early, but they were already open and friendly and seated us immediately. This is classic Texas diner fare, and it’s plentiful and tasty. Breakfast sandwiches, burritos, biscuits and gravy, migas, chicken fried steak and eggs… they have it all. With plenty of coffee in those old, brown ceramic diner cups you remember from when you were a kid. Danielle had the breakfast quesadilla, and I had the “Senior Breakfast,” which was the basic eggs, meat, hash browns, and biscuits. It’s a lot of food, very good, and super cheap. If you want a nostalgic breakfast in a great Texas roadside location that reminds you of when your dad would pull over the station wagon at a diner on the way to the Grand Canyon, this is the place.
Ricardo’s Tortilla Bakery
Ricardo’s is an old favorite a few blocks from here over on 904 Booker St., which is basically on the corner of Main and Austin, across busy Austin Avenue from the newer Common Grounds Coffee Shop. They open at 6 a.m., have a handy drive-up window, and are only closed on Sunday, which makes them a great choice if you are in your vehicle and moving around town. Ricardo’s has delicious breakfast burritos, and they are available all day (during the hours they are open.) So, if you’re someone who sleeps late after a late-night poker game (or prayer session) and wants a chorizo and egg burrito after 11 a.m., Ricardo’s is a good choice. Danielle and I ordered our usual bacon, egg, and cheese burrito. It’s good-sized and value priced at around $3.50 each.
Red Wagon
I wrote about the Red Wagon in an article here for the Brownwood News entitled A Cup of Freedom. It’s worth the read, I think. Anyway, here is an excerpt so you can get the feel of the place:
“The Red Wagon is a ‘diner-diner’ at the gateway to downtown, a five-minute walk from the apartment. A ‘diner-diner’ is what I call a specific breed of restaurant that lives in almost every town in America. I don’t have to describe it, even if I will. You know these places because you’ve been there too — a rustic joint with the vivid memory of cigarette smoke alive like ghosts in the walls and the ceiling fans and with the smell and sounds of plates of eggs and sausage and biscuits and gravy sliding across Formica, and the coffee tastes like a memory where your grandma is still alive and things are good.”
The Red Wagon reminds me of Mel’s Diner in that old TV show ALICE and Mel is slapping the pickup bell with his spatula, and Flo is yelling “Kiss My Grits!” It’s that kind of place. As I said in the article, it reminds me of “POJOS where I worked bussing tables in Odessa when I was fourteen. Salt shakers and laminated menus and sugar packets and brown, bottomless coffee cups never tired because their work is never done.”
The servers are obviously happy and well-paid because the same ones have been there forever. They are busy and friendly, but they’ll get to you when they get to you because… they are busy and there is a line at the door. I usually order the breakfast special, which is a ton of food. I usually get two eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, grits, with salsa and black coffee. I used to tell people “You can eat for $8 and not need to eat again all day.”
Sectionhand Steakhouse
Throw the Sectionhand Steakhouse at 4412 Highway 337 S. in Brownwood into the category of ABLE AND DELICIOUS CLASSIC DINER FOOD. When my children were young and my elder parents would come to visit, the folks would rent rooms at the neighboring Gate One Inn. We lived off-grid at the time, no air-conditioning, and our place was mostly inaccessible for my mother who uses a walker.
They would book rooms at Gate One. The motel had a pool, and the children could swim and during the visit we’d often eat at the Sectionhand next door. Whether it’s Diamond R, Red Wagon, or Sectionhand, you’ll find the staples there. Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs, pancakes, biscuits, you name it. Sectionhand has an awesome 8 oz. steak and eggs breakfast that’s a great protein rich way to start your day. Their omelets are great, and if you’re still not able to decide, get the Back 40: Two hotcakes, two eggs, and choice of meat. Inexpensive, filling, and delicious.
Tacos el Compa Street Tacos
Tacos el Compa is a place we don’t get to as much as we’d like. Mostly because there are similar places within walking distance of our apartment, but this place is great if you are traveling through Brownwood on the “highway of a thousand names.” Whether you call it 84, Commerce Street, 67, Bangs Hwy, or whatever, it’s right there and has easy in-out access, plus a drive-up window.
On this beautiful morning in the end of July, Danielle and I waded warily into the Texas Breakfast Taco/Burrito War at Tacos el Compa. Most of you know that we live somewhat on the dividing line, the DMZ in a war of terminology for breakfast foods in Texas. The battle between breakfast “tacos” (what they are called south and east of here,) and breakfast “burritos” (what they are called north and west of here.) Tacos el Compa being on the highway that leads from Lubbock to Austin is a place of peace. They serve both.
Lubbock is burritoland. Austin is tacoland. Brownwood is the front lines.
Being originally from Lubbock, we call any breakfast food that is served in a tortilla and “rolled” (like a carpet,) a burrito. Any food that is served in tortilla and “folded” (like the Cowboys in the playoffs,) is a taco. When I was often in Austin, any breakfast food that is served in a tortilla, rolled or folded, is usually called a “taco.” Personally, I’m Switzerland about it. I’m totally Jimmy-Crack-Corn on the issue.
So, Danielle orders one bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast BURRITO. I ordered two breakfast TACOS. Her burrito was huge, at least as big as my two tacos combined. Maybe bigger. It was rolled, in case you are curious and participate in this war. My two tacos were appropriately folded. Basically, the same food, but delivered in two different ways so that they can please all kinds of people. Both were delicious. But here’s the trick, and this is why Lubbock wins this particular battle, if not the war. *Note, the prices on the menu we were given are incorrect. I’m quoting from the receipt.* Danielle’s rolled burrito was $5.69. My two, smaller tacos were $6.00 total. She saved .31 by ordering burrito style. That’s the way to go. Burrito wins. Lubbock wins this border war. Or Brownwood wins, I guess.
Ok, that’s 5 Things! Yummy Breakfast in Brown County for you. As always, please note that this series is not intended to be a complete or even competent essay of everything and every place available in Brown County. If you like breakfast burritos (or tacos) there are quite literally ten or more places to get what you want for breakfast in Brown County. Maybe dozens, I don’t know. Same with standard diner food. Only one place that we went to, expecting to include them, was not included – and that is because the service was not good and ruined the experience for us. And I don’t know what you, the readers, want me to do in cases like that. I’m not really a critic, though I could be. I’m more of a tour guide. I know that I’m going to be naming some businesses across several categories of 5 Things!, and that’s to be expected. A place that makes a great steak might also serve an awesome margarita. If I just mentioned a business as a great place to get breakfast, I might not mention them when it comes to 5 Great Sandwiches! Even if their sandwiches are great. Likewise, I’m expecting business folks to contact me and let me know what I should be covering. I’ve listed my email: [email protected] and I am looking forward to hearing from you. I’m making no promises, but if you want to be included in 5 Things! just let me know. Also, thanks to the great businesses who shouted back to me over the past several episodes to thank me for including them here. It’s great to know these columns are being read!