Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Montgomery Street Cafe

Do you have a pair of boots, a sweet vest and need breakfast? If so, admission is free to Montgomery Street Cafe. Since its by the Will Rogers Coliseum, you can have breakfast but if you're wearing a polo shirt, plaid shorts and boat shoes, you might want to just keep on moving there...pardner.

The Cafe has been around since 1949. What else happened in 1949 you ask? Why would you ask that? I talk about food, not history. But I'll indulge you. There was the great flood, of course. The Cats finished in first place in the Texas League with 100 wins. And Cowboys and Horse-men finally had a place to get breakfast on the west side of Fort Worth.

The Cafe definitely has a feeling of being too busy serving food to catch up to 2008 and that's just fine with me. There are original old refrigerators, original decorations and original waitresses. The people that come in seem like the same people you would find if you wandered into a small cafe/diner anywhere west of Weatherford. This is definitely a small town cafe in a large city.

....Time for a side story....

My buddies and I used to always stop into Jean's Feed Barn in Cross Plains, Texas when travelling and we would always order the homemade pies (presumably made by Jean). They were delicious and we always made a big production of how much we liked the pies. One time, four of us stopped in on a Friday afternoon and were probably the highlight of the restaurant with our quick wit and handsome looks. We were four yuppie law students, dressed like we think we belong in West Texas, and we were eating pie and drinking tea. Anyways, we all left amongst laughter shared with our waitress and good memories in our pockets. The last words out of our mouths were, "We'll see you on Sunday on our way back through so have some new pie for us." At about the thirty mile mark from Cross Plains, somebody looked up and said:
"Hey, did you tip?"
"No, I thought you did."
"I thought you did."
So, not only had we taken over a restaurant with our obnoxiousness, we walked out without tipping and we made a point of reminding them that we would be back. They were definitely waiting for us. On Sunday, we entered with trepidation as all eyes fell on us. We sat down and a new waitress came over. The usual small town charm was lost. Something had to be done. The four of us jumped towards the kitchen where our waitress was mentally gutting us and explained our story and paid her a few hundred dollars (or twenty) and quickly made amends. We had a good laugh about it then, but I'm sure that had we delayed any longer, we would have gotten some of Jean's saliva in our mashed potatoes.
Why did I just tell you that story. Because that was the first thought when I entered Montgomery Street Cafe. In other words. Don't piss off a waitress here because she will remember it next time you come in.

On to the food. I went for breakfast (as all good cowboys do) and ordered the breakfast special: two eggs, bacon or sausage, hashbrowns or grits and biscuits and gravy. The food was your typical cafe food. But you don't go to a cafe for fine dining. You go for grease, like a real man. You also go for the bottomless cup of coffee. This is an important test for a cafe. Is your coffee cup constantly being filled? If so, you're at the right place. And to be fair, I think you could wear whatever you wanted and nobody would look twice. I will go with the yellow polo, plaid shorts and boat shoes and report back to you.

Overall, this is a unique experience in the realm of Fort Worth breakfast places. Go to Ol' South or Paris to see and be seen. Go to Montgomery Street Cafe to eat breakfast and wonder where in the world somebody is coming from in Fort Worth, that they need actual spurs. Seriously, three sets...in one morning. Two miles from downtown. That's awesome. And that is one of the things that makes Fort Worth so cool.

Thanks for the recommendation of Montgomery Street Cafe. I will definitely go back but I have to get spurs first.

Montgomery Street Cafe on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

bourgon said...

Nailed it on all counts. An awesome place, with great food, great prices - and you get to see people in spurs. What's not to like?

Ole Blue The Heretic said...

I will need to try it out. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

told you so!
as to the spurs, you do realize that the Cutting Horse folks are in town, don't you?
Last week I was parking at the Modern and was reminded of the uniqueness of FW when, as I exited the car, I was hit with the aroma of the four-legged competitors housed in the stables across the street from some of the most amazing museums in the world. I thought then, like you, of how much I love Fort Worth!
Since I've sent you to thai tina's, roy pope, margies and montgomery street---hmmm---what's your next assignment if you choose to accept it? Maybe George's Imported Foods?

John said...

I went there for the first time on Saturday morning with my wife and my best friend b/c Old Neighborhood Grill was closed. We waited outside for about 10 minutes b/c is was full. They gave us a cup of coffee while we waited outside. It's a cool, unique place. I noticed the antique fridges as well. The bacon is very thick and juicy and well cooked, but a little too much salt. We saw a faux cowboy family there too. Great place! I'll be back.

Anonymous said...

It's perfect if your looking for that small town flair. It's soo small that as soon as you walk in the door you've already bumped into someone. Just seat yourself. I liked watching people talk to each other from different tables, joke around. The waitress are neat calling you honey, sweetie, sitting on custormers laps, joking with I'm assuming regular custormers. The food was good hearty breakfast food. The best part it cost us $20 flat that's including three plates, three drinks, tax, and tip.