Vitek's Gut Pak Shak on Franklin is open as of today.
This is big news for barbecue fans, especially those whose jobs require them to frequently run errands around town. It's difficult to imagine a more wonderfully convenient development.
We did brunch about as well as it could be done on a Monday at the new restaurant The Egg and I, which opened on Monday.
I guess, ideally, brunch is a meal best served on a lazy and perhaps even groggy Saturday or Sunday. Monday brunch is the territory of the food or restaurant blogger. So I had Eggs Benedict in order to properly engage with The Egg and I for the first time.
I stopped by the Egg and I on Wednesday and it appears they're ready to begin serving breakfast, brunch and lunch. It's a good thing because their opening day is Monday. The Egg and I hours will be 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Honestly, when I first learned this place would be coming soon, I was a little underwhelmed, perhaps because it came in the middle of a big batch of new restaurant news. But I've since heard good buzz about it from people who have dined at The Egg and I in Austin and/or Tyler.
We received word a little while ago that Waco's Olive Garden was chosen as one of 20 of the Italian chain's restaurants across the country to participate in a pilot remodel. The updates were finished last week and commemorated with a ribbon cutting.
It took us until Wednesday, but we checked it out, courtesy of a $30 gift card from Olive Garden.
Another new restaurant plans to open in the next month in the downtown area, this one aiming to revitalize a section of our town along with pulling delicious baked goods out of the oven.
Lula Jane's will be a bakery and coffee shop on Elm Street, just a block off of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. I spoke with proprietor Nancy Grayson and her assistant John Sterchi about the project this morning. They're looking to open at the end of this month or early November and hope to create a relaxed dining-in environment.
Waco's next new Italian restaurant — Wise Guys Chicago Eatery — is a couple of weeks away from opening its doors in the Westview Village Shopping Center on Valley Mills Drive.
I spoke with co-owner Bill Nychay, who gave me a tour and overview of the new restaurant this morning. The interior is already outfitted with distinctive Chicago decorations and photos (mob guys and Chicago Bears, stuff like that).
Did anybody know Thursday is National Taco Day? I didn't until I read a press release sent to me recently by Taco Cabana. (A good indication that this WacoFork adventure is going ok is that I'm receiving unsolicited press releases from Taco Cabana.)
I personally think of most Thursdays as taco days, but if we need a day to nationally recognize tacos, then so be it.
As I was settling in to watch the end of the Rangers game on Tuesday evening, the WacoFork wire alerted me to the possible closing of Lake Brazos Steakhouse. I was pointed in the direction of Twitter and the tweeter, whoever he or she was, apparently had the story hot and correct.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm out of town at the moment, so I wasn't able to flesh this thing out on my own on Wednesday, but Waco Tribune-Herald business writer Mike Copeland reported that the health department closed Lake Brazos and the owners took the cue to call it.
I've heard a lot of buzz lately about the Brew at the Zoo and I definitely understand why. A beer tasting at the zoo complete with animal encounters? Can't miss good time. Right?
But any of us who haven't already secured Brew at the Zoo tickets need to act quickly. The Cameron Park Zoo folks told me this week that tickets are running out and they expect them to be gone by Friday.
In case anyone is thinking the new wave of restaurants to hit our town has subsided, well, it hasn't.
Among the next ripple of new will be The Egg and I, a breakfast-brunch-lunch cafe that is set to open October 15 in the shopping center on Franklin Avenue which is anchored by Outback Steakhouse.
