Have you ever been stuck in a food rut? You find yourself going to the same restaurant over and over-- not necessarily because you know it has the best food, but because you don’t have the energy to try another place and risk having a bad meal. This was the same tired routine that led to us making this list. We would drive to the same breakfast taco spot on any given Saturday, while passing two or three other places that we had never tried. When we couldn’t find a comprehensive list online to tell us Waco’s best breakfast tacos, we decided to make our own.
Great food, great entertainment, and an even greater cause. What would be better than spending your Sunday basking in the smell of BBQ and winning cool raffle prizes such as a beach vacation, all while helping a family in need? On Sunday, February 18th, at the Bellmead Civic Center (3900 Parrish Bellmead, TX 76705) from noon to 5pm, you can do just that! Tom Moore of Tom’s Smokehouse is making his mouth watering BBQ available to you once more for a great CAUSE. So who is the guy that can get the retired Bellmead BBQ guru to open his doors to the public once more? His name is Josh Stone.
When someone brings a new flavor to town, Waco Fork takes notice. But this time it’s a film festival that’s looking to spice things up.
My name is Louis Hunter. As one of the festival co-directors, and a fellow foodie, I appreciate this chance to tell Wacoans about the Deep in the Heart Film Festival premiering February 16th - 19th at the Waco Hippodrome.
I hate crowds, and I hate waiting in line. I avoid both as much as possible. The only time I will go to Six Flags is during the 2 weeks at the beginning or end of the summer when the park closes at 6:00 pm, because there are no crowds and no lines during those weeks (but that's our little secret, so don't tell anyone).
It came to my attention last week, as I was testifying about our new WacoFork Club campaign while drinking beer at The Dancing Bear, that there's a nice little confluence of those things coming up soon this week.
First of all, happy ninth birthday to The Dancing Bear. Lord knows I've spent many a happy hour there since it opened in 2007. Secondly, we're pumped that two of our new WacoFork Club partners — Milo and Crazy Horse Grill — will be helping to celebrate on Tuesday night.
Cory and I met at Shorty's yesterday because he was posting the new WacoFork Club sticker ahead of the club's debut next week.
Shorty's has become one of the most popular meet up spots in town, particularly among the cool kids that I know. That's one reason we're so excited to have the pizza shack on board for WacoFork Club.
Shorty's is offering half-priced knots on Tuesdays. A knot is Shorty's pizza dough tied in a knot, deep fried and tossed in Shorty's Italian spices blend. I haven't had them as I always go for a couple of slices off the slice board, but I'm going to have to try them now. So the WacoFork Club is already working for me.
The WacoFork Club will officially begin officially launched on August 15.
My Thursday morning coffee venture took me to the new coffee shop located in the old elevator at The Praetorian. Bru has been roasting coffee for sale for several years and it recently opened up a coffee shop serving the people who work and live in the building at 6th Street and Franklin, as well as anyone else who wants to pop in for a beverage.
I had a cold brew that raised my eyebrows. I like my coffee in the morning, but I'm not particular about it. Still, the flavor caught my attention and I will be back. I would like to be more specific about it, but there are now so many coffee experts in town, that I don't want to embarass myself with a half-roasted description. I'll leave it at this: with three coffee shops/coffee roasters in about a five-block radius in downtown Waco, we have a legit coffee district.
And how's this for a bonus during my morning coffee run? The folks at Pokey O's, who bake their cookies in The Praetorian, brought out a batch of cookies that were a little too crumbled to use for ice cream sandwiches. So I enjoyed most of a free cappuccino chocolate chunk cookie.
Like most of you, I've been watching the Fixer Upper phenomenon a bit from afar even though I live in Waco and have several friends who have either been on the show or are connected to the Magnolia juggernaut in some manner or another. In the months since the opening of the Magnolia silos, we have seen the company grow from (according to my sources) around 40 employees to well over 400 employees. We have watched as they went from a company primarily centered around real estate, home design and remodeling, and home building with a little shop on Bosque to a massive company that does all of that plus a much bigger storefront, a furniture line, a backyard food court for local food trucks, a recent purchase of the historic Elite Cafe, and most recently a brand new bakery.
If you've driven around town lately there is one thing you are bound to notice: Waco is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Right now all over downtown, the I35 corridor, and Valley Mills are scaffolding, aerial lifts, demolition equipment and other equipment for building on a scale that hasn't been seen in Waco in decades, if ever.
We took a drive around town and took a few pictures, and there were many more available. Several of the places being built are 2nd or 3rd locations of existing businesses in town, like Panera Bread, Raising Canes, and Whataburger-Baylor being rebuilt. Others like Old Chicago Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts will be new entries in the growing Waco market.
I stopped by Pinewood Roasters Tuesday morning to get a cappuccino (amazing coffee, btw), and while I was there one of the owners of Pinewood Roasters, JD Beard, introduced me to the owner of Alpha Omega Mediterranean Grill and Bakery, Dorothy Lentis. Pinewood Roasters and Alpha Omega share a location. She was busy making gelato for the day, so we didn't get to talk long. Knowing that they were making the gelato fresh in the store, I knew I needed to come back soon.
