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.
I don't know if this qualifies as Waco's best kept secret, because nobody associated with the El Crucero Taco Truck @ Common Grounds is trying to keep it secret. But it still kind of feels that way.
That's because it's a fantastic place to have a delicious breakfast burrito — and now street tacos as well — in an atmosphere that's both comfortable and dynamic. But the line is never very long, unlike another brand new local burrito eatery that has a line that extends out the front door at lunch time (Freebirds).
When the Daylight Donuts shack on Franklin Avenue closed up shop earlier this year, I wondered what might take over in that spot, particularly since it's in my neighborhood.
So there's been an interesting development for anyone, like me, who drives down Franklin Avenue as part of the daily routine. Vitek's is expanding its local empire with a drive through at the aforementioned location.
There's been a fair amount of Twitter chatter about Cafe Cappuccino putting up a sign at the old Zeb's location in Hewitt, across from Midway Middle School.
With other restaurant openings this week, it took longer than it usually would have for me to get to the bottom of this new development, but better late than never I guess. I spoke with Cafe Cappuccino owner Dale Knight this afternoon and he said the Hewitt location will most likely open at the end of this month or in early October.
Quaker Steak & Lube officially opened its doors this afternoon and has a festive grand-opening party set for tonight. My advice — if you don't already have trip to The Lube scheduled — is to drop what you're doing and head over for some wings and beer. Or pretzels and beer. Or Philly cheesesteaks and beer.
Or just beer.
For a while now, the good folks at Quaker Steak & Lube have been touting the party atmosphere they hope to create at Waco's next newest restaurant. On Monday night, they delivered a big bash complete with a parking lot full of sporty and fancy cars, a crowd of revelers, BMX tricksters and football on lots of big screen TVs.
Oh, and great food too, including a truck full of wings. That's not a metaphor. They had a truck outfitted as a wing bar. That's the bed full of wings in the picture with this blog.
Freebirds in Waco is open!
The 25 lucky people who earned free burritos for a year entered the restaurant at 10 this morning. They were all a little ragged from the two-day camp out, but they were too excited to show it very much.
Camp Freebirds is almost at capacity.
At 1:30 this afternoon, I made my latest trip past Waco's newest burrito restaurant, set to open at 10:30 Monday morning. For those who have been living under a rock, Freebirds will have an opening party and invite the first 25 people in line into the restaurant for an early lunch along with vouchers for a free burrito per week for the next year.
Official WacoFork applause to the first two campers in llne at Freebirds — Tennyson Midddle School 8th graders Richard Canova and Haigon Moon Shine.
They arrived at Freebirds about 11:30 Friday night and as of 11 a.m. Saturday morning, they seemed to be having a great time. Their tent had plenty of supplies, including bottled water and takis.
I enjoyed a breakfast burrito — eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage — at Common Grounds this morning as I chatted with new owner Blake Batson. The El Crucero Truck is open for business (7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily) and it has taken its place as a fantastic way to start the morning.
And the weekend for that matter.
The Baylor Bears football team has the weekend off, so it might be one of those weekends for being lazy and/or bumping around town. Here are some suggestions:
