The past two Sunday's, my wife and I have found ourselves at the Jim's in Alamo Ranch for a nutritious (if we only ate about a third of it) breakfast and delicious coffee.
Both times we decided to sit at the counter and enjoy watching the operation of the place. I have flipped burgers before, but I suspect there is a whole lot more going on behind the scenes at a full menu restaurant. As someone may be ordering pancakes or waffles, another person could be ordering a chicken fried steak.
You can observe the cooks in the back all doing their individual parts to construct the final plate full of food for delivery. A manager of some sort directs the entire operation from her position, barking orders to the cooks when a plate lacks some bacon and calling out the waitstaff as their orders come up.
While Jim's comes across as a little more subdued, we like the banter between the cooks and waitstaff at Lulu's. It all seems good natured and perhaps all part of the show for the customers. At Jim's, you get the feeling that these are people just trying to do a job, and that is fine too.
Last week, I had a hankerin' for grits and decided to get the eggs and bacon with grits and biscuits combo. Really, this is what breakfast is all about.
My wife is not into grits and often uses the line from My Cousin Vinney to ask, "just what is a grit?" Instead, she loves Jim's hash browns and opted for the ham instead of the bacon. I think they gave her my eggs, and me, hers, because I like them over easy, and she likes them over medium. Who knows what that means or how they should look anyway?
This morning, we changed it up a bit and I tried a western omelet (minus the bell pepper). For my tastes, it was cooked a bit much, but there was still some gooey goodness going on with the cheese.
My wife opted for a waffle with the strawberry topping. I know, it looks good, but in the end she decided to scrape off all the topping because it had somehow made the waffle really soft. She likes a crisp waffle - and who doesn't?
The food is good but the best part of sitting at the counter is seeing all the action. When we sit in a booth, we are stuck overhearing the conversations of people in the booth on the other side of the low wall. My wife likes to speculate on the status of people. You know; the AOL Date, the one-night-stand having breakfast before never seeing each other again, or the married couple who hate each other. It is really hit or miss with the booths, but at the counter, there is sure to be action.
Today, we saw what my wife speculated was an area supervisor. Those are the guys who run several restaurants for the owner. This guy came out of the back with what appeared to be a store manager. It looked as though she had just gotten a solid ass-chewing. Then for the next several minutes the man kept going up to her and patting her on the back as if to say, "There, there, it will all be okay." Who knows really? But it is fun to speculate.
At the end of the day, the coffee is really good, we usually can't complain about the service and there is always something interesting going on. Got any Jim's stories to share? Tell us, won't you, with the comments button below.
Okay, maybe it was closer to lunch time, but we ordered breakfast none the less.
My wife has been eager to try out this place that opened up at Westpointe on Highway 151 just north of Loop 410 called The Egg & I. Let me tell you right up front, I resisted because I just don't like the name. It just sounds like a goofy name for a restaurant. Perhaps a book, a blog site, or a childrens song, but I just don't see a sign for a place that says "The Egg & I" and suddenly think lunch. But I could be wrong.
Business was brisk - in fact we had to wait close to 20 minutes to be seated, which I did not care for one bit. But you gotta figure that if so many people are willing to wait, it must be worth it, right?
If you are going to have to wait anyway, the folks at E&I smartly placed a coffee bar in the front area so you can get a cup of their excellent coffee, free of charge. What a great idea. Since it was close to noon, my wife was pretty much coffeed out, so the free little cup was just enough for her. I wonder if Chili's would consider dispensing free Dixie cups of beer while you wait for your table?
Once seated, we already knew what we wanted to order (we had about 20 minutes to figure it out) so when the waitress came to get our drink order, we gave her the full meal request. A few things you should know. First, on weekdays, they offer free wireless Wi Fi. Second, they have outdoor seating if you'd care to be roasted in the sun, and third, bring a paper, a book, or perhaps a board game to play, because the wait for our meal was forever.
Honestly. In terms of crowds, Jim's and IHOP handle this amount of people routinely, yet the wait for food doesn't seem to take nearly as long. My wife attributed this to the fact that E&I is more of an upscale, Magnolia Pancake Haus sort of set up. So I think what that equates to is, you won't appreciate your vittles if they come too fast. I reckin'.
My wife ordered up the "Waffle Eggspress", a golden Belgian waffle, two eggs and two strips of bacon. This was pretty good. The bacon was especially tasty (yea, I tried some). My wife would have liked the waffle to be cooked just a tad longer - a little more golden brown if you will, but it was also very good.
I thought the Wisconsin Scramble sounded good. It is three eggs scrambled with a quartet of cheeses: Swiss, Monterey jack, cheddar and cream cheese, then topped with green onions. The eggs come with ranch potatoes, toast and sausage. A few notes: First, the scramble was very good. Who would have thought of cream cheese in your eggs? Good stuff. The potatoes had some sort of ranch taste. I think I would have been happier with the "regular" taste. The sausage was excellent just like the bacon. The toast may have been buttered back in the kitchen, but they don't serve any additional butter with it. Enjoy the Smuckers. To do it again, I think I would have opted for biscuits.
Overall, the food was all good and in spite of the name, they also serve lunch. The Reuben caught my eye, so I'm sure we'll be going back for another try. If you are just interested in getting a quick breakfast, I'm not seeing this as the place to go. But if you've got an hour or so to hang out and wait for your food, be sure to give it a shot.
My wife has been anxiously awaiting the opening of the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) at the 1604 and Culebra location, and when it opened last week, she was ready to go. But of course, I preferred to wait until the weekend so we could hit it for breakfast as opposed to something like early evening BLT's.
So this morning, with little or no fanfare, we made our way in to no lines, no wait for a table, just in the door and ready for coffee. Since I don't do Denny's, my only good comparison is with the new Jim's that is located just up the road on the other side of 1604 in Alamo Ranch. We have been to that Jim's several times and have had to wait up to thirty minutes for a table, so honestly, walking right in to IHOP was totally unexpected.
Something I wish Jim's would adopt is this idea of putting a carafe of coffee at your table. IHOP seems to recognize that when they serve coffee in a 6 ounce cup, you'll be wanting a refill, and you won't want to be looking around for some waitress when you could just as easily pour it yourself. Kudos.
Speaking of waitresses, there was an army of waitstaff on duty. I kid you not, it was as if it was some sort of ride-along program for waiters. My wife noted at one table, they had two waitresses handing a customer a single plate of food and a third waitress delivering a straw for a cup of OJ. Thanks, but I hope y'all don't mind splitting the tip.
We both ordered up the Sampler platter. Not because we were so enormously hungry, but because when inspecting the menu, it was obvious that for the same price (I think it was a steep $7.99) you got about twice the meat product as if you just ordered pancakes, eggs and bacon.
With the Sampler package, they bring you some hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham or Canadian bacon - I'm not sure what it was, some sort of green leafy thing, and two fluffy pancakes.
It is a lot of food to eat, but call me a complainer when I tell you that the pancakes should be bigger. They were very light and fluffy - I may have mentioned that already - and they were good but in my mind I was comparing them to what you get in the same size order at Jim's.
The rest of it was all good and our service was certainly fine. We also got about four or five people handing us our food when it was served, so we know they cared.
At the end of the day though, I have to tell you that given a choice, I'd prefer Jim's. My wife is more the fan of IHOP. I was just glad it opened so it could relieve some of the pressure off Jim's, easing the wait time for a table. But as we drove by, we noticed that in fact, Jim's was still packed. I guess not everyone fell for my little ploy.
Have you tried the new IHOP? Are you and Jim's person over IHOP or do you still put up with Denny's? Tell me about it, or leave a comment here. Need more pictures? See the Flickr Page.
My wife and I were in the HEB Plus yesterday and I stopped on the aisle where they showcase the selection of bread mixes. Okay, not really much of a selection at all - in fact, the one we really liked on the first go round, the Honey Wheat Berry was not there. So, I grabbed a European Cheese and Herb mix and gave it a whirl this morning.
We were out at Jim's for a late breakfast and when we came home, opened up the house to an incredible smell of hot bread goodness. I'm guessing that the bread machine must have finished within minutes of our return. Look at how the bread rose up over the top of the container.
And this is the finished product. If we were not so overly stuffed from pancakes at Jim's, I'd give it an immediate taste test, but I suppose it can wait a bit.
After what seemed to be years, I mean, really, years from the time they purchased the land at the now booming intersection of 1604 and FM 471 or Culebra Road if you prefer, the Jim's restaurant finally opened this week and this morning, my wife and I got some!
If you live anywhere within the vicinity of the greater Alamo Ranch area, you are no doubt giddy with excitement over all the new stores and restaurants we have. But the wider selection did not stop the crowds eager for a breakfast fix, and we waded through soccer teams, churchgoers and people with hangovers to get what is really the equivalent of Denny's but with much better service. (Of course, I don't do Denny's anymore, so how could I know?).
While we waited, in the spacious and comfortable holding pen, many people chatted with fellow patrons regarding all the new stores and restaurants; those already open like Olive Garden, Mama Margie's and of course the Starbucks, and those planned, such as Red Robin, Chick-a-lay (as we call it) and of course the new IHOP under construction. I suspect that once the initial thrill of having a Jim's (and eventually an IHOP) close by where people don't have to make the torturous trip up the bottleneck at Braun and 1604 to get to another suitable place to eat, the crowds will die down, but for now it was jam-packed and they kept the wait very reasonable.
After the promised 15 minute wait, we were seated and commenced to look at the menu for something suitable to eat. Although it was already close to noon, we had nothing but breakfast on our minds. Our waitress was lickity split with the menus and off to grab waters and coffee. Considering that there was never a single table, booth or bar stool open for longer than it took to clean off dirty plates and seat the next hungry crowd, I'd say the staff (probably many of them new to the Jim's system) were firing on all cylinders. My wife did a quick count of just the visible staff and she saw 25 folks. That means many more in the kitchen pumping out eggs, bacon and pancakes and lots of folks to serve them up to eager aspiring triple-bypass cases.
My wife ordered the Southern Pecan Pancakes, eggs (over easy) and bacon. She also got a side of hash browns which we shared. Oh, who am I kidding, I ate her eggs as well as mine because the pecan pancakes overwhelmed her.
She started on the pancakes and simply could not stop eating them to even try the bacon, eggs or hash browns. She didn't eat a third of the cakes before commencing the Happy Dance and declaring them superior to Magnolia Pancake Haus (I know, those are strong words.)
I had the Texas Two-Step Breakfast which is buttermilk cakes with eggs over-easy, bacon, and juice. I'll put Jim's buttermilk pancakes up against any one's. My eggs were a little harder than "over easy" and the bacon seemed a little jacked-up in my mind, but that didn't stop me from dipping it in egg yolk and tossing it down my gullet a piece at a time. I have to be honest; if we had been at home, I would have picked up the plate and licked it, but that sort of thing really pisses off my wife.
I can't describe the issue with the bacon. It looked great, tasted fairly normal and my wife had no complaints with hers. Maybe it was all the syrup and orange juice that caused some sort of taste bud situation. Who knows?
At the end of the day, let's not lose perspective here; it was breakfast at a diner. Reasonable price, great service especially given the crowd, and outstanding pancakes. The new Jim's in Alamo Ranch gets the Tasty Treat in their first week, and you can't beat that.
We'll keep an eye on them to see if they go all Denny's on us. Tell me how your visit to Jim's went.
Both times we decided to sit at the counter and enjoy watching the operation of the place. I have flipped burgers before, but I suspect there is a whole lot more going on behind the scenes at a full menu restaurant. As someone may be ordering pancakes or waffles, another person could be ordering a chicken fried steak.
You can observe the cooks in the back all doing their individual parts to construct the final plate full of food for delivery. A manager of some sort directs the entire operation from her position, barking orders to the cooks when a plate lacks some bacon and calling out the waitstaff as their orders come up.
Last week, I had a hankerin' for grits and decided to get the eggs and bacon with grits and biscuits combo. Really, this is what breakfast is all about.
My wife is not into grits and often uses the line from My Cousin Vinney to ask, "just what is a grit?" Instead, she loves Jim's hash browns and opted for the ham instead of the bacon. I think they gave her my eggs, and me, hers, because I like them over easy, and she likes them over medium. Who knows what that means or how they should look anyway?
This morning, we changed it up a bit and I tried a western omelet (minus the bell pepper). For my tastes, it was cooked a bit much, but there was still some gooey goodness going on with the cheese.
My wife opted for a waffle with the strawberry topping. I know, it looks good, but in the end she decided to scrape off all the topping because it had somehow made the waffle really soft. She likes a crisp waffle - and who doesn't?
