The Breakfast Klub

There is nothing better than meeting friend for breakfast, especially when you get to enjoy a wonderful meal just like you were at home. The Breakfast Klub is a well-known establishment in Houston and I am embarrassed to admit that I just now made it there. We went early to avoid the block long line that forms later in the morning. The two breakfast specialties of The Breakfast Klub are the chicken and waffles and the fried catfish and grits. Ever since my trip to Charleston, I feel as though I have become a grits snob so I am cautious now about trying grits. I can't say that I am a huge fan of catfish, so I opted for my version of the first option - chicken and pancakes. This came with six giant pieces of chicken (3 wings and 3 drumsticks) and 3 platter size pancakes. Just the normal Texas sized portions - everything is bigger and better in Texas right? The chicken smelled amazing and was fresh from the fryer! The coating had a nice crunch to it and lots of seasoning. The chicken was steaming hot and fresh...some of the best fried chicken I have had. The pancakes were light and fluffy, but to be honest they weren't anything super duper special. That could be because I never order plain pancakes so it could just be that I don't have the proper palate to compare plain pancakes. If you haven't been to this Houston staple, you need to make sure that you do. Make sure you go early to avoid the huge line and be sure to bring a hearty appetite!

To MAX's!

I know that I recently talked about my first brunch experience at MAX's Wine Dive, but it was so good I needed to go back and share the experience with some more of my friends. Plus I needed to try the red velvet pancakes because that's all I kept hearing about! However since I brought a long a friend, I didn't have to decide between savory or sweet this time at brunch. I got the best of both worlds. The menu this time was a mushroom omelet with jalapeno cheddar grits, eggs any style, and red velvet pancakes. Though I didn't try the eggs any style, it came with homefries, bacon, and toast and it smelled delicious. The mushroom omelet was fluffy and smooth. The thyme and mushrooms gave it an earthy quality and the cheese added a perfect touch of creaminess. The grits were amazing. I haven't had a lot of grits before, but these were smokey from the jalapeno but not spicy. The completed the flavors of the omelet very well.

What's brunch without dessert? These red velvet pancakes, RVP, were topped with a dallop of lemon cream cheese and it was like a fluffy heavenly cloud. It tasted like red velvet, but wasn't overly sweet and the lemon was a nice touch. It added an extra something special and something I will definitely add into my next red velvet cake. If you get a chance to try these, I promise you won't be disappointed. Next up on the menu for my next trip to MAX's wine dive are the Nutella banana crepes and the creme brulee french toast. I would say that there is plenty left for me to, brunch or dinner, so I am sure that I will be back many more times. Thanks again MAX's for such a delicious meal!

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel

Living in the South, everyone is so surprised that I have never been to Cracker Barrel before. However, after hearing that they have some fabulous Christmas decorations (yes, I did witness these first hand and they were right), I put it on my "I'll get to it eventually list". So finally I got to it and kicked off my weekend with a delicious breakfast. The other interesting thing that I have heard about the breakfasts there are that they come with a ton of food and are very competitively priced. Again, they were also right about that. Though I went a different route, you could have gotten the Sunrise Sampler, which includes eggs, grits, biscuits and gravy, fried apples or hashbrown casserole, and either bacon, sausage, or turkey sausage for about $8.00. Talk about large portions. Let me just for warn you that this isn't a super healthy place, but I don't eat breakfast like this very often, so I decided to indulge. I opted for blueberry pancakes. They were light and fluffy and filled with blueberries. They were also served with a homemade blueberry syrup. It is not like the fruit compote that has chunks of fruit or that tastes really artificial. It had a syrup consistency and wasn't overly sweet. These were really good pancakes and felt like you were in your own kitchen. It gets very crowded especially on the weekends, so be sure to get there early!

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Breakfast is a meal that I could eat at any time because there are so many options. You can either opt for the sweet side, like pancakes and waffles, or the savory side, like eggs and potatoes. To me, there is something about Sunday that means a big leisurely breakfast with the whole works. I love hearing about great breakfast places and the Food Network gave me a great option. When you are in San Antonio, you absolutely must stop by The Magnolia Pancake Haus. This place is only open for breakfast and lunch, and there is always a wait! If you want to go on Saturday or Sunday, expect a long wait, but I promise it will be worth it.

When you first open the menu, you are greeted with a wide variety of pancakes, waffles, and all sorts of egg dishes. However, there is one thing that will surely catch your eye. This place offers something that you can't find anywhere else. "Authentic Munchener Apfel Pfannekuchen", pronounced fan-e-koo-kan. This is basically a Bavarian apple pie pancake that's a family recipe. Though I really wanted to try this amazing sounding dish, I have found that I like to try my good ole favorites to see how they do them. For me, this is a stack of chocolate chip pancakes. All I can say is that the batter was light and airy and the chocolate chips melted perfectly into the batter. They weren't overly sweet and had the perfect chip to batter ratio. I think they definitely nailed the pancakes! Plus they are the size of a plate, so you most likely have leftovers to enjoy again.

They also have a fabulous pecan waffle that was very light and the added sweetness of the maple syrup gave it a pecan pie like taste. As big the plate, this waffle is sure to fill you up with just the right amount of morning sweetness. I have been to a fair number of breakfast places and sometimes the hash browns are a real disappointment. They are usually dry and bland or not crispy and limp. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicious these hash browns were. They were grated with just the right thickness, had plenty of flavor, and were definitely crisped to perfection. Let's just say there were no leftovers of these.

The Magnolia Pancake Haus definitely lived up to all the hype and it's a good thing that I don't live closer because I might just become a regular. If you are going to be in the area, be sure you stop by at any time and try it out because I promise it's worth it!