Eggs Bubba

One of our ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ called me the other day to ask about breakfast restaurants in town. Her sister is visiting from California and they wanted to go out for breakfast and have Eggs Benedict. When I stopped laughing, I asked her if she was serious. You want Eggs Benedict? Here? In this town? Or anywhere near this town?

About the only place open for breakfast is the Denny’s up on the main highway, and in my not-so-humble opinion, I would not eat at a Denny’s if I were starving. The cafes in town here are not open for breakfast, and lunch is served only from eleven till two and everything closes up by three. And Eggs Benedict is definitely not on anyone’s menu around here.

I told my friend that she would be better off driving up to College Station (40 miles away) and going to IHOP... surely, the pancake house should have Eggs Benedict on their menu. (She called them, and they do.)

So all day long, I kept thinking about Eggs Benedict, and the possibility of a Hill Country restaurant having that on their menu. And me being me, I got carried away.... and came to the conclusion that such a menu choice would be called Eggs Bubba up here. The description would be three fried eggs, a side of bacon, a few onion rings, your choice of Texas toast or biscuits or cornbread, with the option of adding hot sauce or jalapeños on top of the eggs. It would be served by an older waitress who calls everyone Darlin’ or Honey and she would be topping off your cup of hot coffee every time she passed by your table.

I told my cousin F up in NY about Eggs Bubba and we sent frantic eMails back and forth that whole afternoon, deciding on the final breakfast options for Eggs Bubba, as stated above. F told me not to forget that the table would be covered in a red and white checked cloth with matching napkins.  No way. I told her that the cafes up here have wooden tables with a big roll of paper towels plopped in the center of the table. Paper towels? Absolutely. F was crushed.

So this is what this particular city girl has come to.... restaurants without tablecloths, no Eggs Benedict on a breakfast menu, and paper towel rolls as a centerpiece. Welcome to the Hill Country.