Bill Smith's Cafe

Recently I finally got around to trying Bill Smith's Cafe in McKinney.  My wife and I had several people recommend this place to us, so we loaded up the girls and went there for breakfast on Saturday.  This place also made D Magazine's list of The 20 Best Breakfasts in Dallas.  When we pulled into the parking lot, we actually had to make a couple of loops because it was so packed.  We finally got parked and were able to find a table in the back of the cafe.  I would guess that there were probably around 125 people in the cafe on a Saturday morning around 8:15.  A packed house is usually the sign of good grub.   

A young lady ready to eat some pancakes!

The inside wasn't much to look at, but luckily I had this beautiful lady sitting across from me.

Our waitress was extremely friendly and quickly got our coffees as we looked over the menu.  I ordered chicken fried steak, scrambled eggs, and biscuits and gravy.  The chicken fried steak was perfectly cooked with a crispy crust and was so tender I could cut it with a fork.  Although it was small (breakfast portion), it was one of the top five chicken fried steaks I have ever had.  The biscuits were homemade and the gravy had just the right amount of pepper in it.  The eggs were mediocre at best, but the awesomeness of the chicken fried steak more than made up for the eggs.  Pancakes were the item of choice for my daughter and she ate every bite of her short stack.  My wife had the breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, and pancakes.  When I asked her how she liked it, she said she wanted to make breakfast here a Saturday family tradition.

Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs

Short Stack 

Homemade biscuits and gravy.

I have been looking for a great breakfast place that is close to the house and I think I have finally found it.  Bill Smith's Cafe is not only tasty, it is very affordable.  The wait staff was friendly and very attentive.  The place isn't much to look at and it has the look of a dive, both inside and out.  But we all know that looks can be deceiving.  I would rate Bill Smith's Cafe a 4 on a 5-point scale.  If you live in the Collin County area, I highly recommend giving this place a try.  Just make sure you take cash, because they do not accept credit cards.

P.S.  On the way out, I noticed they had several varieties of homemade pies.  The lady at the register said that they made them from scratch each morning.  I will be coming back here for lunch sometime and might take a pecan pie home with me.

I Love Burgers

One night while we were in Vegas, we went looking for a quick bite to eat before going to see the David Spade show at the Venetian.  Our first two restaurant choices were packed, so we found another restaurant nearby called I Love (Heart) Burgers.  It too was crowded, but at least there was not a wait here.

Fried Mac N' Cheese

We were served by a waitress that looked a lot like the singer Pink, glared at us like Beelzebub, and had a sense of humor like......oh wait, she had no sense of humor.  All the other tables around us had nice, friendly waitresses, but we had a waitress that looked like Mr. T (if he was a mean woman and was a little more masculine).  For starters we ordered fried pickles and fried mac n' cheese.  The mac n' cheese was okay, but the fried pickles were less than spectacular.  A couple of us ordered the BBQ Bacon Burger, another ordered the ultimate cheeseburger, while the other guy in our party ordered the I Love Bacon Burger.  The burgers were okay, but not near as good as some of the others I have had lately.  For a side, I ordered the parmesan garlic fries and they were less than impressive 

BBQ Bacon Burger

Parmesan Garlic Fries.

I was not impressed with this place, but it wasn't horrible either.  We didn't have to wait very long to get our food, but our waitress was scary and constantly glared at us like an anaconda eyes a capybara.  We were extremely hungry after a hard day of gambling and watching hoops, so the mediocre burgers were still devoured.  Overall, I would give this place a 1 on a 5-point scale.  I will probably not go back to eat here if I can help it.

Taco Villa in Benbrook

While growing up in West Texas, Taco Villa was my favorite fast food restaurant.  In fact, every time I would go back home to visit my mom in Lorenzo, we always went to Lubbock to eat at Taco Villa at least once a visit and sometimes twice in a weekend.  Recently, Taco Villa opened up their first Metroplex location in Benbrook, Texas.  Benbrook is still about an hour and fifteen minutes from McKinney, but we happened to pass through Benbrook on the way home from Granbury.  Since we were so close, we had to stop and grab some grub.

This isn't all mine.  I let my wife have one of the burritos and gave her a couple of fries.

This isn't so much a restaurant review, as it is a public service announcement to those living in the Metroplex.  You absolutely have to go eat here if you like fast food Mexican gut bombs that are very tasty.  I highly recommend this place.  My fellow West Texas refugees stuck in the Metroplex already know the merits of this place and we are anxiously awaiting the opening of other locations in the DFW area.

The wife eating a bean burrito, aka the "Baby Poop" burrito.

When I eat at Taco Villa, I don't play.  I order enough Mexican food to put a grizzly bear through an entire winter hibernation.  This trip, we ordered tacos, taco burgers, bean burritos, and mexi-curls (seasoned curly fries).  They have a pretty extensive menu, but these are my go-to favorites.  My favorite menu item is the taco burger, which is seasoned taco meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato served on a hamburger bun.

A happy fat kid.

I left our meal about five pounds heavier than when I went in, but it was worth it.  This Taco Villa had the same menu items as back home and the food tasted exactly the same.  This place is truly the cream of the crop when it comes to fast food Mexican.  Much better than Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Del Taco, Taco Casa, etc.  Go eat here and enjoy!  Definitely a 4 out of 5 on the fast food scale.

Public House

While recently staying at The Venetian in Vegas, I discovered Public House by accident.  Three of the four in our group had just arrived in Vegas and we were looking for a place to watch March Madness while waiting on our other buddy to arrive.  We had just bet on our games for the day and happened to notice several TVs that had different games on, so we went into the Public House.

I really enjoyed sitting in this area with all the TVs.

We ate here in the late afternoon, so they were still serving the lunch menu.  I decided on the chicken sandwich with herb fries, buddy #2 went with the pub burger, and buddy #3 saw the large selection of beverages and decided to drink his lunch.  My sandwich had grilled chicken, ham, provolone, and spicy sour beer mustard served on a pretzel bun.  This was unquestionably the best grilled chicken sandwich I have had in some time.  The flavors blended perfectly and the pretzel bun was the icing on the cake.  The herb fries were pretty good too.  My buddy that had the pub burger said it was great as well.  The third member of our party who decided to drink his lunch did not complain about his meal either.

Great chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun

Pub burger and fries

I really liked the food here and it was a great place to watch games.  It was crowded, but we were able to find seats in the lounge.  On top of the good food, Public House ended up being a great place to visit with friends while watching March Madness as well.  The service was great and the waitresses were easy on the eyes.  I would rate Public House a 3 on a 5-point scale.  The menu had several other items that looked great, so I look forward to going there again next year, watching some hoops, and trying some other menu items.