Cow Girl Cafe

My daughter is pregnant, again. This is cause for celebration because now I get a grandbaby girl to spoil, but it is cause for serious side of dining as this girl eats like a linebacker when pregnant. There is no “nouveau cuisine” in her wheelhouse when she is ready to eat. Adjectives like big, hearty, cowgirl size are what she looks for when picking a restaurant. I was please to find not one, but four restaurants that could tame the beast she calls an appetite called the Cowgirl Café.

For over twelve years, Cowgirl Café has been serving up the best cooking this side of the Mississippi. The portions are large and the quality is unmatched. She started with the biscuits and gravy to wet her appetite. It was a huge serving of savory gravy and homemade biscuits that originated from Grandma’s “covered wagon” style cooking. She was pleased and moved on the Giddy-Up breakfast that included three eggs, two pieces of Canadian bacon, two sausage links, two strips of bacon, home fries (the red potato kind) and toast. Big, tasty and perfect for a pregnant girl appetite (or a ranch hand). She loved every bite and told me how this is her husbands favorite breakfast spot.

Many of the recipes at Cowgirl Café are from owners Pat Addy’s great Grandmother’s trail cooking in Texas. I tried the Chicken Fried Steak with its robust gravy. For the uninitiated, this is a dish consisting of a piece of steak (tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. In Texas, this is the reigning queen of comfort food or down-home cooking, or as Texans affectionately call it CFS. After living in Texas for a six-month stretch, I can report this was delightful.

My next visit, I tried the Potato Skins and Eggs, an interesting combination of sliced baked potatoes with a huge heaping of scrambled eggs on top, then a dollop of sour cream and crumbles of bacon. The informality and simplicity pleased me to no end. My friend, who I saved from a boring bowl of oatmeal at home, had the Breakfast Burrito. This large tortilla filled with egg, bacon, hash browns, and salsa was as big as her head and delighted her senses.

Addy sites that his food being connected with an unpretentious way of life is a major part of Cowgirls success. He told me “Customer service, attention to detail in the restaurant and family fun is a big part of what they are about. They are dedicated to providing you with the best tasting down home cooking”. I agree as I have never seen restaurants so clean, friendly, and reminiscent of Southern rural life.

Cowgirl café has locations in Nipomo (501 Orchard Road), San Luis Obispo (1055 Olive Street), Paso Robles (1316 Pine Street) and Atascadero (8300 El Camino Real Suite A) or check them out on line at www.cowgirlcafe.net. They are open for breakfast and lunch only.