The Austin Diner
We know they can do breakfast. But what about lunch?
By Rachel Feit, Fri., April 23, 2004
Monday-Friday, 6:30am-2:30pm; Saturday-Sunday, 7:30am-2:30pm
Breakfasts are, in my opinion, the most under-appreciated of meals. Breakfast is regularly the meal of the day when comfort becomes essential; experimentation and strange flavor fusions are banished from my table. Great breakfasts are about habit, cravings, and food nurturing. And because of this, sometimes they are hard to find. While a person can hardly walk two blocks in Austin without stumbling over a joint selling breakfast tacos or plates of huevos rancheros, a good old-fashioned Southern-style breakfast is harder to come by. Thankfully, I live within walking distance of one of my favorite Southern-style morning eateries.
The Austin Diner, known previously as Laura's Bluebonnet Kitchen, looks and feels like an old-fashioned diner. With a clever arrangement of vintage Fifties tables and chairs, an impressive collection of vintage percolators, and an old-fashioned dining counter, it lacks only a gum-smacking, bouffant-bearing, middle-aged waitress to make it a stereotype.
In terms of chow, the Austin Diner consistently proves it is one of this city's best breakfast spots. Be it fluffy gingered pancakes, fat omelets, crispy home fries, or flaky buttermilk biscuits smothered in cream gravy, this North Austin cafe always hits the mark. The mostly Mexican kitchen staff also whips up very respectable huevos rancheros and breakfast tacos. Though I admit I shy away from ordering those things when I go there (if it's Mexican breakfast I want, I patronize one of the many establishments that specialize in it).
Instead, I usually opt for one of their sticky sweet Cinnamon Rolls ($1.95), served in a bowl, piping hot with warm buttery glaze. Or, if I am feeling exceptionally hungry, there's the Diner's Double Trouble plate ($6.95), featuring two eggs cooked any style, home fries, crispy bacon, sausage patties, and biscuits and gravy: enough food to fortify through an entire day. Then, there is the Austin Diner's four different types of pancakes, which can be had topped or filled with chocolate chips, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, or apples. The cottage cheese Jake's Cakes are exceptionally light, moist, and always a treat.
With breakfasts as good as they are, it is difficult not to be tempted by one of the great-looking lunch specials. Conceptually, these contain all the right elements for mouth-watering comfort cooking: meat loaf, slow-cooked pork roast, spicy gumbo, and fried catfish, not to mention a serious selection of sandwiches. But regrettably, these have yet to make a positive impression on my tastebuds.
The Chicken and Sausage Gumbo ($1.95/cup), for instance, tasted more like a New England clam chowder than a gumbo, and its strange gelatinous texture frankly disturbed me. Their Chicken Salad ($5.75) was watery and thin, and the Chicken PotPie ($6.25) was bland. The Fried Catfish and Oyster Plate ($7.75) I tried was too heavily breaded with cornmeal (though to the kitchen's credit, the oysters inside were cooked perfectly), and the spinach casserole and green bean (out of a can) sides were only mediocre. The service at lunch is surly and slow, and on several occasions I left wishing I had eaten someplace else.
How can a restaurant this good for breakfast be so misguided at lunch? Even the service, which at breakfast is congenial and efficient, doesn't compare. What can I say? The Austin Diner will remain one of my favorite morning destinations. Do go for breakfast, and well avoid the lunch.
