Most of my donor visits this year have been with club seat holders, but I have had a few meetings with suiteholders. This was the case Friday morning, when I met with a brand new client in Dallas. I figured since I was in Dallas anyway it would be a great opportunity to meet and do our new suiteholder orientation. When I started at OSU in '07 and for the first few years, I did the orientation on campus in August, and it was usually a group of about 15-20 people. But then last year we only had 3 new clients so it made more sense for me to go to them. I really prefer it that way, and plan to continue as long as the numbers of new suiteholders are low. We can do a more in-depth meeting, they can ask more questions, and we cover more material. Funny thing is, since I had emailed Jeff the manual and all the attachments a few weeks ago, our official conversation only lasted about 30 minutes and the rest of the time we talked about everything else.
Jeff lives in downtown Dallas near SMU, and I was staying in Flower Mound about 30 minutes away. So we agreed to meet somewhere in between. I went online, looking for something on the north side of the city, and came across Benedict's Restaurant. It's located in Addison, one of my favorite parts of Dallas. That's the area where I usually stayed before I met Joni & Tony. It's convenient to everywhere in Dallas, and there's tons of restaurants and shopping.
The restaurant is on the corner of one of the many strip malls in the area. I don't even think I've ever seen it before, probably because the front entrance is very plain looking, with just block lettering for the name. Between the late Thursday evening, early wake-up, and major traffic, coffee was the first thing on my mind as soon as we sat down
The inside kind of reminds me of a grandmother's house. It's a mix of 4-top tables and larger family-style tables.
I love the huge floor-to-ceiling windows all the way around. When I first walked in I thought the restaurant wasn't that big, because we were seated in the first area to the left. But later I saw that there are 4 sections of dining space.
The restaurant is open for breakfast, brunch and lunch only. It wasn't very full at all when we arrived, but it was also 8am on a weekday so most people were at work. I'm sure on weekends it's packed. There are 2 locations; one in Addison and another in Denver.
We talked for about 30 minutes before ordering. They must get a lot of people coming in for weekday meetings because not once did our server ever make us feel rushed or uncomfortable for taking a long time. She just came over periodically to check on us. And I really appreciated that.
The menu is a lot bigger than I expected. They've got omelets, house favorites, scrambles, hot cakes, Belgian waffles, 10 different benedicts (of course), plus some other items. The lunch menu is quite a bit smaller, with burgers, sandwiches, and an impressive list of gluten-free items.
After some contemplation, I went with the chorizo green chile omelet, and Jeff went with the Greek scramble. All meals are served with country-style potatoes and your choice of English muffin or toast.
My omelet was very good. The combination of chorizo and jalapenos provided a serious kick, but the creamy avocado and sour cream toned it down. I had them put the green chile on the side, because I didn't want it smothered. I liked it that way, so I could add as I wanted. The chile was very flavorful. They offered both regular and wheat English muffin, so I got wheat. It was good, and not heavily buttered. The potatoes weren't good at all, which was very disappointing. They were just barely lukewarm, and I'm pretty sure I got the bottom of the batch. I only ate one bite. I thought about asking for a new serving, but it wasn't worth it. I should have gotten the fruit cup.
Just like my lunch meeting on Thursday in OKC, our breakfast took 2 hours! And once again, it didn't even remotely seem like it was that long. We talked about everything under the sun, and I learned that he's a runner like me. He's done a whole bunch of half and full marathons. We talked about the Rock 'n' Roll Vegas marathon in November. As luck would have it, we have an away football game that weekend. After I did The Colony Half in 2013, I swore off races during football season because I just don't have the time to train properly. But this is the one day of the year they close down the strip for a private event. And the race is mainly on the strip. At night. I may need to make an exception for this one.
As I was walking out the door I saw this
I had no idea pay phones even still existed!
Will I go back? There are so many great restaurants in Dallas that for me to go back to one, it has to absolutely stand out. This one didn't do that, but I kind of want to give it another chance. So yes, I'll probably go back.
Jeff lives in downtown Dallas near SMU, and I was staying in Flower Mound about 30 minutes away. So we agreed to meet somewhere in between. I went online, looking for something on the north side of the city, and came across Benedict's Restaurant. It's located in Addison, one of my favorite parts of Dallas. That's the area where I usually stayed before I met Joni & Tony. It's convenient to everywhere in Dallas, and there's tons of restaurants and shopping.
The restaurant is on the corner of one of the many strip malls in the area. I don't even think I've ever seen it before, probably because the front entrance is very plain looking, with just block lettering for the name. Between the late Thursday evening, early wake-up, and major traffic, coffee was the first thing on my mind as soon as we sat down
The inside kind of reminds me of a grandmother's house. It's a mix of 4-top tables and larger family-style tables.
 |
| Photo courtesy of Benedict's Restaurant |
The restaurant is open for breakfast, brunch and lunch only. It wasn't very full at all when we arrived, but it was also 8am on a weekday so most people were at work. I'm sure on weekends it's packed. There are 2 locations; one in Addison and another in Denver.
We talked for about 30 minutes before ordering. They must get a lot of people coming in for weekday meetings because not once did our server ever make us feel rushed or uncomfortable for taking a long time. She just came over periodically to check on us. And I really appreciated that.
The menu is a lot bigger than I expected. They've got omelets, house favorites, scrambles, hot cakes, Belgian waffles, 10 different benedicts (of course), plus some other items. The lunch menu is quite a bit smaller, with burgers, sandwiches, and an impressive list of gluten-free items.
After some contemplation, I went with the chorizo green chile omelet, and Jeff went with the Greek scramble. All meals are served with country-style potatoes and your choice of English muffin or toast.
 |
| Scrambled fresh eggs, Feta cheese, tomatoes, sauteed spinach, mushrooms, black olives, diced onion and savory herbs |
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| Spicy chorizo sausage, jalapenos, diced onion, diced tomato & melted cheese. Topped with homemade green chile, avocado slices and a dollop of sour cream |
Just like my lunch meeting on Thursday in OKC, our breakfast took 2 hours! And once again, it didn't even remotely seem like it was that long. We talked about everything under the sun, and I learned that he's a runner like me. He's done a whole bunch of half and full marathons. We talked about the Rock 'n' Roll Vegas marathon in November. As luck would have it, we have an away football game that weekend. After I did The Colony Half in 2013, I swore off races during football season because I just don't have the time to train properly. But this is the one day of the year they close down the strip for a private event. And the race is mainly on the strip. At night. I may need to make an exception for this one.
As I was walking out the door I saw this
I had no idea pay phones even still existed!
Will I go back? There are so many great restaurants in Dallas that for me to go back to one, it has to absolutely stand out. This one didn't do that, but I kind of want to give it another chance. So yes, I'll probably go back.
