About a year ago, I was on restaurant.com, looking for a lunch option in town. I love restaurant.com because there are tons of options in other cities and states, and it's helped me find some great places. But it's just now growing in Stillwater. I came across Café 33, which is about 15 minutes away in Perkins. Mary and I went, and had a great experience, even though I'm convinced they killed the cow when I ordered my burger.
Aaron and I had been talking about going back to Café 33 for a couple months. He had never been there before, and I'm always up for a good burger. But then he threw a wrench at me, wanting to go for breakfast. Good thing is I'm not going to say no to breakfast.
Café 33 is a unique place, located inside the Perkins Livestock Barn. When Mary and I walked in the first time, we were 100% overdressed in our work clothes, and everyone looked at us funny. Unless you’re in cowboy boots and Wranglers, you’re going to look kind of out of place.
Inside the restaurant is kind of like a step back in time. There’s lots of old pictures and signs on the walls, the tables are all 4-tops with a couple of large round family-style tables. It’s a full-service restaurant, but then you pay at the counter when you’re done.
We were both really hungry when we looked at the menu, which often isn't a good thing because then everything looks good. And since neither of us had been there for breakfast, we decided to get a few different dishes and share. Besides, we had to spend $20 to use the restaurant.com coupon, and their individual breakfast dishes are inexpensive.
Peaches & cream omelet:
Peaches & cream omelet:
This was definitely the most adventurous thing on the menu. We weren't so sure about it, but the waitress said it was good so we decided to try it. And we weren't disappointed. The chunks of peaches were huge and fresh and really well seasoned. I wasn't sure how peaches would taste with eggs; it was okay, but since I already had eggs I ate more of the peaches than anything else. If I got that again I would ask if they could hold the eggs.
Hearty scramble:
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| Two eggs, hash browns, ham, onion, green pepper |
The hearty scramble comes with ham and green peppers and onions. It was delicious, but not as hot as I would like. The bacon was cooked a little more than I would do, but they were nice thick strips and very good. In reality, there’s no such thing as bad bacon. The hash browns were all perfectly cooked and delicious. I like that they don't over-season them, so you can add salt or pepper as needed. Almost every dish we had came with hash browns, so we had way more than we needed.
Chicken fried steak:
Chicken fried steak:
Before I moved to Oklahoma I had never eaten chicken fried steak. I really didn't even understand what chicken fried steak even was. And I quickly learned that unless you’re from the south, you most likely won’t. I've only had it a handful of times. I always want to make sure I get it from someplace good so I’m not disappointed. This place is on the good list. It was a good sized steak, but not obnoxious. It was seasoned and breaded really well, and served super hot. And they didn't go overboard on the gravy, which can happen really easily. I’m glad we had the gravy from the biscuits & gravy to add to it.
Blueberry pancakes:
I’m not a huge pancake person, but Aaron really wanted the blueberry pancakes so we ordered them. I’m glad he did, because they were fluffy and delicious. But I already had so much other food that I only ate a few bites.
I’m not a huge pancake person, but Aaron really wanted the blueberry pancakes so we ordered them. I’m glad he did, because they were fluffy and delicious. But I already had so much other food that I only ate a few bites.
Biscuits & gravy:
You can’t get a good southern breakfast without biscuits & gravy. So of course we added those into the mix. The biscuits were freshly made and still warm, and the gravy was outstanding. Also, who can turn down this dish when there's big chunks of sausage in the gravy? Really, really good.
You can’t get a good southern breakfast without biscuits & gravy. So of course we added those into the mix. The biscuits were freshly made and still warm, and the gravy was outstanding. Also, who can turn down this dish when there's big chunks of sausage in the gravy? Really, really good.
People around us kind of looked at us funny when all the food came to the table. And I’m quite sure they were appalled--or maybe impressed--at our domination.
There were 2 down sides to our experience. First, our food took forever to come out, which was kind of surprising because it wasn't all that busy. Now that I think about it, the same thing happened on my first trip, but lunch did come out a little faster. Maybe they only have one cook during breakfast. Second, the flies. They were everywhere, and extremely annoying, and that didn't happen on our first trip. I believe part of it was that it was a very hot, humid morning. Also, we were at an animal auction house. And they weren't super expedient with clearing tables of food. But the food and atmosphere are great. And yes, I plan to go back again soon. Just not when I'm in a rush.
