Sunday Brunch at Pecan Street Station; Good Choice…

I wanted breakfast, but I didn’t want to cook. The kitchen was configured for jelly production, and it just seemed like too much work to rearrange, get out all the starters and then make the breakfast I wanted.

It was going on mid-morning too.

PJ was toodling around the front room, not doing anything much. Yes, it was one of those aimless, low-energy mornings you get every now and again. Still, I was hungry. What to do…

I decided to look online for some lunch options. Instead, due to a spelling error (or maybe my fingers have minds of their own), I found myself looking over brunch options. And in our area, there’s one we’ve known about for a while but never taken advantage of. So we locked up the menagerie and headed out to Pecan Street Station.

This eatery got its start years ago in a too-small place in downtown Pflugerville. It quickly got a reputation for great breakfast offerings, burgers and sandwiches. The owners, James and Robin Akin, knew they had to move to a larger place, so they headed west and had a new place built, about a half mile from their previous location. They moved into the new digs in 2008. A clean, American style place with a basically square footprint, it’s in an open area a bit away from downtown, well east of the High School and right on the main east-west artery. Good location choice! Combined with continued good food preparation, it’s a winner in this sleepy little suburb of Austin.

For us, the rub is that we seldom go into downtown Pflugerville. So we just never stopped by. No time like the present to fix that oversight!

Since I was still hungry for breakfast, I ordered a Denver omelet with wheat toast, hash browns and orange juice. Paula Jo believes that breakfast is perfect anytime, so she chose one of their eight breakfast combos the No. 2: Scrambled eggs, bacon, OJ, with a side of biscuits and gravy. That pretty much hit all her hot buttons favorites, excluding pancakes. We paid, took our claim check and headed back to the booths.

The crowd was quiet, but over half the seats were filled at mid-morning. Why so quiet? Eating, that’s why! Not a lot of chatter, but many smiling faces and busy flatware. As we waited I watched the dining area and sized up the space. Clean, bright with lots of windows, plenty of light-colored wood and solid, matching furniture. The booths were spacious and the tables spotless. There wasn’t a lot of kitschy stuff around, no attempt to turn this place into some joint with high attitude. They don’t need it, frankly, with the overall relaxing ambience. There’s little to distract from the dining experience.

Which happened quite quickly! Our food arrived soon after we sat down, everything steaming nicely. My omelet was perfect: No runny eggs, no burned spots, plenty of fillings and folded properly. Sometimes you can tell the cook doesn’t quite know how to build and fold a meal-sized omelet. The cook at Pecan Street knows how! Nothing magical about the toast, of course, and the hash browns were golden brown and delicious. I sprinkled on some hot sauce and dug in.

PJ’s eggs were done the way she liked them, and there was a nice-sized pile of them too. The bacon was crisp-chewy, with plenty of flavor; not underdone and greasy nor too crisp to be enjoyed. The biscuits were tender (some places serve Navy surplus hardtack, which these clearly weren’t) and smothered in bright-white cream gravy. For my tastes (and yes, I cheated tasted them) the gravy was a bit flat, and although it had visible pepper in it, I wanted more of that too. Still, given their need to hit the broad middle of their clientele’s tastes, this was Good Stuff. Besides, you can always add salt and pepper. (I didn’t see any powdered garlic or curry available, but I didn’t miss it. This time.)

Normally PJ and I have a good, spirited discussion during a meal. This time, though, with the mellow surroundings and Hoovering up all the goodies, we were as quiet as the rest of the clientele. We smiled, too.

Now that we’ve “broken the ice” (so to speak) on going to Pecan Street Station, I think we’ll be back fairly regularly. And I may sneak off and try their fabled burgers for lunch, one of these days. It’s well-produced comfort food at a solid value, and you just feel good when you’re rolling strolling out to your car to meet the rest of your day…

Pecan Street Station, 1005 Pecan St. W., Pflugerville, TX 78660. Phone 512.251.0296. Fast-Casual American fare seven days a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner (closed Sunday evening). Takeout available. Outdoor dining available. Ample parking.

Enjoy the (Homestyle Brunch) Heat!