Basic Brunches does Rapscallions

Rapscallion. Typically known as a mischievous person, in this case I am referring to the mischievous (somewhat) new restaurant located in Lower Greenville. Although they've been receiving rave reviews for their standard lunch and dinner options, back in September they opened up their doors just a littler earlier than usual to start serving brunch.

Rapscallions lovely brick facade.

Typically, I will admit, I keep to my comfort zone. I live in Far North Dallas where Addison, Plano and Frisco are king. I occasionally travel to Uptown for brunch because, to be fair, their brunch scene is on point. Also their demographic is 20-something career kids that love nothing more than getting turnt the night before and hitting some hair of the dog on Sunday mornings and Instagramming about it. But Lower Greenville is an area that I have yet to venture to. For this brunch a fellow Instagrammer Vicky D invited me out so we could finally meet in person and she chose the place.

While parking is slightly limited in the surrounding area, and everywhere threatens to tow you, Lower Greenville is quite quaint. Cute little walkable streets with plenty of food and shopping options. It's a place I need to explore more. Upon arrival to Rapscallions it seemed like it could accommodate our party of two but were told there was a 30 minute wait that obviously started with us because no one else was waiting yet. We said we'd sit outside but it was deemed too cold to serve on the patio, although this is Texas and really you just need to wait 5 minutes. Our wait ended up being no more than 20 minutes.

Rapscallions is the Lower Greenville version of Ida Claire. With their farm to table, "eclectic" menu and their hipster dressed waiters with ironic facial hair all over the place. The only difference really was that at Ida Claire they serve their mimosas with Rose while Rapscallions does their mimosas the traditional way with champagne. The menu is very limited and savory heavy. If you are interested in some kind of sweet dish like french toast I recommend you look elsewhere. The only sweet options on the menu were located on the appetizer section. And while, yes, you could easily turn the monkey bread into a personal meal, I wouldn't recommend it.

It's not much in way of full brunch meal

We ordered the Gammy's Monkey Bread to share which came out looking delicious and it did not disappoint. It was warm and just the right amount of goo for pull apart bread. It will get all over your hands if you choose to eat it that way. But it's very easy to pull apart so using your fork is a more civilized option.

Monkey Bread for two!

Vicky was debating about getting the "Old Soba" which is a NOLA style lo mein dish which is a pork head broth with pork belly and shaved pork collar. There are noodles and an egg in there too but you are looking at consuming all parts on a pig. She ended up picking the Duck Confit Hash because hash is her weakness, The hash is sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, poached duck egg and duck fat hollindase.

I went a different route and choose The Big Biscuit. Typically biscuits and gravy isn't my thing unless I'm getting it at Old West and it's smothered with eggs, potatoes, cheese and spinach but this looked like it would be good. It's a house-made sausage patty on top on the house-made biscuit with a heavy pour of pork fat gravy and two sunny side eggs. I personally don't like my eggs sunny side up so I asked for them to be cooked just a little longer. While the dish was as good as it looked I will admit that cutting the biscuit proved difficult at times.

The Big Biscuit!

The only, slightly ridiculous, thing that happened on our brunch trip was once we got up to leave the table next to us decided that we were inconveniencing them by sitting there because not only did they want to spread out a bit but they also wanted out chairs. As we got up to walk out we heard one of the ladies at our neighboring table say "Finally" and snag one of the chairs. Really?

Overall I would go to Rapscallions again but it's a place you need to be craving. With the limited menu and small space you need to want savory food and be ok with a wait. The food is done well and worth the wait but the menu prices are a little high.

The Best Breakfasts of Denton

School is back and in full swing. For some of you that means college. Whether you're new to your campus or maybe you just don't explore your college town, I am here to help. Well, specifically I'm here to help Dentonites, both old and new.

I attended the University of North Texas for college, majored in Advertising and Marketing. I spent 3 years living there, plus the 2 additional years of me basically being there almost every weekend because the S.O. is finishing up school still. Between the two of us, plus some additional Denton-based friends, I feel I can help you in your foodie problems.

In what will be a small series of posts I will let you in on some of the best places to eat in Denton. Wait, disclaimer, "in my opinion". You might try these places and think that they suck, that's fine, at least you tried. There are some places on this list I don't personally recommend but other people do. So, again, here are some of the "best places" to eat in Denton:

Let's start the show with the most important meal of the day. Breakfast.

Denton does not have a big, breakfast-based, subsection of restaurants. I think it's because it's a college town and most people aren't up till 11:00 anyways. There are some gems in there though, especially for the weekend.

Seven Mile Cafe:

Seven Mile Cafe is located off Congress street. Originally, it was a small house that was converted into a restaurant that also had a massive, kinda storage unit looking, coffee cafe right next door. Recently they switched the locations. The tiny house is now the coffee cafe and the bigger location is the restaurant. Logically it makes sense. There is always a wait at Seven Mile if you show up after 9:00 AM, in this larger location they can fit twice the amount of people. The downside is that the larger location is a giant box that has no sound absorption so it's loud, and the old coffee bar, which is still there, takes up a lot of real estate in the center of the room.

French Vanilla Cappuccino 

The prices are just a little high. Not high enough to stop you from going but, for Denton, it makes you think twice sometimes. Most dishes are priced in the $10-15 range. That and tacking on a $5 mimosa and your breakfast is already at $20. Go with another person and now you're at $40. The food though is good, but more importantly, it's consistent. I've rarely been disappointed except when I got their loaded potatoes. It was basically a large ramekin filled with hash browns and cheese, and, if I was lucky, I found a small piece of chorizo or bell pepper. That dish just lacks texture. It was boring. It was fine, nothing was wrong with it, it was just boring. I recommend their french toast, or their huevos rancheros.

Look at that French Toast. Yum yum, delicious.

Old West:

Old West is a staple in the Denton community. Everybody goes here. Literally everybody. This is the place that the post-church crowd hits. High traffic times are between 9:00 - 10:30 AM. If you show up in that time frame expect to wait at least 20 minutes. The place is small. More than once I've been at the outsider table that's located against the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen prep area. You don't want to sit there, but you will sit there because the food is massive and delicious. Pancakes as big as your head. I get the panhandlers which are biscuits and gravy topped with potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese and a variety of meats and vegetables of your choosing. I usually get spinach, bell peppers and chorizo with pepper jack cheese. I never liked biscuits and gravy until I had them slathered in additional ingredients and now I'm all about it.

Look at all that food! You can't even see the biscuits!

Royal's Bagels:

Home of the "Best Cinnamon Roll in Texas" Royal's Bagels is located off University. It's a great pop-in/pop-out joint. Bagels, bagel sandwiches, and cinnamon rolls. I love bagels like the natural born New Yorker I am. It's in my blood to love them. Although I doubt the bagels themselves are made in house they make all the sandwiches to order.

Gooey cheese and crispy bacon. Is there anything better?

The cinnamon rolls are made in house. They are rather large and you can get them covered in extra frosting, which you probably should.

Never turn down extra frosting.

This is where I eat when I just want to grab something and go. I always get an everything bagel with eggs, bacon and cheese. I've dabbled in their cream cheese bagel options, opting for one that was peanut butter fluff and bananas. I think monkey was in the name. It was good, but there was a lot of cream cheese which isn't always my thing. It was a sloppy mess, spilling out the sides every time I took a bite. I'm sure that's how it's supposed to happen but I'll pass.

Loco Cafe:

Loco Cafe is the hippest of trendy joints out in Lil D Town. Been there once, wasn't a fan, but you might be. It's a place where you order at the counter and then go find your table. If you order a drink like specialty coffee you  have to retrieve it from the coffee bar, which I didn't like. They also gave me a hot coffee when I clearly ordered the iced coffee, which also rubbed me the wrong way. I honestly don't remember what I ate so that should tell you that the food, to me, is probably mediocre at best. Give it a shot. I might have been having an off day but I'm not about to go again.

Cups and Crepes:

This is a place off Fry. I've literally tried to eat there twice and have YET to eat there. First time I drove over and it was clearly open but there is no parking on the street. So you're only option is to park in the driveway (because this too is an old house converted into a restaurant) where you have a 100% chance of getting blocked in. So nope, drove somewhere else.

Second time I tried to eat there I walked because it's that close to where I stay. Get there and place looks busted, mind you it's only been a week or two from the first attempt. Doesn't look open and there is a sign on the door that reads "Closed for Summer". Um... you were open just the other week. Plus summer is over, school is back. Be open. Apparently the SO told me that he's heard bad things about this place. That they're kinda all over the board and you never know when they're open. I just wanted to include this so you know it's probably not a place you want to eat. But if you're lucky enough to get inside the doors let me know what you think.