From the people who brought us Denton favorite The Greenhouse Restaurant, Loco Café offers a casual dining breakfast and lunch menu with drink options to compete with the many coffee joints around town. I step up to the counter and place my order, have a seat and take in the local vibes as I wait for my food to be delivered (I don’t have to wait for long, though; service is quick). The décor is streamlined, minimalist and diner-chic, with photos of local sites and delights hung about for nostalgic enjoyment. A compass on the wall compels me to think I’ve been guided to just the right place for a Monday morning brunch.
The menu offers a unique selection of breakfast and lunch dishes. The produce is local (hell yeah!) and all the food is prepared in-house. For breakfast you’ll find choices ranging from huevos rancheros, to Johnnycakes (a solid stack of cornmeal pancakes soaked with maple butter), to the Loco Café signature, Loco Moco. Inspired by the popular Hawaiian dish, but with an all-American breakfast twist, the Loco Moco is a stack of biscuit, hash browns, eggs cooked-as-you-like, cheese, and their exceptional 603 salsa. I kept it simple and ordered the “Kid’s Meal”, which comes with an egg, savory hash browns, and a hearty honey butter-drizzled biscuit that was simultaneously doughy and flaky and left me perplexed and amazed and wholly satisfied. At only $4, I thought I’d died and gone to Americana breakfast heaven. For lunch the highlight is red snapper—you can get it in a sandwich or in some tacos; both are topped with carrot slaw and served with a side of black beans. Not big on fish? Get yourself a grilled three-cheese sandwich or a B.L.T. Sounds simple enough, but I’m sure the Loco Café has found a way to make their sandwiches distinctive. And for all you vegetarians out there, this place will surely please with its many veg-head options.
With my brunch, I ordered one of their shaken iced teas. Best. Idea. Ever. Iced tea and homemade fresh flavors like hibiscus and blueberry, tossed into a cocktail shaker with ice, then poured into a frosty glass… it was the perfect post-bike excursion tonic. I had the fresh mint flavor and learned the mint was picked from just across the street on Greenhouse property. I was ecstatic—local-food fanatic ecstatic. Their coffee is local, too; it comes from the Ruta Maya Coffee Company in Austin, TX. All fruit juices are fresh-squeezed and their wide variety of tea is all loose-leaf. Get creative with any drink and add one of their fresh flavors to your coffee, tea, juice or soda; the flavors are just too good to pass up.
You can book your next company luncheon, book club meeting, or motorcycle gang reunion in their private room. A special group menu is available. If you like fresh, local food that mixes the traditional with the unique, be sure to check out Loco Café. Hangovers welcome.
-- by Liz Hopper
Loco Café
603 N Locust
Denton, TX76201(940) 387-1413
Hours:
Mon-Fri 6 am - 2 pm
Sat-Sun 7 am - 3 pm