"Abita Springs Cafe And My Thoughts While Staring At A Church."

Fakin' it with negative shapes and great grub!

It's been a while since I've had the time to ease into the morning with some coffee, a pen and a sketchbook. Two weekends ago, my wife and I stood in an unorganized, but well behaved, line waiting for a table at the Abita Cafe in downtown Abita Springs, LA. We had to wait for about twenty or so minutes, but it really was our fault. It was Sunday brunch time and services at the little church across the street just exploded with the exiting faithful.

Faithful to get a seat at the cafe in time for brunch, that is.

When we finally got to sit down, it seemed the weather had changed. People who had no problem, twenty minutes ago, sitting outside on the veranda, slowly began to bundle up or request an indoor table. But, we were nice and cozy with a cup or two of the cafe's own brand of dark roast coffee. At $2.50 a cup, I made sure I got my free refills quite often. I think the waitresses understood, ha!

Anyway, I had a four egg Greek omelet with hash browns and it was excellent. The omelet comes with fresh basil apparently from their own back yard garden, and asking for a little extra created no turmoil or nasty looks. 

I'm always hesitant to order hash browns because every cook's idea of what that means is different. You really don't know exactly what state of mind the hash browns can come in, but these were great. I don't remember what my wife had, but she appeared to be awfully quiet on the other side of the table until her plate was empty. So, I guess she loved what she ordered.

The only problem I had with this meal, besides the crowded situation, was that I could not just sit and stare out the window and people watch. My partner in life can't sit that still, so we left the restaurant not too long after we finished eating. It would have been rather selfish, anyway, to hog a table on this Sunday morning.

But, a few wet aggravating days ago, I went back to test another omelet and calm down. The week hadn't started off to well, and I felt I needed some comfort food. It was almost lunch time, but they  were still serving breakfast. This time, it was their famous Alaskan Smoked Salmon omelet with scallions and dill sauce. Very nice tasty and rather light. And, again, the hash browns were treated with the same love and respect as they were two weeks earlier. 

I love consistency!

Of course, the coffee flowed, as my sketchbook and I enjoyed the time off to eat, think and stare, and capture what I could with pen in hand... southern styled!

Copyright 2015/ Ben Bensen III