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Friday, May 5, 2000
'Bakery' serves simply good entrees and pies
Chocolate-cream and apple pies bring dinner at Aransas Pass institution to climactic end
Since 1929, the folks in and around Aransas Pass have stopped here for a cup of coffee, a hearty omelet, a sandwich, a chicken fried steak, a piece of pie or just good neighborly conversation.
Over the years, not much has changed.
Tom Jones still plays over the soft clatter of dishes, the coffee is still served with ample chatter and there's still liver and onions on the menu - and people still order it.
In a world of accelerating change, the Bakery Café in Port Aransas has held steady. And for people here, that's just fine. As evidence, A.D. Hanke Jr., the son of the original owner, still stops by several times a week for both breakfast and supper, just like he has all his life and just like many others do.
Hanke, 71, said he likes two eggs up with toast and decaf coffee in the morning. In the evening, it's Mexican food or fish, sometimes maybe a steak.
Nothing fancy, said owner Bill Hartofilax, just good food.
Sure, they don't bake as much as they used to, since long-time baker, "Big Eddy," or Edmundo Gonzales, passed away about nine years ago. But they still make their own doughnuts and rolls. And just about everything else on the menu is made there too.
"People out here want a home-cooked meal, and they don't want any of that frozen stuff," Hartofilax said.
Not fancy, but good
Inside the Bakery Cafe, powder-blue vinyl booths line one wall, and the griddle and a huge collection of heavy, brown ceramic coffee cups not widely seen since the 1970s lines the other. A single row of tables is in the middle and a long linoleum counter overlooks the grill.
On our recent visit, we found ourselves a booth and were met quickly by a friendly waitress. While the kids instantly hit the crackers that accompanied the condiments on the table, our waitress brought cups of coffee with the spoon dunked right in and cartons of milk for the kids.
Among the menu selections are burgers (Hazel's deluxe hamburger basket for $3.95), sandwiches, seafood (Jimmy's Captains seafood platter $12.25), steaks (Texas T-bone $11.95), salads and fried or grilled chicken livers. Breakfast, from French toast to omelets (D.J.'s Western omelet with 'the works' goes for $5.95), is served all day, except, the menu points out, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The special for the day, redfish, she told us, "was just so-o good," so we tried it. As with the rest of the seafood here, it was fried. The meal came with a crisp, cold salad of iceberg lettuce (they were out of the soup) and french fries.
The fish was served hot out of the grease; the crispy, crunchy breading was fried golden brown and the fish was moist and flaky. Nothing fancy, just good fried fish (the french fries, however, were the frozen variety.)
My dining companion ordered from the Mexican selection on the menu - cheese enchiladas - which came piping hot with beans and rice.
The enchiladas were good, packed full of cheese and smothered in gravy, but somewhat bland. A little more heat in the sauce would have suited our tastes better. But the mostly older crowd that favored the Bakery Café at the time we visited seems to like them just fine the way they are.
Model sandwich
For the kids, more fried fish and a grilled cheese sandwich. The fish was a half-portion of the special. The grilled cheese sandwich on white bread was much appreciated by the boy who ate it all. Cooked on the griddle, it was oily and browned on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. It could have been held up as a model as to what a grilled cheese sandwich should be.
Throughout the meal, the service was sporadic. Our waitress was friendly and helpful and very talkative, but often left us for long periods of time as she and the other waitress attempted to tend to the other diners. And at one point, before she brought us the pie, she absentmindedly left a dirty dishrag at the table.
The pie, however, was the highlight of the meal, even if it was eaten over a dirty dishrag.
We tried both kinds on hand (apple and chocolate cream), and were lucky to snag the last piece of chocolate cream pie.
The apple pie was as good as my mother's, with a flaky crust and plenty of sweet, spiced apple. But the chocolate cream pie was fantastic. Rich and smooth, and piled up high with a fluffy whipped topping, the pie in itself was worth a return trip.
And, just like the regulars who have come back here for decades, I probably will.
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