By Teri Bayus

One of my daughter’s is pregnant. This is cause for celebration because now I get another grand-baby girl to spoil, but it is an occasion for serious dining, as this girl eats like a linebacker when she’s pregnant.
There is no “nouveau cuisine” in her wheelhouse when she is ready to eat. Adjectives like big, hearty, and cowgirl-size are what she looks for when picking a restaurant. I was pleased to find not one, but four restaurants that could tame the beast she calls an appetite called the Cowgirl Café.
For over 15 years, Cowgirl Café has been serving up the best cooking this side of the Mississippi. The portions are large and the quality is unmatched. She started with the biscuits and gravy to wet her appetite. It was a huge serving of savory gravy and homemade biscuits that originated from grandma’s “covered wagon” style cooking. She was pleased and moved on to the Giddy-Up breakfast with three eggs, two pieces of Canadian bacon, two sausage links, two strips of bacon, home fries (the red potato kind) and toast.
Big, tasty and perfect for a pregnant girl’s appetite (or a ranch hand). She loved every bite and told me how this is her husband’s favorite breakfast spot.
Many of the recipes at Cowgirl Café are from owner, Pat Addy’s, great grandmother’s trail cooking in Texas. I tried the chicken fried steak with its robust gravy. For the uninitiated, this is a dish consisting of a piece of steak (tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. In Texas, this is the reigning queen of comfort food or down-home cooking, or as Texans affectionately call it CFS.
After living in Texas for a 6-month stretch, I can report this was delightful.
The pancakes were perfect and piled high like a small town water tower. The bacon was crispy and thick. Everything about the meal was large and wonderful.
I tried the potato skins and eggs, an interesting combination of sliced baked potatoes with a huge heaping of scrambled eggs on top, then a dollop of sour cream and crumbles of bacon.
The informality and simplicity pleased me to no end. My husband, who I saved from a boring bowl of oatmeal at home, had the breakfast burrito, a large tortilla filled with egg, bacon, hash browns, and salsa that was as big as her head and delighted his senses.
Addy sites that his food being connected with an unpretentious way of life is a major part of Cowgirl’s success. He said, “Customer service, attention to detail in the restaurant and family fun is a big part of what they are about. They are dedicated to providing you with the best tasting down home cooking”.
I agree, as I have never seen restaurants so clean, friendly, and reminiscent of Southern rural life.
Cowgirl Café has locations in Nipomo at 501 Orchard Rd., San Luis Obispo, 1055 Olive St., Paso Robles, 1316 Pine St., and Atascadero at 8300 El Camino Real Ste. A, or check them out on line at: www.cowgirlcafe.net. They are open for breakfast and lunch.