Pat’s Pick
Happening
For Chow Hounds
Whether you're a native or naturalized Texan, you should be ashamed of starting your day with a latte and a toaster tart. Get in the swing by having a "cowboy breakfast," a diet-defying spread of scrambled eggs, home fries, biscuits, gravy, sausage, strong coffee, and more. An authentic working ranch near Claude takes you via a horse-drawn wagon out to the rim of the Palo Duro Canyon for the long-running Cowboy Morning (reservations 800-658-2613), with its famous Dutch oven biscuits cooked over mesquite coals. At Dixie Dude Ranch (800-375-9255), in Bandera, you actually have to get on a horse and ride to the ranch's chuck wagon for breakfast. To be sure you're on time, stay overnight at the 67-year-old spread. Way out in the Big Bend, the folks at Lajitas, the Ultimate Hideout (432-424-5000) send you on horseback out to Star Gazer Mesa to watch the sun rise while you eat migas, house-smoked sausage, and biscuits and gravy liberally seasoned with blowing ash from the fire. Finally, to dine in a more urban setting closer to home, check out your local stock show. Austin's Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo (512-919-3000), for example, will dish up Western fare plus pancakes, doughnuts, and pigs in a blanket on March 12. Wherever you eat it, a cowboy breakfast should have you back in the saddle—or ready for a nap.
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