We have a love hate relationship with Oddfellows in the Bishop Arts District. We love the food but hate the long waits. But they have this wonderful fried tomato sandwich that beckons me and as a result, I’ve subjected my IttyBittyFoodies to the brutal waits – three times. On a fine day, diners can wait outside sipping coffee or hot chocolate made with their super expensive La Marzocco Strada Espresso coffee machine and the kids just wander about and playing with the piano outside.
Lollo, friend, Pikelet love that piano
And when you finally get seated, the service doesn’t get any better at Oddfellows. The servers take their time with everything – menus, ordering, delivering drinks, getting anything else like an extra avocado or a refill on a water.
But then the food arrives. Pikelet & Lollo are ravenous and Beefcake hyped up with their ‘handcrafted caffeine’. We all descend upon the dishes and they are consistently great. You almost wish the food was bad so you had an excuse not to have to suffer through another long wait but those oh-sooo-thick buttermilk pancakes are just to die for. The portion is huge and everyone takes a chunk.
Pikelet adores the salmon stack – lovely smoke salmon with avocado. It is a snack size which is enough for a five year old.
And for Beefcake, his favorite is the Chicken Club with pepper bacon, frisee, egg, tomato and avocado. Again… it’s huge and absolutely satisfying.
the fries are awesome too
For me, it’s the aforementioned fried green tomato sandwich, which consists of a Texas farm tomato, bacon, sprouts and mayo. It’s a little piece of perfection sandwiched in a fresh ciabatta roll.
the craziness inside
Lunch takes about 2 hours on weekends – 10 minutes to eat and the rest for the grueling wait. Now that Oddfellows is opened for dinner, perhaps that might open up some options for people. But on one of our trips there, we did chance upon a lovely treasure in Oak Cliff – their local organic grocer Urban Acres where we found the tastiest milk from Texas Daily Harvest.
the wait outside
I know we complain about Oddfellows but when the hankering for that perfect fried green tomato strikes… there’s nothing I can do but to wait and wait till they call our name for the table. For more info and all that good stuff, click here.
Oddfellows - food for all (who wait)
Till our next Happy Meal!
ITTY BITTY INFO:
- Food: Great cafe items like fried green tomato sandwich, fresh salads and soups, beignets too! Strong coffee.
- Ambience: Casual
- Service: Oh it’s a killer…. Their tag is Oddfellows – Food for All but I’d like to add it’s food for all who wait
- Kid Friendliness:
The long waits make it difficult for young children but there’s lots of items for kids on the menu - Cost: $$
- Itty Bitty Foodies Tip: Try going early on weekends or go on a weekday when it’s not so busy
- Parent Foodies Tip: Smooth strong latte!
