Sometimes things don’t go as planned. And sometimes, things not going as planned can end up pretty darn good.
Like today….plan was to go to a unique little sandwich place across town. But El Paso Saturday afternoon Christmas shopping got in the way of that. Trying to avoid the masses, we gave up on that unique litltle sandwich place and headed in the direction of home. And just as we were heading to the true home stretch, into our view came a place we’d been meaning to try. We’ve been in El Paso for over a year now, and we had yet to get to Village Inn. Yep, it’s a chain. And no, it ain’t foodie in any way. But sometimes you just want something served up old school coffee shop style. And Village Inn delivered.
By this time, we were starved. So we headed in and salivated at the pie case (well, I did anyway). The hostess showed us to a comfy booth, and we settled in to take a gander at the menu. Our surroundings were good ol’ coffee shop decor, just like what we’d grown up with and were hoping to see here. And what better meal to get in a coffee shop than a burger and fries? I went with the All-American Cheeseburger, and Richard had his topped with bacon.
As we sat and waited, we watched at numerous people came in to pick up pies to go. Oh yes…..pies. I had heard that Village Inn was known for their pies, so you can bet that was going to part of my dessert order.
But back to the burgers….our burgers and fries arrived and they were just what we wanted. Nothing fancy, just good coffee shop burgers. My Swiss cheese was good and melted, and my burger was cooked up just right. The fries needed a little salt, but once I added that they were just right (as in hot, crisp, and tasty). Richard loved his burger too and said that the bacon was cooked up just right (he likes it crispy).
Now time for those pies. Richard is a cake person, not a pie person. But even he could not resist the pies of Village Inn. He, of course, had to go with the “red” pie (cherry). Our server offered to heat it up, but he preferred it at room temperature. He said that it was “red and flaky”, and he ate every last bite. As for me, I come from a real pie loving family. We ate birthday pie rather than birthday cake. So I’m serious about my pie. There were quite a few tempting flavors to choose from, but I had to go with the caramel pecan silk (I mean, who can resist that?). And yes, it was good. It was a multi-layered mix of some of my favorite flavors ever. Now the pie crust was not the best I’ve ever had, and the “whipped topping” was not real whipped cream. But even so….it was a darn good tasting piece of pie. And I’m sure that more Village Inn slices o’ pie are in my future.
All in all, we had a very tasty and relatively inexpensive meal at Village Inn. The food came quickly, the service was just fine, and it was nice and comforting to eat once again coffe-shop style. Sometimes that’s just what you want. Especially when things haven’t gone as planned!