The Mecca

 When it’s breakfast time at our house and we’re feeling there should be live entertainment while we eat we think of Mecca – or the Mecca.

Although the restaurant is technically in the same zip code as tony Preston Hollow – it’s not exactly in the same neighborhood.  But, that doesn’t matter because nearly everyone in Dallas knows and loves this institution that’s been around since 1938.

Leave your diet behind when you enter the Mecca as the sumptuous smells await – coffee, bacon and cinnamon rolls.  These aren’t just ordinary cinnamon rolls – they’re dinner plate sized and topped with the best buttery vanilla icing you’ve ever tasted.  Everyone sings the Mecca’s cinnamon roll’s praises.  A recent food network episode even featured a challenge to make the Mecca’s cinnamon roll.

The cinnamon rolls are good but there are other things on the Mecca’s menu that won’t send you through the roof on a sugar high.  I love the Migas.  Migas are crumbs in Spanish and these crumbs are melt in your mouth delicious - three scrambled eggs, tortilla strips with chopped onions, peppers, cheese, tomatoes and spices.  They’re served with creamy refried beans and hot tortillas.  The pancakes are scrumptious.  You get your choice of plain, whole wheat, blueberry, banana or chocolate chip.

At lunch, Texas staples round out the menu – chicken fried steak, chopped sirloin steak, chicken fried chicken and fried chicken livers are just some of your choices.  You may want to indulge and try the tender chicken fried steak and a piece of their incredible pie – just pump up your exercise routine tomorrow.

As for the entertainment, you’ll find it in the people who crowd this diner.  You’ll see every strata of society from construction workers, lawyers, bikers with their hogs lined up outside, Park Cities families headed for the links at the local country club, Dallas’ finest also frequent the place so don’t park illegally and mind your p’s and q’s while your at this friendly gathering place.

- by Constance Hannon, Dallas Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Constance Hannon

Connie Hannon is a freelance writer living in Dallas, Texas. She is a native Texan and has lived in Dallas and Washington, D.C. for the majority of her life. Connie graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and received her masters in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University. She was a staffer on Capitol Hill and worked in CNN’s Washington Bureau, and with most of the television stations in the Dallas market.