Start with the pie case at Judy’s Cafe. Judy bakes them every day, and on a good morning the case holds coconut cream, chocolate cream and cherry, with cakes and cobblers filling in around them. If you want a whole one, call a day or two ahead. They go.
Judy’s has been on West Campbell Road in Garland since 2014, a family-run diner that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu is where it pulls away from the pack.
Breakfast runs all day, and it is a long read. There are eight skillets, from the Banquet, piled with ham, sausage, bacon and vegetables under cheddar, to the Big Apple with diced chicken and apple sausage. There are omelets, crepes, cheese blintzes, silver dollar pancakes by the ten-count, and a Texas Country Benedict built on a biscuit with sausage patties and gravy. Look for the French toast made with cinnamon swirl bread from Vlore Bakery, either stacked in a lumberjack combo or turned into a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich.
Look closer and a Greek thread runs through the whole thing. The house omelet is feta, onions and tomatoes. The house salad comes with imported feta, anchovies, pepperoncini and Greek olives. You can get gyro meat with your eggs, in an omelet, over a skillet of hash browns, or as a plate with Greek salad. The pork chops come Greek style too, seasoned and finished with Greek sauce.
At lunch the kitchen leans Texas. The chicken fried steak is hand breaded and served with country gravy, and so is the chicken fried chicken. The broasted chicken is a quiet star, sold as a plate or by the bucket for carryout, from eight pieces up to twenty. There is young steer liver with grilled onions for the people who still order that, and a Monte Carlo sandwich with ham, turkey and Swiss between two slices of French toast.
The soup changes daily and never moves: cream of broccoli on Monday, tomato on Tuesday, cream of chicken and rice on Wednesday, vegetable beef on Thursday, cream of potato on Friday, chicken and dumplings on Saturday and vegetable beef again on Sunday. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes shows up on Thursday and Friday. Tuesday is Pie Tuesday, when a slice of pie, cobbler or banana pudding goes on sale.
There is a short list of mimosas, including a Poinsettia made with cranberry juice, plus bottled beer and wine by the glass. If you would rather bring your own, there is a small per-person corkage fee.
Judy’s takes reservations, which is worth knowing on a weekend morning, and does catering and private parties.
Judy’s Cafe, 3443 W. Campbell Road, Garland. Call 214-703-9989. Closed Thanksgiving.
