Black Bear Diners are now in Fort Worth. Plus another California cafe has bloody marys
Two California breakfast cafes have arrived, and one is already impressing Texans.
Black Bear Diner, from the base of Mount Shasta in northern California, serves the kind of giant, hearty platters that give California a reputation for breakfast.
Black Bear Diner chain locations now bookend Fort Worth. One is at 9501 North Freeway, near Heritage Trace Parkway, and another is at 12613 South Freeway near Burleson.
Also open from California, but feigning Louisiana roots: Huckleberry’s Breakfast & Lunch, 711 Keller Parkway, a Central Coast chain from Pismo Beach serving creole dishes (and bloody marys).
Both chose locations wisely. Far north Fort Worth is often jokingly called “Kellerfornia.”
But the draw of Black Bear Diner reaches far beyond Fort Worth. The parking lot at the north location is full of huge pickup trucks with dealer badges from across Texas and Oklahoma.
They come for the vast menu of large platters and for the mountain-country theme. The diners are often compared to a Cracker Barrel, but with stuffed bears and better cooking.
Many California or New York diners can’t figure out how to bake biscuits. But at Black Bear, they’re the size of an orange.
Black Bear Diner also specializes in a “volcano” stack of pancakes in increasing sizes, and huge mugs of morning coffee.
Black Bear’s biggest seller companywide is chicken-fried steak. But here’s a hint: Don’t expect a California chain to get that right.
Stick to the eggs Benedict or the stuffed strawberry or blackberry french toast, or the fresh-baked “bear claw” the size of a plate.
The lunches and dinners include routine burgers, salads, sandwiches and platters, plus a few extras not often seen here such as roast turkey nightly or tri-tip steak.
Desserts include a house-recipe bread pudding along with cobblers, cream pies, cakes and the bear claws.
Black Bear Diner serves breakfast through dinner daily; 817-662-6421 north or 817-953-8801 south, blackbeardiner.com.
Huckleberry’s: Creole cooking via California
In Keller, Huckleberry’s enters a market dominated by hometown favorites DeVivo Bros. Eatery and Seven Mile Cafe, along with nearby Southlake chains.
Ignore the calendar and try Huckleberry’s “Mardi Gras” beignets anytime.
They’re doughy, more like cake doughnuts than the sopaipilla-shaped beignets we know from Louisiana. But they come with strawberries, peaches and (a California giveaway) huckleberries — like a sweeter blueberry.
The Brooks family, 70-year restaurateurs from Fresno, California, started Huckleberry’s to offer a restaurant with “Southern hospitality.” (And cocktails.)
So the menu includes dishes such as a shrimp-mushrooms-and-eggs skillet with creole sauce, along with andouille sausage, benedicts and California versions of fried green tomatoes, jambalaya and chicken gumbo.
For a cross-culture breakfast, try a andouille-and-eggs burrito with potatoes, peppers, onions and creole sauce or “Cajun” chili (?).
Huckleberry’s is open for breakfast and lunch daily; 682-593-0437, huckleberrys.com.
