No joke, Toasted Yolk Cafe will open at 1725 Washington Ave., in the former Marlow Furniture building. A $400,000 building permit has been issued to accommodate renovations to the building that will become home to a growing Houston-based chain that dotes on breakfast, brunch and lunch.
Local real estate agent Colt Kelly, with Kelly Realtors, brokered the deal that brought Toasted Yolk to Waco. He released a statement, saying “The Toasted Yolk Cafe is an awesome breakfast, lunch, and brunch concept that should be a great addition to Waco. I’ve heard construction should be starting soon.”
The menu available online mentions omelettes, French toast, Belgian waffles, buttermilk pancakes, brisket tacos, the pork chop breakfast and a long list of egg specialties that includes the Cowboy Scramble, which features two split buttermilk biscuits covered with bacon, sausage, ham, onions and three scrambled eggs topped with country sausage gravy.
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The lunch offerings include soup, sandwiches and salads: the Reuben, BLT, grilled chicken, the California club, tuna salad, patty melt and chili.
Simply Delicious
Angie Baccus is moving her Simply Delicious Bakery to Midway Plaza off Hewitt Drive. She will close her present spot near the Hobbs Bonded Fibers plant on Commerce Drive on Oct. 15, and reopen by October’s end.
“We are moving because Hobbs needs the space, and we are ready for a new more visible and easily accessible location,” said Baccus.
“We will be adding a few new items to the menu and will increase our daily offerings that are in the counter for walk-in. We sell about 30 to 50 custom orders a week and about 1,000 to 2,000 cookies and cupcakes a month depending on the season,” she added via email. “I grew up baking with both of my grandmothers and my mother, and I use some of their recipes in their bakery. I’ve always had a love for baking and cake decorating. I do still help bake and decorate, but I have a staff of eight to 10 cake artists and bakers.”
Buc-ee’s founder
Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, who co-founded the revolutionary Buc-ee’s chain famous for sparkling restrooms, Beaver nuggets and bans on 18-wheelers, is a proud Aggie. As such, he will receive the 2022 McLane Leadership in Business Award from Texas A&M University. Specifically, it is bestowed annually by the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy, which operates within the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
Aplin received a construction degree from A&M in 1980, and opened his first Buc-ee’s in Lake Jackson two years after graduation. A news release said Aplin recently announced he would contribute $50 million to A&M to create a hospitality entrepreneurship program at his alma mater.
Perhaps ironically, the McLane Leadership in Business Award was established by Temple businessman Drayton McLane Jr., a Baylor University alumnus and benefactor for whom the school’s football stadium is named.
H-E-B queue-worthy
Greater Waco residents may harbor a jaded view of H-E-B, the Texas-based grocery chain that seemingly has had a presence here forever. It remains the dominant local grocery, operating five area locations.
But the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has only dreamed of having an H-E-B to call its own, the San Antonio-based chain buying and hoarding land at strategic locations there but never turning earth. Many H-E-B fans in North Texas, starving for attention, celebrated the announcement H-E-B would build in Frisco and Plano this year. The Frisco store opened Wednesday, with the Dallas Morning News reporting that about 1,500 people were standing at the door to enter at 6 a.m., and that some had been waiting hours.
“We’ve got The Star, Dallas Cowboys and PGA, but I am not sure anything has had this level of excitement in this community,” said Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, quoted in the Morning News article.
U-Haul expanding locally
U-Haul is hauling millions to 211 Colonnade Parkway, where permits show it will build a $10 million storage building, a $1.6 million U-Box warehouse and an $800,000 drive-up storage facility, according to permit information provided by the local Associated General Contractors office.
These projects reportedly expand U-Haul’s existing presence just off West Highway 84, in an area near Jewell Drive. They reportedly will not replace the U-Haul complex at the busy Waco Drive/Valley Mills Drive intersection.
What’s that?
Curiosity abounds regarding construction going on at Cottonwood Creek Plaza, the mixed-use development at New Road and Interstate 35, home to Cinemark, Main Event and Topgolf. Work abounds near Cinemark’s main entrance, and visitors are wondering what’s going on.
Austen Baldridge with NewQuest Properties, developer for the site, has not returned messages seeking comment. But the Cottonwood Creek Plaza marketing brochure on the NewQuest website sheds a little light. It shows two spaces, each 8,313 square feet in size, flanking the Cinemark entrance. “Now leasing exciting patio opportunities overlooking the lawn,” blared another message posted on the NewQuest brochure.
The site mentions that negotiations continue for a “proposed restaurant user” and a “proposed coffee user” near the Interstate 35 frontage road entrance to the development. As the Tribune-Herald reported last Sunday, Black Rifle Coffee Company has secured a building permit to build a retail store, drive-thru lane and dog park on the Cottonwood Creek grounds.