Tying On The Feedbag At The Feedlot Cafe

We were looking for a breakfast place in Marana, Arizona this morning. When I saw there was a place called the Feedlot Cafe, I figured we had to try it. When we drove up to the entrance and saw that the restaurant was part of the Marana Stock Yards, and you entered the building with the restaurant under a statue of a bull, I knew we made the right choice.

It turns out that most of the Marana Stock Yard building isn’t a restaurant at all. The Feedlot Cafe is in one corner of the building, most of which is devoted to a livestock auction arena. You can see the holding pen and some of the seats for bidders in the photo above, but the hall itself is much larger. And whoever decorated it really, really liked cattle heads.

The Feedlot Cafe itself was great. if you’re looking for a breakfast spot, eschew the chains and look for a joint that only serves breakfast and lunch. If you find one, that means you’ve likely found a local place that draws a local crowd and charges local prices. And that, in turn, means you’re doing to get great value and great food for your dollar. The Feedlot checked all those boxes and didn’t disappoint. My sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and an oversized biscuit slathered with fresh butter and honey was a serious breakfast feast for less than $10. Add in some orange juice and a bottomless cup of very good coffee and you’re looking at a fine meal for a very reasonable price.

This place was terrific in every respect. The food was great, the waitress was polite and friendly, the locals who were eating didn’t give us the evil eye, and the decorations screamed authenticity. My favorite touch was the cowboy boots spelling out “howdy” in front of pictures of cowboys at rodeos.

If you’re in Marana (which is a bit north of Tucson off I-10) and looking for breakfast or lunch, you can’t go wrong at the Feedlot. I’d gladly tie on the feedbag there any day.

Reaching New Heights In Sports Programming

Last night I turned on the TV and was doing some channel surfing when I came across this broadcast. I had to rub my eyes and look twice to confirm that I was, in fact, seeing a televised match of performers in the “American Cornhole League.” That’s them, on a screen busy with sports betting information, wearing their jerseys covered with sponsor logos, weighing their respective beanbags before giving them carefully calibrated flight toward the target. The contestants exhibit professional concentration as they toss their beanbags, grimace if they don’t find the corn hole, and then walk down to the target to do it again. I didn’t have the sound on, so I don’t know whether there was a play-by-play guy breathlessly describing the action and a color guy providing detailed analysis.

Cornhole is a fun game to play at a tailgate or cookout, with beer in hand and a willingness to suffers the taunts of your friends if you make a bad throw. As sports TV goes, however, it’s not exactly riveting stuff. Even Howard Cosell couldn’t make it interesting.

If you’re going to have a professional yard game league, why not lawn darts instead? At least that involves the risk of contestants being impaled.