Poor Richard’s Cafe • www.poorrichardscafe.com
2442 K Avenue, Plano - 75074 • (972) 423-1524

The Story: The location Poor Richard's Cafe occupies started out as Park Mall Coffee Shop back in 1973.  In the ‘80s, shortly after Richard bought it, he decided to change the name to something meaningful rather than being named after a shopping center. Richard had been a high school English teacher for 15 years before getting into the restaurant business. One of his favorite things to teach was Ben Franklin and Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, so the name Poor Richard's Cafe evolved.
The Café has always been just breakfast and lunch, Texas-style. They are open from 5:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., seven days a week. If you eat there enough, you are bound to make some friends. Many of Poor Richard's employees have been working there for over 15 years. A "regular" is someone who frequents the restaurant 3 to 5 days a week or almost every weekend. They are 80 to 85% of Poor Richard's business. Over the past three decades, the menu has doubled from 60 items to 120, so frequent diners never get bored.   

The Setting: You may be turned off when you drive up because the line to be seated is almost always out the door or close to it, but the line actually goes very quickly and you may be outside to eating within 20 minutes. And it’s worth the wait! The decor is simple. There are lived in booths and wooden chairs and tables and what looks like 100 servers. That’s probably why the service is second to none and you are in and out within the hour. You’ll probably want to linger, though, after being stuffed full of homestyle cooking and sweet tea.

The Breakfast: They have what you would expect from a Texas-style breakfast joint: Chicken Fried Chicken or Steak (hanging over the edge of the plate and completely covered in thick gravy) with Eggs, Migas, Grits, Home Fries, Pancakes and Biscuits and Gravy. My favorite thing, though, is the Eggs Benedict Sampler. You get one Benedict with sausage, one with ham and one with bacon. They have all sorts of samplers if you are indecisive like me and this is one of those places where you want to try everything. 

The Lunch: They have lunch specials every day and none of them will set you back more than $8…and you’ll probably leave with a to-go box. Here’s what you can expect throughout the week:

• Monday: PR's Famous Fried Chicken
• Tuesday: Chicken & Dumplings                
• Wednesday: Meatloaf                       
• Thursday: Turkey & Dressing                 
• Friday: Roast Beef                           
• Saturday: Smothered Steak                   
• Sunday: Grilled Pork Chops                  

Your choices of sides usually include butter beans, baked beans, fried okra and candied yams. Don’t forget the freshly baked wheat rolls and jalapeno cornbread!

Giving Back: Sure, you might feel guilty about all of the delicious calories, but you can justify it with a walk around the shopping center and the thought that Richard and the staff constantly reach out to their community. At Thanksgiving along with Plano Sunrise Rotary, Plano Police and its customers, Poor Richard's serves Thanksgiving meals to needy families and Seniors. In 2009, the event fed over 2350 people.
Plus, each year since the late 80s the restaurant has helped the Plano Christmas Cops with matching donations from its customers. They have blood drives and they sponsor Flu Shots for customers and employees in October.