Just a short walk away from our hotel in downtown Billings is a wonderful little place called Stella’s Kitchen & Bakery.
The day we left town, I persuaded my co-worker Renetta (pictured) to go to Stella’s for breakfast. We packed our bags and shivered down the street only to find that it wouldn’t open for another hour. “What if we miss our flight?” Renetta asked. “We won’t,” I replied. “I promise. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.”
And it was.
We went back shortly before the actual opening and took our place outside the door with a group of regulars. (We could tell they were regulars because they knew the names of everyone inside the restaurant.) Finally, the door opened and we poured in to take our seats and peruse the menu.
What to choose, what to choose? I find it’s often helpful to include the waitstaff on these deliberations, so I explained my dilemma. Should I go for (whatever it was I was thinking about) or French Toast? Which is when the cook behind the counter called out, “The special today is Orange Zest French Toast. It’s new today.”
Sold! And oh my . . .
Our sweet waitress brought out our plates and said, “Since this is new we’re not sure how to top it…would you rather have butter or whipped cream?” I opted for frothy goodness, Renetta went the butter route.
The cook told us he put freshly-squeezed orange juice in the batter and I could really taste it. It was like those orange rolls from the grocery store–the ones from cans like cinnamon rolls, but orange–only so, so much better. It was so bright and cheerful it almost made me forget my midnight arrival in the snow two days earlier.
After breakfast we waddled to our respective flights in plenty of time and (thankfully) the trip home was relatively drama free.
So . . . if you’re ever in Billings, Montana and need breakfast (or lunch), stop into Stella’s. They’ll do you up right. And if you’re still hungry after breakfast you can stop by the register and pick up a cinnamon roll as big as your head to snack on later.
The nice folks at Stella’s don’t know me and this isn’t a sponsored post or anything. Just a happy, orange-y memory.
[…] was really, really good. Best in Texas? I don’t know…but it was lovely. Not as good as the orange French toast I had in Billings (sorry, just keeping it real) but there were hints of vanilla and cinnamon in the batter and the […]