The Courtyard Cafe has had the current owners for 3 months.   The Lohr’s bring with them 30 years of  local restaurant experience and you’ll find their parents, kids and sibling all there helping. They serve breakfast and lunch in a large high ceiling room next to the Wizard Quest courtyard.  At one entrance they also have an ice cream counter and advertise specialty coffee drinks.  Beer and wine are available as were a few cocktails.  We sat at the counter but there were numerous tables of many sizes in the dining room.  We were there in a transition time so both the breakfast and lunch menus were in play.  Currently you cannot get served in the patio but you can pick up to go and eat there.  It was refreshing to see a less cluttered interior and anticipate straightforward food.  I would recommend this place, especially the onion strings or anything with the jalapeno popper spread.

Set-Up

 

Food

I had to start with an order of the Mini Donuts that are billed to be “just like at the fair.”   They came out with the cinnamon sugar on them and it was a generous serving.  They were not hot but still plenty soft and tasty.

 

As an appetizer we shared an order of the Haystack Onion Rings which are served wtih housemade ranch dressing on the side.  They were hot and crisp with well cooked onions inside.  The coating adhered nicely to the onion.  They were delicious with or without the dressing.

 

The Ultimate Turkey Club contained turkey, bacon, lettuce, cheddar and mayo on white toast.  Some of the toast pieces were overly toasted and the bacon could have been crisper.  Removing the middle piece of bread helped but it’s still a mildly flavored sandwich.  Pickle slices were a mild dill.

 

The Grilled Ham and Cheese was made with cheddar and smoky salty ham.  I made it ‘Gregg’ style by adding their famous jalapeno popper spread for $2.  This was a key to making this one sing.  The server suggested it was his favorite way to eat it and it did add a good amount of spice as well as creaminess to the interior.  It was a generous mound of thin sliced ham and well melted cheese on perfectly toasted bread.  It was very good.