This quaint café is across the street from the courthouse, so its crowd includes police, court employees, jurors, and lawyers (the kind who don’t wear expensive suits). If you’ve done anything wrong recently, don’t let it show here. The décor’s minimal; the tables and bar stools have an un-self-conscious ’50s style that doesn’t feel calculated—it’s more like they never got around to buying or hiring anything or anyone new.

The standard diner breakfast is filling and cheap (and tastes like it), but better is the cafeteria-style lunch, where Southern food steams from buffet trays. (On weekends, the menu’s just burgers, sandwiches, and breakfast.) These vary daily, but usually include chicken and gummy, biscuit-like dumplings, and a chicken-fried steak that’s deep-fried, not pan-cooked. It’s one of the better of its kind in Houston. Aside from these, the mains are not as good as the sides. Fortunately, each lunch plate comes with three. There are slow-cooked greens with the bite of earth and metal; pinto beans in a piggy broth; candy-ish sweet potatoes, and so on. Meals also come with a basket of yeast rolls and unsweetened cornbread, and the three sides can include dessert, the best being a peach cobbler in a thick sauce with a doughy crust. Now that wrong you can do ‘round here.