Everything I ever ordered there came out of a frozen box. I honestly never tried the soup. While there was nothing wrong with the food, anything I ate wasn't home made, but rather it was re-heated.
Not sure when you were there, but I live in Houston and LBX is about the only place I and my slow plane can reasonably visit on a "school night", so I ate there several times and took many passengers. One of the reasons I liked it was because everything was fresh, and their veggie/side dish offerings would vary. Only complaint I had is that sometimes their stuff would be too salty.
I was told their pies were very good, but I never got to try them because they only made a few every day, and by the time I arrived for supper they were nearly always sold out, or only had one or two slices of something I wasn't in the mood for.
I have always liked the LBX restaurant's food better than Brenham's. Brenham gets a lot of press, and their schtick with the 50's diner and poodle skirt-dressed high school waitresses is fun sometimes, but if you want something besides a burger or sandwich, you're really in the wrong place. LBX has always had good burgers and sandwiches, but they also had a lot more than that. Looks like the new place does, too.
Re: the last place (Crosswind Cafe), I landed there one day a couple of weeks after it closed and some folks were tearing out all the kitchen gear, because the owner had donated it all to a local church. I asked them why the place closed, and was told that although it was consistently profitable, the owner had several other restaurants and this one made the lowest profit but required the most attention, and he eventually decided it just wasn't worth it.
When it was Crosswind (and the previous iteration of Crosswind before that, and the previous iteration of Runway Cafe before *that* closed down and it became Crosswind), the clientele was always more than just pilots. In fact, I think pilots were the minority customers there. In my many times to eat there, I saw plenty of folks come and go by the front door to the parking lot, and only a relatively small number of folks come and go through the door to the ramp, except for the occasional Saturday lunchtime fly-in that would take over the place.
I'm glad to hear the place has re-opened, and can't wait to get out there again!
