One morning our personable mail carrier dropped by with a smile that only sausage gravy and homemade biscuits can bring.

Her route took her around Mexico’s downtown square. But just where she managed to find a home style breakfast was a mystery.

Color Me Bleu? There’s no kitchen. The 831? It doesn’t serve until lunch. Vegas? Nope.

A peek into Pratt’s On Monroe revealed chairs upended on tables. The neon open sign was dark. And yet ...

Last month Rick and Jennifer Pratt quietly began serving biscuits and gravy for breakfast two days a week. They open at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday, pouring coffee, shaking bloody Marys and plating the morning staple until sold out.

The routine is so new they sometimes forget to switch the sign on.

“Breakfast isn’t the gathering place like it used to be,” Rick Pratt observed. “Everything is about convenience.”

But Pratt takes the time and effort to prepare biscuits from scratch. The gravy – that’s house made, as well.

Pratt has no interest in expanding the breakfast menu. The purpose of opening is to restore the notion of a place to sip coffee, relax and chat, to slow the blurred pace of the 21st century.

He has Darrell Miller, Ron Manns and Steve Sales to thank for the concept.

“We started with these three guys,” Pratt says, gesturing toward a group settled in a booth – the same spot they occupy most every Wednesday and Friday. “They wanted a comfortable place to socialize.”

It’s a Wednesday and they are lingering over coffee. The biscuits and gravy are finished, but remain a topic of conversation.

And why not? The biscuits are hefty – two to a large order that overwhelms the plate – but as light as down, with a mellow character that drifts with the gravy. Rich, meaty and studded with pepper, the gravy drapes your palate like a blanket.

Pratt is mum when asked the secret, other than hinting that “a lot of people just use milk and butter.” Another clue comes later when he reveals that “when I was a kid, my grandmother saved bacon grease.”

Some people are regarded as social media “influencers.” Where they click others follow. What Sales, Manns and Miller started, with the acquiescence of Pratt, has quietly drawn regulars who are in-the-know.

Like our mail carrier, they may occasionally let the secret slip. Pratt, however, never really intended for it to remain a morning speakeasy. It’s just a soft opening, a way to offer people an opportunity to fend off the demands of deadlines, ten hour work days and on the go breakfast burritos.

“Breakfast is the hardest paradigm to break into,” he said. “We’re hoping to break into it.”