Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been 20 days since my last healthy breakfast and here are my sins. I have consumed about a gadzillion calories and saturated my insides with fat. I have eaten enough eggs to cause the cholesterol in my arteries to have a party. I ate chicken fried steak two mornings in a row! Believe me, I have attempted atonement. I have walked and hiked a total of 120 miles on this trip. I have had lunches of only an apple or carrots or a small salad. Dinner however, is another matter. I'm ready to repent but...
Jesus said “Come and have breakfast.” John 21:12
I was in church for breakfast. Well, to be totally accurate, it use to be a church.
Cathedral Cafe
Fayetteville, West Virginia
The Cathedral Cafe was originally built in 1905 as a Methodist church. It was de-consecrated in 1985 and next served as a storage facility until 1997 when it was converted to a cafe. Calling the building a cathedral is a stretch but may be good marketing. The name Cathedral Cafe does create more lofty expectations than Church Cafe.
We headed into the nave of the church building and sat down under a very high ceiling at a table with a colorful hand painted design covering the top. The large room containing about 12 dining tables had a lot to look at. In one corner, there was a bar with an attractive mosaic tile top and about 5 stools. Next to the bar was a large refrigerated glass case filled with various beverages and take away food. In a far corner of the room was a small store that sold T-shirts, locally crafted pottery, and adventure guide books. To the side of us was a little self service coffee and tea table. White lights were strung from wall to wall. But what really grabs the attention of one's eyes was the morning sun filtering through two 14 foot high stained glass windows at one end of the room. The windows are framed on each side by tall book filled shelves, giving an appearance of a library room in some antiquated English church.
Folk music played in the background, evoking the coffee houses of the 1960s and 1970s. Overall, the place had an odd yet gratifying aura.
The clientele was mostly made up of locals. One exception was a table of 5 men who all possessed the wide, dilated eyes of adrenaline junkies. I couldn't help but think that they were town to engage in some high risk outdoor activity. They were certainly fidgety, sending out certain nonverbal cues that indicated their frustration with the slow speed of service. Suddenly, one of their group, who I suppose had been out scouting other breakfast options, ran into the cafe and shouted "we're out of here!". They rose as one out of their seats and proceeded to dash out of the cafe.
Still, there were plenty of patrons in the cafe to keep the cook busy. Some twenty-somethings who seemed to be in town to recreate, looked enviably slim and lithe and wore a high-low fashion mix. Others, who were on a first name basis with the waitress, and were obviously locals wore wool hats on this warm morning and had the rugged outdoor look of a rafting guide. One local sitting at the bar was with his dog who stared intently at me when he heard I had ordered some bacon.
FOOD: If you're going to be sinful you've got to start off with something really decadent. I ordered a "Ooey-Gooey Cinnamon Roll". It was heavenly with a nice warm chewy inside and finger licking sugar and cinnamon frosting on the outside. It bordered on being a mortal sin. Of course I shared it with The Healthy One, if you call sharing 80% for me and 20% for her.
I also ordered the "5.10 Special" so cleverly called because it sold for $5.10. It turned out to be a great bargain. The two scrambled eggs tasted fresh and the pecan-smoked bacon was gobbled up before it drove the dog crazy. The potatoes were not as crisp as I like breakfast potatoes but they were still pretty good. The marbled rye toast tasted like it may have come from a local bakery
The Healthy One was singing "Hallelujah". The menu had all sorts off healthy options. She settled on something called the "Nutty Doodle" which was peanut butter, granola, local honey, and sliced bananas spread between two slices of 15-grain toast. She thought it was very satisfying and was happy to end the trip on a healthy, grainy, note.
5 out of 5 stars
COFFEE:
"Praise Be!" "Thank Heavens!" "God is Good!" Finally, a great cup of coffee was had on this trip. Now I'm convinced that West Virginia does not belong in the Midwest.
I've come to learn that cafes and restaurants that have their coffee set up on a self-help altar of sorts, usually means the cup will come close to coffee Nirvana. Here, that was no exception. The French Roast Bottomless Coffee was as magnificent as the local scenery and offered political correctness as well. The coffee beans were purchased by the cafe from the 30 year old Equal Exchange, headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange is one of the largest democratic worker cooperatives in the world. The enterprise uses a trade model that eliminates the expensive middleman by buying directly from small farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. By eliminating the middleman, Equal Exchange offers the farmers above market prices for their coffee beans and other goods.
5 out of 5 stars
"Praise Be!" "Thank Heavens!" "God is Good!" Finally, a great cup of coffee was had on this trip. Now I'm convinced that West Virginia does not belong in the Midwest.
I've come to learn that cafes and restaurants that have their coffee set up on a self-help altar of sorts, usually means the cup will come close to coffee Nirvana. Here, that was no exception. The French Roast Bottomless Coffee was as magnificent as the local scenery and offered political correctness as well. The coffee beans were purchased by the cafe from the 30 year old Equal Exchange, headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange is one of the largest democratic worker cooperatives in the world. The enterprise uses a trade model that eliminates the expensive middleman by buying directly from small farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. By eliminating the middleman, Equal Exchange offers the farmers above market prices for their coffee beans and other goods.
SERVICE: The lone server was friendly and self composed. Given that most tables were filled and she was the only one working the room, she seemed nonplussed about the overwhelming task she faced. It took about 15 minutes for her to get to our table just to take our orders but once she arrived she was very pleasant. Additionally, it took another 20 minutes to get our food. My guess was that there was only one cook in the kitchen. The delays gave us plenty of time to feed our minds and souls and to pray that we would soon be feeding our bodies.
4 out of 5 stars
A FEW WORDS ABOUT FAYETTEVILLE:
There are a number of Fayettevilles throughout the United States; 13 to be exact. The Fayettevilles are named for the Marquis de Lafayette who at the ripe age of 19 became a hero in the Revolutionary War as a major general in the Continental Army. Fayetteville, West Virginia is small compared to its namesakes in North Carolina and Arkansas with only a population of about 2,900. The town avoided the great decline of the coal industry that rendered so many small southern Western Virginia towns impoverished. It did this by turning to sport recreation as its economic base. Rafting and kayaking on the Gauley and New rivers, as well as mountain biking and rock climbing in the New River Gorge bring in the tourist dollars, provide jobs, and help preserve the historical charm of the downtown area.
Just a mile from where we had breakfast is the New River Gorge Bridge. The steel arch bridge is 3,030 feet long which makes it the 4th longest single-span arch bridge in the world. It is also the 2nd highest bridge in the United States with its road bed 876 feet above the New River. (The highest is the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge which bypasses Hoover Dam.)
Every year on the third Saturday of October is "Bridge Day" a festival that celebrates the day the bridge was completed in 1977. It also happened to be on the day after we left town and I noticed that the locals were more filled with trepidation than excitement at the invasion of people. About 80,000 people show up for Bridge Day. The bridge is closed to vehicular traffic and throughout the day about 400 BASE jumpers hurl themselves off the bridge and parachute to the water below. There is also music, food, and other insane extreme sport events.
BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:
There are a number of Fayettevilles throughout the United States; 13 to be exact. The Fayettevilles are named for the Marquis de Lafayette who at the ripe age of 19 became a hero in the Revolutionary War as a major general in the Continental Army. Fayetteville, West Virginia is small compared to its namesakes in North Carolina and Arkansas with only a population of about 2,900. The town avoided the great decline of the coal industry that rendered so many small southern Western Virginia towns impoverished. It did this by turning to sport recreation as its economic base. Rafting and kayaking on the Gauley and New rivers, as well as mountain biking and rock climbing in the New River Gorge bring in the tourist dollars, provide jobs, and help preserve the historical charm of the downtown area.
Just a mile from where we had breakfast is the New River Gorge Bridge. The steel arch bridge is 3,030 feet long which makes it the 4th longest single-span arch bridge in the world. It is also the 2nd highest bridge in the United States with its road bed 876 feet above the New River. (The highest is the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge which bypasses Hoover Dam.)
Every year on the third Saturday of October is "Bridge Day" a festival that celebrates the day the bridge was completed in 1977. It also happened to be on the day after we left town and I noticed that the locals were more filled with trepidation than excitement at the invasion of people. About 80,000 people show up for Bridge Day. The bridge is closed to vehicular traffic and throughout the day about 400 BASE jumpers hurl themselves off the bridge and parachute to the water below. There is also music, food, and other insane extreme sport events.
BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:
We drove across the breathtaking bridge over the New River., Whoever named it the New River had a fine sense of irony because it is an ancient river system which is purported to be the oldest in North America and the second oldest in the world behind the Nile River. Just past the bridge is the New Gorge National River park where we spent about 4 hours hiking out and back along the spectacular rim of the gorge.
October 20, 2017
NEXT UP: The last segment of the breakfast tour will probably occur in June 2018 - Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, & Idaho. Also, at some point I'll report on a breakfast in DC.
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