BREAKFAST ACROSS AMERICA: OUR FAVORITES
FOOD
A lot of research went into where we chose to have breakfast. Yelp, Trip Adviser, local newspapers, and regional magazines all provided valuable information. I tried to stay away from the "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" establishments and I think I was successful in that I didn't see Guy Fieri's autographed picture on any walls. The upshot is that we ate really well. I gave five out of five stars for the food to 21 of the 48 restaurants. Most of the others received four stars. Here are the best:
1. Absolute Bakery and Café; Mancos, Colorado
I had never had huevos rancheros before ordering them at this gem of a café, but I was so glad I went out on the Mexican limb. The portion was as tasty as it was humongous. The large-as-the-plate corn tortilla was just out of the oven. The eggs and vegetables tasted as fresh as the Southwestern Colorado air. But the beans were the star of the show, oh so savory and soul satisfying.
2. Otto’s Place; Galena, Illinois
This was the Healthy One’s favorite breakfast on our odyssey. It started on a high note with a “Apple Sconut”. Unfortunately, the restaurant only had one left so a bit of a fork war broke out between the Healthy One and I over this melt-in-your-mouth masterpiece. The Healthy One then had a bacon, onion, and Gorgonzola quiche which she pronounced as the best quiche she ever had. My “Pigs In A Blanket” weren’t bad either.
3. Home Kitchen Café; Rockland, Maine
Walking into this café, there were certain clues I was going to be eating well. The large dining room was full of customers. Half had smiles on their faces and the other half had their faces in their plates. I ordered a dish called “Home on the Range” which was corned beef hash topped with two over easy eggs. It also came with a couple of delectable polenta cakes. The mix of chunky hash and fresh eggs provoked grunts of pleasure. After lifting my face from the plate, I joined with the people who had big smiles on their faces.
4. Avila’s Nipa Hut; Hobbs, New Mexico
Here was a simple, cash only place with 23 different types of breakfast burritos. I had a burrito stuffed with sausage, bacon, ham, egg, potato, and cheese and topped with salsa. Yes, that’s correct. It was all my favorite foods under one wrap. I still dream about this burrito. The tortilla alone deserves a blue ribbon. If I lived in Hobbs, and I’m glad I don’t, I would be at Avila’s every morning.
5. Wagon Wheel Cafe; Thayne, Wyoming
The eggs and hash browns were solid fare if not remarkable, but it was the meat that put this place in the number five position. The sausage and bacon were a carnivore’s dream both in terms of taste and portion size. By far, the best pork products consumed on the entire Breakfast Tour. My arteries were taxed, but it was worth it.
SERVICE
I was always impressed at how hard the breakfast waitresses and the few waiters we met worked. Studs Terkel in his book "Working" interviewed a waitress who said "When someone says, "How come your just a waitress?" I say "Don't you think you deserve being served by me?"". I would answer that question with a "Yes" in just about every place we ate. I gave out five stars for service to 22 breakfast places. Most of the others received four stars. These five had all-stars as servers:
1. Old European; Post Falls, Idaho
When the menu has enough pages to qualify as a novel, and the names of many of the dishes are unpronounceable, and you are faced with a myriad of combination choices you need a special kind of waitress. We had one. I believe she said her name was Courtney. She showed patience, kindness, and astute knowledge about the European dishes. She was a savior to us poor saps who were having a heck of a time navigating the menu. She spent a lot of time with us. She held our hands in a metaphorical sense. She was the perfect waitress.
2. Willy’s Kitchen; Ferndale, Maryland
This was the first stop on The Breakfast Tour and the service bar was set very high. This was truly a locals place but our waitress treated us no differently than the customers who came every week. She was an expert at her craft. You had the feeling that she had been serving customers for a long time but hadn’t lost the touch or the enthusiasm for her job. Looking around the restaurant you couldn’t help but notice the other waitresses all had the same upbeat attitudes – a sisterhood of excellence.
3. Jerry’s Cafe; Beloit, Wisconsin
Have you ever noticed that in most Indian restaurants all the servers are male whereas in most Hispanic restaurants the servers are predominantly female? The six or seven Hispanic waitresses at Jerry’s looked like they could have been all from one family - moms, daughters, sisters and cousins . They worked as a seamless coordinated team and were a wonder to behold. Our primary waitress was a young teenager who topped the cuteness scale. Due to her accent and her braces we didn’t understand anything she said but her constant smile was as warm as our coffee.
4. Annie’s Cafe; Butte, Montana
We were talking to a local in Bozeman MT and he asked us where we were headed next. Butte we told him and he looked at us with something akin to horror. “Be careful”, he said, “that’s a rough town with some mean-spirited characters”. Nothing could have been further from the truth at Annie’s Cafe. Our waitress was a joy. She was engaging and about as upbeat as any person could be at 7:30 in the morning. Additionally, an elderly gentleman would come by every so often to freshen up our coffee cups and spread his good cheer.
5. Hot Cakes Cafe and Lodging; Hankerson, North Dakota
There is something to be said for small town congeniality and first day enthusiasm. Our waitress was on her maiden voyage as a server and couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful. Mistakes were made but were more than compensated for by an eagerness to please.
Special Mention: Track Kitchen; Lexington, Kentucky
The Track Kitchen is a cafeteria. My experience with cafeterias, starting in high school, is that the workers in general are not a jovial lot. They always seemed to be playing the role of assembly line workers, doing their prescribed scooping or spooning without much zeal. Not the four or five ladies behind the counter at the Track Kitchen. They greeted you like you were a favored nephew. Obviously, this was genuine hospitality and not an act to get a good tip because the only tips they possibly received was which horse was going to win the third race at Keeneland..
AMBIENCE
We avoided the cookie cutter chains like the plague. The restaurants and cafes we dined at all had their unique personalities. Decor ranged from tacky to tasteful, from arty to rustic, from homespun to contemporary, and from traditional to just plain crazy. These were my favorite:
1. Three Chicks Seed, Feed, and Cafe; Greenwich Village, Arkansas
Where else can you wander out the back of a cafe with your cup of coffee and be greeted by Trey, the friendliest turkey in Arkansas, if not in the entire United States? The cafe itself, entered through a corrugated metal door, is colorful, cozy, and definitely down-home. The feed store ambience starts out front with a can’t miss large statute of a cracked in half egg with two large baby chickens sticking out the top engaged in mysterious activities. To add to the mystery, you wonder what happened to the third chick.
2. Absolute Bakery and Cafe; Mancos, Colorado
This was a place where after finishing breakfast I could have lingered until they handed out the lunch menu. A hippie vibe permeated the room creating a very mellow, almost sleepy environment. They baked all their goods in-house and the smell of fresh bread had a Pavlov effect. The furniture was eclectic with no two tables and chairs alike. Locals had artwork hung on the walls. A wall of post-its held comments from customers. My favorite – “Your breakfast quesadilla is such a great cure for hangovers that I’ve been getting drunk every night!”.
3. Liz’s Where Y’at Diner; Mandeville, Louisiana
You break into a smile the minute you see this diner. Outside you are greeted with colorful paintings on cinder block and banners with cute sayings while the inside is bathed in tropical colors. The checkerboard floor further awakens your senses. You are energized by the surroundings even before the first sip of coffee.
4. Wild Huckleberry; Wenatchee, Washington
This restaurant is in a 1919 Arts and Craft architecturally styled house. The exposed wood, built-in bookcases, muted lighting, wooden floors, and a fireplace all lent itself to a formality you didn’t find in a diner or small town cafe. You could be either seated in the living room, dining room, or front porch. No doubt, the rooms looked much as they had back in 1919. The tables and chairs melded well with the Arts and Craft style. It was nice to eat in a place with a little class.
5. (tie) Cathedral Cafe; Fayetteville, West Virginia
Block House Cafe; Dayton, Oregon
Both of these cafes were former churches. On the outside, the two cafes kept the steeples and the original foundations and walls, but on the inside, the two restorations went in different directions. The Cathedral Cafe kept a pair of 14 foot high stained glass windows which gave the room some semblance of a holy place but other than that the room had the appearance of a 1960s folk music/coffee house venue – colorful table tops, mosaic designs on the wall and acoustical music playing the background. The Block House Cafe was more somber yet magnificent with its wide wooden floor boards, brickwork, and pristine furniture. A lot of money went into this conversion. The clientele of the respective cafes matched the environment. The laid back customers at the Cathedral Cafe sported flannel, Gortex, beards, and baseball caps whereas the Block House cafe’s customers were more dressed up. The Block House Cafe had people conducting business over food while the Cathedral Cafe had a couple of dogs eyeing my food.
COFFEE
Edward Abbey once said "our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second." On the breakfast tour I purchased a lot of gasoline and had a lot of coffee that tasted like gasoline. I don't feel like I'm a coffee snob but I think I know a satisfying cup of java when I meet one. Only a few establishments did themselves proud with their brew. A mere nine places received five stars. Here are the top five:
1. Absolute Bakery and Cafe; Mancos, Colorado
Coffee roasted by Desert Sun Coffee Roasters in Durango, Colorado. This coffee immediately got the heart pumping, yet was smooth and oh so satisfying. Three cups of their Black Velvet blend and I was ready to conquer the world.
2. On Orange; Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Coffee roasted by Lancaster County Coffee Roasters. In Amish country you better serve a good cup of coffee. This coffee was great. The Star Barn blend proved to be aromatic, bold, and as smooth as silk.
3. Toymakers Cafe; Falls Village, Connecticut
If it's going to be 40 minutes before you get your breakfast, there should be some good coffee to help while away the minutes. I drank both the “Toymakers House Joe” and the “Toymakers Commonwealth” blends out on the front porch and didn’t care how long it took for my breakfast to be done.
4. Warehouse Bakery & Donuts; Fairhope, Alabama
The breakfast wasn’t that great but the coffee was terrific. It didn’t hurt that the operations of the source of my cup of coffee, the Fairport Coffee Roasters, were set up in an adjoining room.
5. Cathedral Cafe, Fayetteville, West Virginia
Coffee roasted by the Equal Exchange, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. I think that coffee tastes best on cold, damp, miserable mornings. On this morning it was warm and pleasantly warm outside yet I had the urge to stay inside and keeping drinking the French Roast Bottomless Coffee.
BEST OVERALL
As you may have already guessed, of the 48 breakfast establishments we visited, if I could only go back to one, it would be the Absolute Bakery & Cafe in Mancos, Colorado.
SIX OBSERVATIONS AFTER DRIVING 15,000 MILES AND EATING BREAKFAST IN THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES.
1. You can’t get a decent tasting cup of coffee in the Midwest.
2. If a restaurant advertises as serving “breakfast all day” the breakfast will probably be excellent.
3. There is a lot of corn in the middle of the country.
4. Order pancakes, french toast, or a waffle and it will come with enough butter to make even Julia Child blush.
5. Approximately 75% of the breakfast customers I saw were elderly men. I was one of them.
6. There is no one I would rather do road trips with than the Healthy One.
