Sunday, February 27, 2005
Grown up breakfast
Yesterday morning I went out for breakfast which is an uneventful occurance for my Saturdays. I went to my favorite local restaurant, Tilly's. Or is it Tully's? Nelly's? Anyway, it's my favorite because they serve breakfast late and they have a counter. I mossied up to the bar and took the stool third from the end. Is was pretty crowded and the stools are bolted to the floor a bit too close to conform to the "American Elbow Room" rule. When you sit at the counter, you can hear all the other conversations, and - lacking any interesting eavesdropping - you can hear what they order.
I've noticed something about the folks whose town I live in. Most of them don't order on the menu. At greasy spoon-type establishments like this one, I just order the #2, whatever the #2 happens to be. It's a system that works well at Mexican restaurants as well. The folks in these parts though aren't content with ordering items in varieties and quantities supplied by the mere menu. They know what they want, and they're unwilling to order around what's being offered. The woman to my right, "I'll have a stack of pancakes, some crisp bacon and three scrambled eggs". Now except the extra egg or the implied pickyness of adding a crispness quota to her bacon, this is essentially a menu item. The addition of one egg has put her order in the "on the side" part of the menu. Ordering ala carte is rarely the most cost effective way of ordering, but since when are people here concerned with money?
O.K. I'm rambling rhetorically. I took a look at the menu as I always do. It's been sort of a game over the past year. I come in, take a seat at the counter, look at the menu and order the exact same thing each time. It's known by many names, The #2, the pancake sandwich or sometimes pigs in a blanket with 2 eggs. Essentially, it's a short stack of pancakes (2), 2 eggs any style and 2 strips of bacon or sausage links. Sometimes I vary my meat choice, but the eggs are always scrambled. I'm convinced that you get more for your food dollar when you order scrambled.
But this morning was different. I looked through the menu and imagined the tastes of all the different items of the menu. "Have you decided?", the waitress said in an unthrilled tone. "I'm feeling interesting", I explained. "I don't want the breakfast combo (as it's known here). I'm looking for something out of the ordinary." And just like that, I did it! I ordered an omelette. And no kiddie ham & cheese omelette mind you. Heck, I didn't even stop at the Denver omelette. No sir, I went all the way into the realm of "grown up food" for my breakfast.
Italian sausage with cilantro mixed with onions and pesto sauce! It was green for cryin' out loud! A hearty helping of some white cheese topped off my breakfast choice. Not only that, but it came with hashbrowns, a breakfast pet peeve of mine. Nobody in the food service industry is capable of making hashbrowns. They always serve hashgreys - almost raw in the middle.
It was good, like really good. It was grown up food for breakfast, and I'm going to do it again. Maybe - just maybe - I'll not have this Italian pesto wonder again until I try a few more items from the "exotic" end of the menu.
I've noticed something about the folks whose town I live in. Most of them don't order on the menu. At greasy spoon-type establishments like this one, I just order the #2, whatever the #2 happens to be. It's a system that works well at Mexican restaurants as well. The folks in these parts though aren't content with ordering items in varieties and quantities supplied by the mere menu. They know what they want, and they're unwilling to order around what's being offered. The woman to my right, "I'll have a stack of pancakes, some crisp bacon and three scrambled eggs". Now except the extra egg or the implied pickyness of adding a crispness quota to her bacon, this is essentially a menu item. The addition of one egg has put her order in the "on the side" part of the menu. Ordering ala carte is rarely the most cost effective way of ordering, but since when are people here concerned with money?
O.K. I'm rambling rhetorically. I took a look at the menu as I always do. It's been sort of a game over the past year. I come in, take a seat at the counter, look at the menu and order the exact same thing each time. It's known by many names, The #2, the pancake sandwich or sometimes pigs in a blanket with 2 eggs. Essentially, it's a short stack of pancakes (2), 2 eggs any style and 2 strips of bacon or sausage links. Sometimes I vary my meat choice, but the eggs are always scrambled. I'm convinced that you get more for your food dollar when you order scrambled.
But this morning was different. I looked through the menu and imagined the tastes of all the different items of the menu. "Have you decided?", the waitress said in an unthrilled tone. "I'm feeling interesting", I explained. "I don't want the breakfast combo (as it's known here). I'm looking for something out of the ordinary." And just like that, I did it! I ordered an omelette. And no kiddie ham & cheese omelette mind you. Heck, I didn't even stop at the Denver omelette. No sir, I went all the way into the realm of "grown up food" for my breakfast.
Italian sausage with cilantro mixed with onions and pesto sauce! It was green for cryin' out loud! A hearty helping of some white cheese topped off my breakfast choice. Not only that, but it came with hashbrowns, a breakfast pet peeve of mine. Nobody in the food service industry is capable of making hashbrowns. They always serve hashgreys - almost raw in the middle.
It was good, like really good. It was grown up food for breakfast, and I'm going to do it again. Maybe - just maybe - I'll not have this Italian pesto wonder again until I try a few more items from the "exotic" end of the menu.
