Waking early this past Saturday, I decided to treat myself to a breakfast cooked by someone other than me. I decided I wanted egg-based items more than pancake-based, so chose Patty's Eggnest over the Original Pancake House (OPH also has "country potatoes" rather than hash browns, and I was in the mood for some good old fashioned hashbrowns).
Business at 7:30am on Saturday was light, so I knew service would be fast.
One big point in their favor: the hostess actually *considered* where to seat me, didn't just grab the first empty booth. As I was dining alone, she took me to a lovely little table tucked away in a corner out of the traffic pattern, and having seen that I had a book, chose a table for 4 rather than 2 - so that I had room for plate, drink, jam etc *and* space to lay out my book flat. Bliss! The actual art of hostessing is well nigh extinct, even in fancy shmancy expensive places, so to find it at the Eggnest put quite the shine on my morning.
Another big point in their favor: they didn't "push" their fresh-squeezed orange juice. Since they didn't try to sell it to me, I was open to trying it. Yum! Another big point for their side.
I ordered a very simple breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and sourdough toast. The meal arrived quickly - I barely had time to drink half my glass of water. The portions were *huge* - I ended up taking a lot home. This could be bad if you weren't going straight home - I probably won't stop there on my way out birding, for instance. Don't want eggs and bacon sittin' in the car all day...
The bacon was delicious - thick cut, straight, and well-marbled (not too much, not too little).
The toast was delicious - thick and chewy, yet crispy - a perfect vehicle for the jam. I could have wished for more sanitary jam selections - one freezer jam dish on the table. Who knows where the serving spoon has been, or what other dirty implements were thrust in there for more jam? I decided to ignore this and just eat. (I'm really not a germaphobe, I swear! I used to go barefoot around the horse barns, for heaven's sake. But for some reason, other people accessing my butter and jam really bugs me.)
The hash browns were delicious. Thick hash cuts, no shoestring potatoes here. Cooked crispy in spots, perfect browning. They were a bit too greasy for my liking, as it meant I couldn't enjoy as many of them as I wanted (perhaps best anyway, considering cholesterol count!). I'd rather have less grease and more potato - but for a mass -produced diner type hash brown, it was just dandy.
Scrambled eggs: also felt too greasy. Look, you don't need a lot of grease to scramble an egg. So to get a pile of what should be tasty eggs, and discover them to be lacking all flavor and at the same time leaving a puddle of grease .... well, that's just not right. They weren't *bad*, just ... tasteless. I salted them (first time salting food in months!) and peppered liberally and ate about half the serving. I wish I'd had half the portion, with more taste and less grease. They seemed like real eggs, I have no idea why there wasn't that nummy scrambled egg taste. At OPH I never salt, just pepper, and at home sometimes I don't even pepper, the eggs taste so delicious - but then, at home, I use organic butter and milk, and organic free-range etc etc brown eggs.
But I didn't have to do the dishes here. Nor be awake enough to use the stove - so it's a tradeoff.
I'll be going back, for sure, but I'll be forewarned - anything that could be greasy will be greasy. And expect large portions.
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