‘Breakfast’
Sometimes you go to a Mexican seafood spot to get seafood. And sometimes, despite it being the middle of the afternoon, you go for breakfast. It wasn’t exactly the plan, but when I entered Baja Mar in Monrovia, I just couldn’t get my eyes off of the chilaquiles. Thus, I forewent shrimp and fish tacos for those delicious breakfast nachos.
I have always been a fan of downtown LA’s Grand Central Market. And while the place is flush with old school spots that I have reviewed in the past, there are now new school spots intermingling with the old in perfect harmony. One of these goes by the name of Eggslut. How it got this name may forever be a mystery (well, at least the “slut” part), but it is undoubtedly a hit that draws crazy lines on the weekends at prime brunch hours.
Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dive’s is about as close as it gets to an unvegan TV show. This, of course, does not mean any endorse any part of Guy Fieri, but the show nonetheless has been my guide on a number of food expeditions. The most recent of which is Kelly O’s, which can be found in Pittsburgh’s North Hills or in the Strip District. Considering the Strip District is generally a better and closer place to go, there I went for breakfast.
When my cousin suggested grabbing breakfast at Satsuma in Uptown New Orleans, I was a little surprised. You see, “satsuma” is a Japanese word and it definitely doesn’t mean breakfast. But even if it did, Japan isn’t exactly known for great morning food (unless you like fermented beans). As it turned out, there was nothing Japanese about Satsuma at all, and it turned out to be a breakfast/brunch place that also served some fancy smoothies.
In a rare move since moving to Western New York for the summer, I consulted the interwebs to grab a meal at the last-minute. By this I mean that nearly every other spot I’ve hit up so far has been on recommendation from an actual human. On this occasion the interwebs sent me to Savory’s in Hamburg for brunch. We were seated immediately, but not before catching a glimpse of the specials.
At some point, the world decided that the best bagels in the world are in New York. As with the pizza, the claim is that it has something to do with the water. I, however, think this does not do justice to the quality of cooking that goes into the production of these things. Obviously not all bagels and pizza in New York are good, so there is much more going on than meets the eye. In my own search for a tasty bagel, I was sent to Murray’s Bagels in Chelsea.
Wandering the streets (err ummm street) of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, waiting for our hotel to let us check in, we made our way to a part of the island called Avarua. Avarua is often referred to as “town” since it is the closest thing Rarotonga has to a town. As in any town, we got hungry and walked into the first place that looked delicious, called Cafe Salsa. Typically, a restaurant named as such would serve Mexican or some other Latin food, but this was not the case and the only thing remotely Mexican about the place was the name.
As a Michigan football fan, it is often difficult to pull myself out of bed and get to a bar for those awesome 9 am games (12 pm for those in Eastern Time). Thus, if I am going to a bar and not watching the game in the comfort of my abode, food is key. Now, I am a big fan of bar food, but it is the rare bar that has delicious breakfast. This week, the bar of choice was The Parlor on Melrose and my number one hope was that Michigan would destroy San Diego State and my number two hope was for some delicious breakfast. I can tell you now that I got at least one of those (spoiler alert: Michigan was a victor).
Ok, I have a confession to make. Longtime readers know it already, but newcomers may be a little surprised. That confession is that…well I don’t eat meat for every meal. Yes, it’s true. Sometimes, a breakfast of pancakes or a dinner of mac and cheese satiates my appetite just as much as a steak. But most importantly, these meals are devoid of vegetables. After all, unvegan principles are more anti-veggie than pro-meat. One such meatless meal occurred at BLD.
On our way out of an amazing Wisconsin weekend, we made a pit stop at Breakwater Restaurant in Superior. It looked like a local version of Denny’s, which was just what we wanted on our way out of the Northwoods. We were quickly seated and since everyone moves a little slow on the morning of July 4th, we weren’t waited on quite as fast as we had been seated. But outside of the hustle bustle of LA, we were happy to not be rushed out of breakfast.