Breakfast!

I just watched a PBS program called The Breakfast Special. I have a couple of favorites on PBS that I like to watch every now then. A Hot Dog Program is one about little hot dog joints around the U.S.. The Varsity is included, but most of the others are small places with something unique about them. There is another one called The Ice Cream Program that visits stores that make their own ice cream, though again they include one big one (Ben & Jerry's, of course).  I really love these shows, which I suppose is solid evidence that I am a little bit off mentally.  I was able to con Sarah into watching the one about hot dogs with me one time, but otherwise it is a solitary venture that I enjoy nonetheless. This one about breakfast was a new one for me. It didn't quite measure up to the fun of the hot dog or ice cream shows, but I still enjoyed it as they wandered around the country looking for unique places for breakfast, so I took notes on the ones that were most appealing.

One called La Herencia in the historic section of St. Augustine (on Aviles Street) looked like a place for a new and different sort of breakfast. They have a Cuban theme and serve some interesting omelettes. The omelette with pork, black beans, salsa and cheese served on top of Cuban bread looked like a good one. The Breakfast Club on Tybee Island looked rather crowded from the lines outside the door that they filmed, but is one I may actually get a chance to try some time since it isn't that far away. The Maple Tree Inn in upstate New York, where they make their own maple syrup from the trees right behind the restaurant and where they are only open during maple syrup season looked like fun, too, though I doubt I will ever make it there at the right time of year. The Best Breakfast in Westerville, OH, looks to have fantastic home made bread and corned beef hash.

None of this is really the my ideal breakfast, though. At the end of the show they asked the various restaurant owners what their most memorable breakfast was, and they all recounted different stories. As I thought about that question I quickly landed upon the time when I was in junior high school and we had made our annual Thanksgiving trip to my grandfather's farm to help with hog-butchering time. The day of actually working on the pig was pretty disgusting, but the next morning's breakfast is probably my most memorable. My grandmother kept her own milk cow and made her own butter and buttermilk, which she used to make the world's most amazing biscuits. There was no shortening in the biscuits except her fresh butter an buttermilk. That particular day in addition to the amazing biscuits, we also had fresh bacon and pork chops (we are talking fresh here--it had been walking around the previous day), gravy, eggs, apple butter and probably some other stuff like fried apples. Amazing. And thus far unequaled.

This perhaps explains why I like Cracker Barrel. I keep looking for a place to come close to that ideal breakfast. Cracker Barrel is really not close, but the down-home atmosphere and just the fact that they generally have at least decent biscuits does bring it to mind. The Moose Cafe outside Asheville has good biscuits, but I am generally not there at breakfast time so I don't know how the rest of their breakfast measures up, though it looks good from the menu. I need to try that place for something other than lunch or dinner.

So what is your most memorable breakfast?