Breakfast in America

The Breakfast Nook

You think that a place with the word breakfast in the title ought to be good, right? Well, The Breakfast Nook was not bad at all. Judging from what looks like expansion into former office space in the same building, I gather most of the residents in Coeur d’Alene would have to agree.

On a weekday morning, we still had to sign in at the hostess desk and wait a few minutes for a table. We didn’t have to wait long which is fortunate as my crew was eager to hit the road to Silverwood. Our first breakfast in the States after two weeks in Canada reminded me how much food we typically get here for a lot less than we were paying over the border. Our platter were heaping with hot food that wasn’t necessarily photogenic, but it was certainly good enough to eat.

I especially like how they offer a whole list of substitutions for the hash brown and toast side to most breakfasts. I ordered three pancakes to substitute mine and that was free of charge. Other substitutions were available for a nominal charge and included fresh fruit and cottage cheese, French toast, a waffle or half biscuit & gravy.

Pork Chops & Eggs

My son (Mr. Meat Lover) was feeling particularly ravenous this morning. He went for pork chops with the full range of breakfast sides including two eggs – all that for just $7.95. Astonishing. To give you an idea of what we’d gotten used to in recent days, one 8 oz. glass of fresh orange juice cost $7.00 CDN. We Americans certainly have a different way of looking at the value of breakfast.

For the most part, everyone enjoyed their meals. The pork chops were a bit on the dry side, but the applesauce helped sort that out. My eggs were a bit overcooked, but they were cooked with a generous portion of minced ham. The pancakes – said to be the best in the city – were nice, light and fluffy. Very tasty indeed.

Spendy Scale: $ (really cheap!)

Coffee Rating: 3 (Farmer Brothers – even the tea was Farmer Brothers…sigh)

Other Offerings

• Lunch

Contact Information

Hours

Mon.-Sat. 6am to 2pm
Sun. 7am to 2pm  

Local Attractions

• Museum of North Idaho
• Tubbs Hill Nature Trails
• Coeur d’Alene Lake
• North Idaho Centennial Trail
• Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course

Summit Cafe

When the idea of a sit down restaurant/diner in the typical sense doesn’t work for you, Summit Cafe, makes a nice change. While typical breakfast meals are found on their giant bulletin board menu (they are paper free), you’ll be presented with some nice alternative breakfast choices.

Summit Cafe is first and foremost a coffee shop, offering a large variety of specialty coffees and baked goods. In fact, the baked goods look so good, it was difficult to settle for what’s on the menu when a muffin might have served me just as well. Frankly, muffins, while being quite tasty, do not serve me well and so I opted for a plate of protein.

My husband and I ordered the special of the day. Essentially, it was a traditional breakfast of eggs, hash browns and toast, but instead of the usual meat choices, it came with Tuscany Sausage. It was very good! And a nice change from the skimpy strips of bacon we’ve been seeing throughout our Canadian travels.

Special w/Tuscany Sausage

The rest of the menu seemed to have a strong South-of-Two-Borders (Mexican) flavor to it with at least four dishes served with salsa, sour cream and other typical Mexican ingredients. They also had a nice variety of bagel breakfast sandwiches.

Can’t really say anything against the place. The locals love it and when it’s a nice day, it’s pleasant to sit in the outdoor seating area. The only thing that throws a spanner in the works is the placement of the coffee bar which is situated before you get to the cashier. Folks who don’t “get” that you are meant to fill your cup prior to paying, find themselves swimming upstream in the long line of people waiting to order. Very strange…

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 3 (Mountain Blend Coffee Roasters )

Tea Rating: 4 (Two Leaves & a Bud)

Other Offerings

• Lunch
• Outdoor seating
• Bakery items

Contact Information

6:30 am-6 pm

Local Attractions

• The Alpine Club of Canada
• Silver Tip Golf Resort

Locals and tourists love Craig’s Way Station, in Canmore, Alberta.

Craig's Way Station

That was fairly evident when we walked into the place and saw packed tables and servers bustling about the place. Nothing special to look at, but looks don’t matter when you know you’ll get good hot food.

They offer up a large menu with plenty of the usual suspects including omelettes, scrambles, and benedicts. Their popular dish is the Rancher’s Breakfast with three eggs, five pieces of bacon and a nice choice of sides including fresh fruit, slices tomatoes or hash browns. You get a choice of toast – not like the five or six varieties usually offered in the States – just a choice of two. White or brown.

I ordered a similar dish but with one less egg and two less bacon which was plenty for me. The bacon wasn’t the thickest I’ve had, but it was tasty. I REALLY enjoyed my fresh fruit side which made up for the murdered scrambled eggs. Did I say murdered? Pulverized! They looked like the scrapings off the grill after an omelette disaster.

Fruit Good. Eggs Bad

 I suppose I should have had the French Toast. Another favorite with the locals – so we were told, and my daughter said they were very good, indeed.

Spendy Scale: $ (although egg dishes were a bit more on the $$ side of things)

Coffee Rating: 3

Other Offerings

• Lunch and Dinner
• Lite menu – not diet, just smaller portions

Contact Information

Hours

Summer: 6am – 10pm

Winter: 6am – 9pm

Local Attractions

• Canmore Golf & Curling Club
• Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park
• Walking and Biking trails galore

Well time got away from me and since I am on vacation after all, I’m going to combine my Jasper breakfast notes into one (hopefully coherent) blog entry.

We had two wonderful nights and days in the area with many eating choices. It was hard to choose where to go first. Our hotel, the Jasper Best Western Inn & Suites, had it’s own restaurant, the Inn Restaurant (clever, I know). We ate dinner there the first night and even though they offered us a slick deal as Best Western members for the morning buffet, we decided to hold off on that until the following day.

Papa George's Jasper, Alberta

Instead, we had our first breakfast was at Papa Georges  at 400 Connaught Drive. It’s part of the Astoria Hotel which is owned by the great grandson of George Arthur Andrew whose picture hangs in the middle of the restaurant. It’s a beautifully designed establishment and I really wanted to love it. Admittedly, it was my own fault for not reading the menu properly. I ordered Papa’s Skillet and failed to notice that my favorite ingredients would be smothered in sour cream and salsa – two ingredients I absolutely can not tolerate in the morning.

Papa's Scramble

Since it was close to the end of breakfast which finishes at 11:30 am, our server stated it was too late to redo my meal and since it was my error, I didn’t complain – I just scraped the offending sour cream (not a fan) off the top. I think most folks would say that it’s very good and I did do quite well working through the heaping portion of home-style potatoes, spinach, feta, tomatoes and cheddar cheese.

The rest of the family fared only marginally better. They all ordered pretty standard fare and could only report that the pancakes where the best thing going. I think the price of the food is what put us off completely. Definitely a $$$ place and for what you got, certainly not value for money. The bacon was a disgrace, being some of the thinnest, fattiest specimens I’ve seen in a long time.

After that experience, I decided to keep my eyes open for other breakfast ideas. While waiting for our boarding time on the Jasper Tramway, I noticed a real meal deal on a bulletin board. For $29, if you visit the Tramway between 9:00 am and 10:30 am, you get breakfast and you tramway ticket (plus taxes). We’d just paid $29 for an individual ticket and I was doing a mental head slap when I learned I could have had my breakfast for free along with a morning tramway ride. Albeit, it probably wasn’t going to be a gourmet breakfast as the menu stated pretty much the basics: scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns and toast. But it would be a much cheaperdeal than doing both things separately in Jasper.

If you prefer more of a continental style breakfast…or should I say, the bagel and cream cheese with massive coffee type breakfast, I recommend the Bear’s Paw Bakery (two locations). We stopped by for a quick afternoon break and I have to say, the baked goods are phenomenal there. I should have forgone the distinctly average Inn Restaurant buffet and just trotted down the street for the sweet and the savory of the Bear’s Paw.

The Great Escape Restaurant

We’ve only been on the road about five days and each meal has cost us between $50 and $80. We’ve got another 10 days to go. Ouch! When you’re traveling on the road over a long period of time like we are, it’s nice to find a place that serves good food without taking too much of a chunk out of your pocketbook.

We found that place in Valemount, B.C. The Great Escape Restaurant offers a simple breakfast menu, great prices and fresh, hot food. This no-frill place may not get written up in Condé Nast, but it should be said that getting back to basics makes sense once in a while.

The most interesting thing on the menu is the names they’ve chosen for every-day breakfast fare. For example: a plate of pancakes is called The Hiker. All the Alpine words are used here, and I have to admit, it gave me a giggle.

The Mountaineer

I ordered The Mountaineer; this is a plate of two eggs, two hotcakes and a choice of meat. I chose bacon. It was good, the pancakes were very tasty and the eggs were eggs though on the bit overcooked side of things.

The best review of the morning came from the men who reported the hash browns to be crispy and delicious. Hash browns haven’t been great so far on this trip, so that was a very high praise, indeed.

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 2 (Again, faced with another server who didn’t know what kind of coffee they served. But she did say they grind their own beans…haha… )

Other Offerings

• Lunch and Dinner

Contact Information

Hours

Pending

Local Attractions

• Starratt Marsh Loop
• Loads of outdoor adventures: Fishing, Hiking, Boat tours, ATV Tours, Rafting, Horseback Riding
• Valemount Pines Golf Club
• Jackman Flats Provincial Park
• George Hicks Salmon Viewing Park

Hello Toast - Kamloops B.C.

Two days in a row, my Plan A restaurants have failed me. The restaurant I was supposed to go to today was closed – permanently closed and has been for two years. Guess I was going by some old data when I did the research…

Hello Toast was an extremely good Plan B. In the middle of downtown Kamloops,  Hello Toast is a bustling little place run by three busy ladies – Tina Lange, Amy Stiles and Karen Stiles. The walls are covered with photos of children – their children. These massive photo collages are all about family and they add a lot of cheer to the place.

They have a great menu with some interesting twists to the usual breakfast fare. They offer Green Eggs and Ham (pesto being the reason for green, thank goodness!), Aussie Breaky (two eggs, sliced tomatoes and multi-grain toast), a variety of scrambles and Benny’s (Eggs Benedicts).

World Famous Hot Cereal

I ordered their World Famous Hot Cereal. Now, I don’t know if it is truly world famous, but it was a hearty blend of baked brown rice, pot barley, flax seed, rolled oats, cinnamon and raisins. This came with sides of brown sugar, sunflower seeds and milk. It was tasty and if there were just a few more raisins, it would have been perfect – for me.

Tony ordered Pleasure Toast. Sounds sexy, doesn’t it? It’s actually sliced cranberry sourdough bread soaked in egg, (cooked, obviously – though the menu left that step out) and served with mulled cranberry sauce. It looked great and Tony claimed the sauce was different in a good way – tangy with a hint of cloves.

Pleasure Toast

My daughter, Jess, had Bonjour Toast (aka French Toast). This is the first time during this trip that she cleared her plate. That pretty much says it all to me. It was good!

The only thing that didn’t meet expectations was the two side orders of bacon. For $3, you get two ordinary, nothing remarkable slices of bacon. That made things a bit spendy for me, but I’ll rate it on the high end of one $. Don’t let that scare you, however. This is definitely a Plan A place and I encourage you to visit. You won’t be disappointed.

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 4 (Was not able to get a definitive answer on the brand of the coffee, but it was good)

Other Offerings

• Breakfast served all day
• Lunch – apparently known for their soups.

Contact Information

Hours

Pending

Local Attractions

• Kamloops Art Gallery
• BC Wildlife Park
• Kamloops Heritage Railway
• Big Little Science Centre

When breakfast plans change, it’s a good idea to have a backup. If you don’t have a backup, use your noggin to find a Plan B before the natives in the car get restless.

After driving 20 minutes to the City Central Palace Restaurant in Surrey, BC we were met with my arch enemy – the Closed sign. Wah? But Why? I was so disappointed and after pulling a U-ee to head back in the other direction, I gave one last desperate glance at the place. Nope – still closed and other patrons were pulling in to find the same fate.

The only thing left for us to do was to head eastward and out of town. That road out took us through a few neighborhoods that were a bit dodgy and it was with desperation that we settled for – dare I say it? A Chain Restaurant. Did we make a huge mistake? Not at all.

Spinach, Feta & Tomato Omelette

We stopped at the ABC Country Restaurant at the Ramada Hotel at Surrey Guildford. At least it was a new chain for me. We had a very nice meal, indeed. Excellent service. Super fast. Hot and fresh food. Take a look at the photo of the meal that Tony and I had. Not bad looking, right? It tasted great!

While we were waiting for our meal I played my favorite game: spot the difference between American restaurants and [country's] restaurants.

Here’s how Canada plays the breakfast game:

• A Bottle of HP Brown Sauce on the table. (Tony the Brit was ecstatic)
• Eggs Benedict is called a Benny.
• A packet of peanut butter is served with the toast, along side the jam.
• You can substitute hash browns for sliced tomatoes.

Now then. You didn’t get the usual write up, but isn’t cool to learn something new? I think so.

Greetings from Vancouver, BC

Totem Family Dining

This post is the beginning of a series of posts from Western Canada where my family and I are traveling. This is the beginning of a two-week road trip and with only one day in – a very full day at that, I must ask your forgiveness in advance as I’m barely awake as I write and any grammar or spelling mistakes you see…well, let’s just forget they ever happened. Actually, if you just drop me a line, I’ll make the changes and send cyber hugs to all my editors out there. Shall we get started? Yes. Lets!

First stop on this two-week breakfast adventure (with a few national parks along the way) was at Totem Family Dining in Everett, Washington. Based on what I read about the place, I got the sense that it was a local favorite and upon arriving, the crowded dining room was a clear message – Eat Here. Apparently, it’s “Everett’s only family-owned and operated diner since 1953.” The old photos on the walls indicate that it was a drive-in, in the 50’s and I kind of wished I could go back in time to its origin.

Biscuit Barge

From the totem pole sign to the log cabin look of the place, I was expecting something windswept and interesting on the menu. Well I wouldn’t say I got that, but what I did get was a huge plate-full of home style vittles of the usual nature hidden behind clever names.

I ordered the Biscuit Barge (#34 – order by the number. They prefer it that way). It comes with two large homemade biscuits topped with two sausage patties, country gravy and two eggs made my way – scrambled. It also comes with a generous portion of crispy hash browns. It was good and hot, and generally I enjoyed my meal. The peppery taste of the gravy was a bit overwhelming, but that that didn’t stop me from eating two-thirds of it – Yikes! Guess I was hungry.

European French Toast

My husband, Tony, ordered a small portion of their European French Toast which is thick slices of French Bread flavored with cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg and sprinkled with sliced almonds. It’s looked great, but it looked dry. Tony confirmed that while it tasted good, it could have used an extra second or two in the egg mixture before cooking. We should have gone with the pancakes as recommended by our server. Hm…guess we weren’t the best listeners this morning.

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 2 (Boyd’s)

Other Offerings

• Breakfast all day
• Jr. sized portions for kids and seniors

Contact Information

Hours

Mon-Fri 6 am – 7:30 pm

Sat-Sun 7 am – 1 pm

Local Attractions

• Forest Park and Swim Center
• Howarth Park with off-leash dog area
• Langus Riverfront Park

This is true in almost all industries, but it is essential – critical – in the food business.

The past couple of restaurant experiences have prompted me to add another facet to this Blog topic – Customer Service and Advertising. Nothing can ruin a meal more than poor customer service and nothing can turn customers away faster than poor advertising. There are simply too many choices out there to put up with bad service and if it’s challenging to determine hours and location, potential customers may pass by your establishment just as quickly as they navigate away from a bad website.

Today, I’d like to share a couple of recent examples of both bad service and poor advertising. The first earns a popular Portland restaurant a spot on the first Food Biz Buzz post. The Original on 6th Avenue has a lot going for it – good food, jazzy atmosphere, and smiling servers and hosts galore. What they do not seem to have is good training.

On this particular weekend, a large group of us were staying at the Courtyard Marriott adjacent to the restaurant (or Dinerant™ as they like to call it). It was a wedding party with people coming and going at all different times, but often meeting together for meals. On my first visit, I told my friends I was running late, but to go ahead and order and I’d catch up. Upon my arrival, I easily spotted my group. I paused at the hostess stand to point them out and said “I meeting those people over there”. I then proceeded to their table. Immediately, I was confronted with the most extraordinary – never-before-experienced – situation. The server basically got in my face about not checking in with the hostess stand before coming to the table. Wah? My kids and I just looked at her like she had three horns – folks at the table were already making space to include us, but she said “I’m not trying to upset you [too late - she had already embarrassed us in front of the group and strangers], but you need to remember to check in next time.” That whole episode was repeated one day later I might add by the same server to other people within our party. This phenomenon became the butt of many jokes over the weekend. It’s that experience we will remember the most about The Original. Would I go back – probably not. There are too many other choices in Portland to bother.

The second occurrence of the week was on Monday. I take special care on Sunday evenings to select a place for our Monday Morning Breakfast Bunch gatherings. This week I selected a brand new place that’s gotten some notice from other bloggers  – the Fireside Cafe in Vancouver. I chose to stay local this time as it’s not easy for everyone in the Bunch to get down to Portland where there are choices galore. I was excited to see their website (albeit, still in the nebulous stage of development) advertise breakfast with an early opening of 6am. I arrived in anticipation of meeting up with new members to the group and eager to welcome them to the experience. When I approached the counter, however, something just Wasn’t. Quite. Right. This attractive little  coffee shop with bakery counter appeared to  be just that and only that – a coffee shop. When I inquired about breakfast, I was told that it was only served on Fridays and Saturdays (Sunday they are closed). I pointed out that the website seemed to indicate differently and in fact, I  called their number the night before to make sure the breakfast was indeed being served. The voice message didn’t seem to indicate otherwise. The woman behind the counted admitted that the website is not clear (obviously) and that  this problem (sadly) keeps happening a lot. Poor her! She even made it quite clear that she was getting tired of having to explain the confusion to so many people.

This is an easy fix, Mr./Ms. Restaurant owner – fix that site and get the correct word out pronto or you’ll be wondering why you’re having to throw away so much leftover food at the end of the day. Will I give them a second chance? Eh…possibly. When they finish working out the kinks .

If you want to step away from the typical greasy spoon establishment and into something more refined, then Three Degrees Waterfront Bar & Grill at the RiverPlace Hotel is the place for you.

I’m enjoying my culinary adventure through every diner within driving distance. However,  I like to break things up by visiting a place that offers something more elegant than just a pile of food on a plate in the way of home-style establishments.

Mushroom and Leek Hash

Three Degrees (and RiverPlace) is right on the Willamette River waterfront. Almost every diner gets a view of the marina right outside giant picture windows. It’s very soothing to watch boats bobbing in their berths and it helped this speedy eater to just slow down and truly enjoy the Northwest flavors presented here.

It’s not the biggest menu, but it is by far one of the most unique I’ve seen in awhile. Northwest fare is the order of the day and Salmon seems to be the mascot. If fish for breakfast is not your thing, you will find many things on the griddle menu that may turn your head. How does a Malted Belgian Waffle, or Ham and Cheese French Toast sound? Different, perhaps, but I definitely think worth of a try.

Three Degree Omelet

Still sticking to my vegetarian diet, I went for the Mushroom and Leek Hash – a potato, mushroom and shredded leek mixture, topped with two perfectly poached eggs and tasty chive hollandaise sauce. I think I left a potato behind…and that’s about it. My friend ordered the 3-degree omelet; our server was happy to swap the onions for spinach and the end result got a “Really, really good!” review.

Coffee Rating: 4 (Stumptown)

Tea: Tazo

Spendy Scale: $$$

Other Offerings

• Lunch, brunch & dinner
• Full bar
• Patio dning
• Special events & meetings

Contact Information

Hours

Breakfast (M-F): 6:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Brunch (Sat & Sun): 6:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Lunch (M-F): 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Dinner (7 days): 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Bar Hours (7 days): 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Local Attractions

• Waterfront Park
• Keller Fountain Park