Breakfast in America

Like several fine restaurants previously review by me and the rest of the Portland area foodies, Mother’s Bistro definitely comes out on top as being one of the best places for breakfast. I’m so excited about this place that I cannot wait to go back again to try some other dishes.

Two Eggs & Honey-cured Ham

This entry is going to be challenging for me as I will be hard put to come up with something windswept and interesting to say about Mother’s. It’s already been said and if they were open on a Monday, it would have been one of my very first visits when I started writing this blog.

In order to get the Breakfast Bunch to Mother’s, I had to break tradition and go on a Wednesday. What a great idea that was! We had a good-sized crew and many dishes were sampled. For the most part, I will let the photos do the talking. Kim, our server, was fabulous. She seemed to really enjoy working there and she was enthusiastic about sharing what was considered Mother’s specialties. The place was busy and yet, we enjoyed our cozy corner of a very large dining room without feeling pressed in by our fellow diners.

Crunchy French Toast

The special of the day was called The Three Little Pigs – a great name for an omelet stuffed with bacon, ham and sausage. The idea of all that meat didn’t tempt me so I went for one of Kim’s suggestions. I ordered Crunchy French Toast which is three thick slices of challah dipped in cornflakes and a side of bacon to bump up the protein portion my meal. It was the idea of cornflakes that made me giggle. It reminded me of my childhood. The combination of egg-dipped bread and the crunchy coating was perfect. I enjoyed the meal right down to the last flake.

I was able to sample some of the other dishes and was not at all disappointed. The biscuits and gravy may not have looked pleasant on the plate (does gravy ever look pleasant?), but it was savoury herbal heaven on a perfectly-baked biscuit. Noah (Mr. I-Don’t-Eat-Breakfast), stretched his boundaries and ordered the Grilled Portabella Mushroom Scramble. It was my Plan B choice and when I return, I’m having that dish all to myself. Delicious!

There are many other wonderful choices on the menu and not one of the Bunch was disappointed. Interestingly, the bagels are brought in from New York via FedEX from H & H Bagel™. Wow – chef and owner, Lisa Schroeder goes out of her way to please. I was fortunate to meet her and was flattered that she was able to leave her busy kitchen to visit our table.

Lynn Lovin' Her Stumptown Coffee

The French Press coffee from Stumptown was a huge hit with our caffeine fanatics. I especially enjoyed my tea from Harney & Sons. When a meal is good right down to the last crumb and the last drop, there simply isn’t anything else to say except…

Grab a friend. Get in the car. Drive to Mother’s Bistro and be a part of the past, present and future of really great food.

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 5 (Stumptown)

Other Offerings

• Lunch
• Dinner
• Full Bar
• Private Parties
• Catering
• M.O.M Mother of the Month – a special woman is chosen to share her story and her special dishes each month

Belgian Waffle & Fresh Blackberries

Contact Information

212 Southwest Stark Street
Portland, OR 97204-2603
(503) 464-1122

Hours

Breakfast:

• Tues – Fri  7am – 2:30pm
• Sat – Sun  9am – 2:30pm

Lunch:

• Tues – Sun  11:30am – 2:30pm

Dinner:

• Tues - Thurs  5:30pm – 9pm
• Fri – Sat  5pm – 10pm

Local Attractions

• Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park
• Portland Saturday Market

Donald Cafe - Donald, OR

Unless you live and work in Donald, Oregon, there’s not a lot of reason to get off the freeway to visit the place, unless…

you want a hearty home-style breakfast that the locals claim to be the best. To find the Donald Cafe, you almost have to know someone who lives here to hear about it or accidentally make a wrong turn onto a county road and you end up in the middle of Main Street, Donald.

Truly, it is not that unknown if it turns up on Urbanspoon. It’s just a bit – Out There.

We decided to make the trip on our way to theWoodburn Outlet Shops. Getting off the freeway at the Aurora and taking the back-country roads, West, to Donald gives you a chance to see some beautiful farm country. You quickly see why NW landscapes thrive – the foundation starts in Marion County - the largest producer of agriculture products in the state. There’s an abundance of wholesale nurseries in the area. You’ll also see why Oregon’s got some of the best microbrews in the country because near Donald, acre after acre of hops vines, abound.

Sorry – I digress. Being a lover of new things (and the fact that I have an agricultural degree), I just can’t help still feeling wonder at all thing that grow. Speaking of growing, if you become a regular at Donald Cafe, it’s  quite likely your waistline will grow. It’s that kind of comfort food.

Biscuits and Gravy

I ordered the biscuits and gravy. Obviously made from scratch, the gravy had nice chunks of sausage and had just enough spice to make it just right. The rest of my family were content as well. The Erwin Cake deserves special notice. It is one giant plate-sized pancake, measuring up to one inch thick. I asked my daughter, “Is it really good?” She said, “Oh Yeah!” And this comes from our toughest pancake critic. I gave it a try and found it to be very tasty, indeed. Thinking that she would starve with only one pancake, my daughter also ordered the oatmeal. It was a hearty dish with very distinguishable oats of the natural variety. It came with raisins, brown sugar and milk.

The cafe isn’t fancy by any stretch of the means. Their choice of decor is quite interesting. Boughs and bouquets of hops vines adorn every corner of the diningroom - a perfect statement to what that area is all about. No two pieces of cutlery are alike and neither are the cups. Unfortunately, beverages are not their strongsuit. When I asked what kind of tea they have, our server stated, “Just regular Lipton Tea.” Oh please…

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating: 2 (Boyd’s)

Other Offerings

• Lunch

Contact Information

10780 Main Street Northeast
Donald, OR 97020
(503) 678-1364

Hours

Pending

Local Attractions

• Woodburn Company Stores (Outlet Mall)
• Champoeg State Park
• Champoeg Wine Cellars (limited opening times)

Rosemary Cafe & Espresso Bar

Vancouver does quite well whipping up a basic good breakfast at several locations Downtown and in East County. However, Rosemary Cafe & Espresso goes just a bit beyond the basics at an amazingly affordable price. Nothing on the breakfast menu is over $8.95.

Our breakfast bunch included a small army of kids this week and thankfully, Rosemary Cafe is kid-friendly. It was no trouble to pull together a kids table and a separate table for the adults who enjoy grown-up conversation from time to time. Our server was pleasant though for awhile, she was a one-man band – hostess, cook and server. Fortunately, she was an efficient one-man-band and we didn’t have to wait too terribly long for our meals.

Grilled Breakfast Burrito

The menu wasn’t vast by any means, but it offered up fresh ideas for breakfast. All breakfasts come with FREE (yes, FREE) house coffee and a serving of their homemade applesauce.  I ordered the Grilled Breakfast Burrito and in spite of my hesitation to have spicy food for breakfast, this was a wise choice. It was delicious and fresh tasting – a grilled tortilla packed with three eggs, olives, onions, sausage, potatoes, cheese and a mild salsa – a hearty platter for only $7.95.

My fellow diners ordered the Everyday Breakfast (with all the usual breakfast suspects), french toast, Made-t0-Order Scrambles and a Breakfast Sandwich. There wasn’t a disappointed person in the bunch.

Made to Order Scramble

Spendy Scale: $

Coffee Rating:  (Cafe’ Vita - Portland)

Other Offerings

• Lunch
• Catering
• Take-away
• Beer and Wine

Contact Information

1001 Main Street
Vancouver, WA 98660-3150
(360) 737-7611

Hours

Weekdays 7:30am-4:30pm

Breakfast served until 10:30 am

Local Attractions

• Esther Short Park
• Vancouver Farmers Market
• Clark County Historical Museum

A Real Dead Rooster

A night away from the hustle and bustle of Washougal, WA is great. A night away in a Worldmark property Presidential Suite is bliss. A new breakfast place is always an adventure and during my weekend on the coast on the Long Beach peninsula, WA, our breakfast adventure took place at Laurie’s Homestead Breakfast House.

When all a restaurant does is breakfast, you would expect great things. Unfortunately, great things didn’t happen at Laurie’s. Oh…it wasn’t all bad. Truly. Let me say that the service was pleasant. The hash browns were perfect and the steak-sized slices of bacon were delicious. If your more about quantity than quality, however, this place is for you.

Biscuits and BLAH

It was busy with folks rushing in to make the last seating time of 12:45 PM. Not a huge place, we were elbow to elbow with other diners and wall-t0-wall rooster decor.

Marionberry Pancakes

Three of our party of four ordered some form of pancake. Half orders were offered, but we went for the full platters thinking we’d be sharing tastes all around the table. That didn’t happen. I was hoping for a taste of the Biscuits and Gravy, but alas, they are were a huge disappointment. So much so, they seemed to put my friend right off her food and folks, Lynn loves her food and is a specialist on biscuits and gravy. I did have a taste and BLAND was the first thing that came to mind. Even salt and pepper did not make much of an improvement.

I think everyone enjoyed their pancakes for the most part, except for Kyle who had serious chocolate overload with his Chocoholic pancakes. Jess and I ordered fruit pancakes and were a bit surprised to find most of the fruit on top rather than folded inside as the menu seemed to indicate. The Marionberries were fresh, the apples looked not quite so appetizing.

Chocoholic Pancakes

Enjoy the photos – they were taken before bites were and if you go by looks, than the breakfast LOOKED delicious.

Spendy Scale: $ (very reasonable for the quantity served)

Coffee Rating:  Not rated (Columbia River Coffee Roasters)

Other Offerings

None that I could see.

Contact Information

Hours

6:30 AM – 1:00 PM (last seating 12:45 PM)

Local Attractions

• Marsh’s Free Museum
• World Kite Museum
• Peninsula Golf Course
• Cranberry Museum and Demonstration Farm
• Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum
• and of course, the beach.

Bantam & Grouse

Goodness! It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here. BAD Stevie!

After two weeks on the Canadian road, I was simplifying my breakfast life. All I wanted for about two weeks was cereal and toast. I needed cholesterol recovery,  but now I’m back with two visits to report.

The Bantam & Grouse is a gem – a hidden surprise in another Vancouver gem, Shorty’s Garden and Home. It is so much like the tea shops I used to visit across the pond in the UK, that I was literally gushing with enthusiasm at the owner, Gail Burks. In their own words, they offer up “A European Twist to Tea and Coffee”. What a pleasure is was to enjoy a full tea-cosied pot of Yorkshire Tea. Coffee drinkers – do not despair. They make mocha’s and lattes featuring Caffé Darte brand tea.

Breakfast Pasty

B & G has a sweet little menu which should cheer the hearts of the local British population and those who simply wish they were British. I’ve tried the traditional meat pasty [pas-tee] and for breakfast their Breakfast Pasty of ham, cheese and potatoes. Baked just right, it has that lovely crumbly crust that makes a pasty, perfect.

Other offerings for breakfast include a breakfast sandwich and bagels and cream cheese for the truly unadventurous. I encourage you to take your time. Enjoy your “cuppa”. Take a stroll through the gardens and them GO BACK for lunch and/or a homemade scone. You’ll have just created the perfect day.

Spendy Scale: $

Other Offerings

• Lunch
• Take-away

Contact Information

Hours

Monday-Saturday 10 am-4pm
Sunday 10 am-4pm

Local Attractions

• David Douglas Park
• and not much else I’m afraid, but the Shorty’s gardens are a beautiful botanical adventure.

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