the breakfast blog

Panificio, Boston

2008-05-18T13:58:00.006+10:00

You'd think that with Mrs Heinz living up the road you could get some baked beans for breakfast. But not if you go to Panificio, 144 Charles Street, Beacon Hill. Not a bean to be found. So eggs benny it was, served on "English muffin bread", whatever that is.

Turns out to be some kind of vaguely circular toast, with very little in common with an English muffin. Not that this was a problem. The muffin-toast, eggs and hollandaise were all pretty good. The weak link was the so-called home fries: four chunks of potato, none of which seemed to have spent much time in the frying-pan. Another weak link was the mysterious slice of cantaloupe, which was caught in the twilight zone between side and garnish. It wasn't much good as the former (too thin and dry). Nor was it much good as the latter (it made the dish look stupid, not pretty).

Looking back at the Panificio menu I can see that I misspoke, Hillary-style, about the beans. You can, in fact, get yourself a tasty serve of huevos rancheros, black-beans included. It's only if you're looking for Heinz baked beans that you'll be disappointed. But this is probably part of a deliberate environmental initiative of the Heinz Endowments. Never mind that Therese jets about in a Gulfstream and drives three gas-guzzling SUVs. The real solution to global warming is to boycott baked-beans at breakfast. Join the BBB@B movement and reduce your carbon fart-print today.

If I go back to Panificio (which is not out of the question), I think I'll try the French toast. The only question is: which version? The apple-cinnamon raisin-bread version? Or the Challah version stuffed with cream cheese, blueberries, strawberries and banana? Decisions, decisions...

Arthur and Pats, Marshfield MA

2008-05-11T02:58:00.002+10:00

I think if I was allergic to dairy I'd kill myself - Michael Scott

I wonder if Steve Carrell improvised this line while thinking of the bread pudding french toast at Arthur & Pat's, 239 Ocean St, Brant Rock, MA, Tel +1 (781) 834-9755? Apparently he is (or was) a Marshfield local, and it's hard to believe you could live near this place without being drawn in for a bite, and that once bitten, your world view wouldn't be permanently and irrevocably damaged. I ate the french toast. And my world has been twisted.

What could be better than a big, fat, spongy slab of bread and butter pudding (made from recycled croissants and brioche), soaked in eggs, fried, then smothered in creme anglaise, caramel and whipped cream? What could be worse than living without it?

Well, nothing. That's what.

Mind you, eating this stuff more than once a year will probably kill you.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

To avoid this catch-22, you may want to dodge the sweet stuff and try the lobster omelet, or the filet mignon eggs benny, or the omelet with sweet roasted peppers and provolone. I tried the crab eggs benny and wasn't disappointed. Good eggs and hollandaise. A decent amount of crab. And a bonus serve of spinach.

Arthur & Pat's is a diner-style venue with bunched up tables, and bar seating if you're flying solo. It's nothing fancy, but it is colorful. The walls are plastered all over with flyers describing what's on the menu. It looks like a bunch of hippies were dosed up on acid and let loose with paper, crayons and glue.

Just be sure to check your dates before schlepping down from Boston. They close from November to March.

Legal Seafoods, Boston

2008-04-20T14:58:00.000+10:00

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between - Oscar Wilde

Decadent is a good word to describe the Eggs Oscar at Legal Seafoods, in the Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, Boston. It's kind of like eggs benedict, only with crabmeat and a few spears of asparagus. The pig got the day off.

Metropolis, Boston

2008-04-13T12:45:00.000+10:00

I don't think the BBH and eggs is the best dish to order at Metropolis...

Liar Liar, Hawthorn

2008-04-06T11:31:00.000+10:00

I don't normally like sweet things, but...

Hashtastic

2008-04-05T12:16:00.001+11:00

A little light on cornichons and some of the corned beef cubes were a little chewy, but all-in-all the Batch hash is a seriously good dish if you need a potato fix. The poached egg is a bonus.

Greasy Joe's Slips

2008-03-30T12:21:00.002+11:00

Finally, after all this time, Babka has a challenger (and I'm not talking beans). Greasy Joe's can thank the waitress in the stripy red top for its rapid slide from the Breakfast Blog Top 20 to not-worth-wasting-your-time-and-money. Not only did they fail to clear plates, and forget about coffee orders for well over 30 minutes, but when we walked up to re-order and inquire, they really didn't care. A couple of us even made a point of clearing our own plates, but still no-one got the message that perhaps we'd like some service.

Here are some tips for anyone running a cafe or restaurant:

1. Please try to look at the customers as you buzz about the venue. There is nothing more frustrating to be waiting for some help, your head bobbing up and down like a prairie dog, only to be treated like an invisible hobbit wearing the ring of power.

2. Make sure that, having ignored tip #1, when a customer starts wandering aimlessly around the venue in search of assistance, you show them some love and tell them you're sorry, even if you have to fake it. At this point, the customer may be a little sarcastic, as in, "Do you think maybe we could get our coffees within the next hour or two?" Don't be sarcastic back. Don't tell them "there's no need to be rude." Don't give them lip. Because if you've kept someone waiting over 30 minutes for a cup of coffee, they've earned a free pass to make at least two sarcastic comments, maybe even three. Grit your teeth and smile.

If only stripy red top knew these simple rules I might consider going back to GJ's one day. Unfortunately, she didn't. And I won't.

BTW, the eggs benny was OK, but nothing special. Go to The Galleon instead.

Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder

2008-03-19T10:08:00.001+11:00

Well it must be said that RHCL is much better than I remember from previous visits. Best of all, they serve an excellent house-made sausage and buttered spinach. Pretty good scrambles, too...

The Galleon, St Kilda

2008-03-09T12:53:00.006+11:00

The thing that's attached to the typewriter. Little animal with a ball. Little animal, small... Creeps about, not a rat.

Bubble, AbFab

If bubble you crave, then get yourself down to The Galleon, 9 Carlisle Street, Tel +61 3 9534 8934, where they serve it with squeak, and a big fat banger, on toast. Or sans banger, if you prefer. Bursting with peas, corn, and other items of mystery mush, it looked very satisfying.

Last time I was here I had the sweet potato hash cakes. This time I went for eggs benny, with ham and spinach, and a hash cake on the side. And a wise choice it was, even if I do say so myself. The eggs were good. The bagel was better than a muffin. The hollandaise was thick and creamy. A very respectable, if slightly unconventional, interpretation of the classic benedict.

The coffee was also very respectable. Well above average. As were the staff. A little quirky, like Bubble. But not nearly as stupid. Not stupid at all, actually.

The only problem with The Galleon is the lack of ventilation. On a hot day, you really need to go dressed in speedos and thongs. Any more clothing and you'll start to sweat. Someone did try to improve things by ripping a hole in the ceiling, but even that hasn't quite fixed the problem.

Zaftigs, Brookline

2008-02-24T13:32:00.002+11:00

I love a Jewish deli that isn't afraid to sneak a bit of pork onto the menu. So it will come as no surprise that I loved Zaftig's Delicatessen, 335 Hardvard Street, Brookline, MA, Tel +1 (617) 975-0075. But why have eggs benny with Canadian bacon when there's an apple and cheese omelette up for grabs? And no ordinary apple and cheese omelette: a Macintosh apple and Vermont sharp cheddar omelette. Mac & cheese just took on a whole new meaning.

The omelette was very good. But apparently the banana-stuffed French toast in bourbon-vanilla batter with date butter is even better. Or you can have grilled banana nut bread with your date butter if you prefer. Or maybe granola pancakes with date butter? Who cares as long as it's got date butter on it?

With Citysearch ranking Zaftigs as Boston's best breakfast, you can expect to wait a while for a table. But it's worth the wait.

Pops, Boston

2008-02-17T15:48:00.007+11:00

Jaunts? Jaunts? You must be kidding. I'm over here in America dodging snow-scrapers and monster trucks, eating trans-fat for breakfast and people accuse me of having a jaunt? Then start moaning about the declining quality of Breakfast Blog content? Ex-squeeze me for a second while I purchase an automatic weapon and go postal. About the nearest thing I've had to a jaunt in the past 6 weeks was this brunch in the South End, at Pops, 560 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, Tel +1 (617) 695-1250.

For those stupid enough not to figure it out, I am working my fanny* off over here, and there may, accordingly, be some temporary interruptions to the usual schedule of Breakfast Blog transmissions. Sue me.

If you happen to get lucky with your own Boston boondoggle, one place you should not miss is Pops, where the salmon with soft scrambles is exceptionally good: delicate eggs, fresh salmon, crunchy shards of potato galette, and a delicious drizzle of Dijonaise caper sauce.

Another great dish is the "Deconstructed Red Flannel Hash and Eggs", which turned out to be a pile of finely-diced home-fries alongside a pile of finely-diced (and fried) corned beef, topped with a couple of perfectly-poached eggs. And just to be a pig, I had a side of griddled banana bread.

I won't attempt to cover the whole menu, but I will point out a few other highlights: omelettes with goat cheese and sage, or mushroom and truffle oil; French toast Monte Cristo, with ham, turkey, swiss cheese and strawberry jam; and chicken fried steak, served with eggs, gravy and roast potatoes.

Service is very good, venue is slick, and best of all, everything is quite affordable, at between $10 and $12 (the chicken fried steak is $15).

17/20 "popstar"

*Note to Australian readers, "fanny" means "bum" in America.

Sonsie, Boston

2008-02-10T12:37:00.002+11:00

If it's bad eggs benedict you seek, look no further than Sonsie, 327 Newbury St, Boston, MA, Tel +1 (617) 351-2500. The eggs were half-raw, ditto the muffins, and the hollandaise tasted weird, and not in a good way. Clearly people don't come here for the food. Maybe it's all about the people watching? No Tom and Gisele sightings on my watch.

Tremont 647, Boston

2008-02-10T12:30:00.001+11:00

During her ankle-bracelet days, Martha Stewart probably became quite attached to her pajamas. So it's no surprise that she's started wearing jim jams to work. But what about the rest of us? Won't we get arrested if we start roaming the streets in our sleepwear? Not if we live near the South End. It's pajama brunch every weekend at Tremont 647, 647 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, where staff and diners are free to flaunt their finest flannelette. Just try to keep the tiger in his cage...

Red Flame Diner, New York

2008-02-06T09:30:00.001+11:00

There are certain things New York is famous for, and one of them is the lox-cream-cheese-bagel. And there are certain bagels that are more famous than others, and one of them is H&H. What really matters with bagels, however, is not so much fame as freshness, and I was very satisfied with the freshness of these H&H bagels at the Red Flame Diner. I wonder if Kramer made them?

Harvard Club of New York

2008-02-05T11:00:00.000+11:00

So, the burning question: was the Harvard Club's eggs benny better than the Yale Club?

Another Breakfast Bloggie?

2008-01-26T17:49:00.000+11:00

The 2008 Bloggies are go. Vote early. Vote often. Actually, you can only vote once. Choose wisely, grasshoppers...

Top 20 Melbourne

2008-01-26T14:53:00.001+11:00

It's been a while since I did the original Top 10 wrap-up for Melbourne breakfasts. So to make up for lost time I am now doing a Melbourne Top 20. Some clever-dick will probably nit-pick about Mt Macedon. Whatever. It's greater-Melbourne. Sort of. Breakfast Blog mavens will also not that I am listing them all as an alphabetical bucket this time, not ranked in any particular order. It's just coincidence that Apte comes top and also happens to have the highest score.

Apte, Alphington
Balzari, Carlton
Blue Tongue, Elwood
Botanical, South Yarra
Braeside Cafe, Mt Macedon
Circa, St Kilda
European, Melbourne
Fandango, North Melbourne
Filter Cafe, Fitzroy
Galleon Cafe, St Kilda
Greasy Joe's, St Kilda
Green Grocer, North Fitzroy
Harveys, South Yarra
Las Chicas, Balaclava
Mario's, Fitzroy
Mart 130, Middle Park
Panette, South Melbourne
Replete Providore, Hawthorn
Tom Phat, Brunswick
Walter's Wine Bar, Southbank

NZ008, Somewhere Above the Pacific

2008-01-26T10:48:00.000+11:00

Normally I would be slagging off another airline about now. You know the drill. Crappy food. Crappy movies. Crappy seats. Blah blah blah. But not this time. Air New Zealand tramples on airline tradition and serves a very respectable breakfast of scrambled eggs with hot smoked NZ king salmon, chives, baby spinach and a potato cheddar cake. Fancy.

Chroma, Boston

2008-01-20T14:40:00.001+11:00

The Paramount, Boston

2008-01-19T13:27:00.000+11:00

Two things struck me as particularly un-american about The Paramount, 44 Charles Street, Beacon Hill, Boston, Tel +1 617-720-1152. First, they know how to spell omelette. Second, in this land of super-dooper-service, they offer virtually no service at all. And yet a long line of eager diners snakes up and down the counter where, after about ten minutes shuffling forward, they can place an order, wait for their food, then scurry for a table.

So why do people wait 20 minutes for no service? Because it's cheap. Not normally a word you associate with Beacon Hill. Not only cheap, but good. My triple stack of blueberry pancakes was, as the kids would say, fat. Fluffy, too. All it needed was a generous slurp of maple syrup to juice things up a bit. Only $5.50. Sweeeet.

The coffee was shite. But this is America, so you just have to force it down like a teenager learning to drink beer. Presumably, one day, you just wake up and suddenly it tastes good. Mmmm... what a fine brew this is... top me up girlfriend.

Cheapest of all is the breakfast special of two eggs, toast, home fries and coffee (the shite stuff), for a mere $5.95. A side of turkey sausage will set you back another $4. And most of the omelettes will fill you up for less than $8.

13/20 "self-service"

Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe, Boston

2008-01-12T13:48:00.000+11:00

When the menu declares that the "best breakfast in America" is coming your way, expectations are set rather high. So I was very happy not to be disappointed by Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe, 429 Columbus Ave, Boston (South End), Tel +1 617 536 7669. I can't yet confirm the best in the America tag, but I can confirm that Charlie's is a way cool, old school diner...

The omelette was good. But the Turkey Hash is the award-winning dish to go for. Soft, mushy spud, onion and minced turkey, fried into a big fat cake with a nice crispy skin...

Dundas and Faussett, Albert Park

2008-01-05T15:38:00.000+11:00

It's all about omelettes and eggs. No eggs, no omelette. And it depends on the quality of the eggs... Some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes.

Jose Mourinho explains why footballers are like eggs

Young players are a bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 per cent sure that the melon is good.

Jose Mourinho explains why footballers are like melons

I think that former Chelsea coach Jose "The Special One" Mourinho may now be working in the kitchen at Dundas & Faussett, 111 Dundas Place, Albert Park, Tel +61 3 9645 5155. Who else would serve omelettes and melons on the same plate? And who else would serve a Portugese omelette?

Technically, I didn't order one of the omelettes. I ordered scrambled eggs. But it was cooked like an omelette, so I'll call it an omelette. I'm also calling the salmon croquette a hash brown, since it was more like a potato patty with a few trace elements of salmon spotted through the mix. And the "chive cream" was light on chive and heavy on dill, so I'll call than a dill cream. It was all OK. But what's with the melon-apple garnish?

Actually, it gets worse. Not content to garnish eggs with fruit, they offer a breakfast blog first: caramelised banana omelette. I dare someone to order than and tell me what it's like. I resisted the temptation.

The omelette frenzy continues with a "farmer's omelette" (potato, bacon, tomato and herbs), a "Portugese omelette" (red peppers, ham, tomato and basil), a goat's cheese omelette and, I kid you not... a prawn omelette. Or, you can design your own. Maybe prawn, banana, bacon and melon?

So, there you have it. Dundas and Faussett. A great place for freaky omelettes. And a great place for Albert Park poseurs to check each other out. Otherwise, not that great.

12/20 "banana omelette"

Quaff, Toorak

2007-12-22T14:48:00.000+11:00

Toorak, home to Lou Richards, Eddie McGuire and Nathan Buckley (you just can't find a good mansion in Collingwood these days), is also home to a restaurant called Quaff, 436 Toorak Road, Toorak, Tel +61 3 9827 4484. They only do breakfast on weekends, but they do serve a very respectable Eggs Benedict.

Nice toasty muffins. Very good hollandaise. Good ham and good (but not great) eggs. The side of sauteed spinach was also very nice. And if plain old Benedict seems a bit dull, they offer Chili Eggs, which is a bacon Benedict served with chili concassee (whatever that is).

The menu is pretty much all eggs, with a couple of exceptions: toasted fruit bread or pancakes with vanilla bean ice cream and maple syrup. Bad luck if you want something exotic, like muesli.

The venue is dark and plush, a bit like the interior of the 2008 Range Rover Sport LE. So the local toffs can cruise down from Clendon Road in the "tractor" and feel like they never left the 4 car garage.

13/20 "what, no muesli?"

Apte, Alphington

2007-12-15T18:44:00.000+11:00

I'm not sure I can call it the perfect breakfast, but this morning I had my first 20/20 experience at Apte, 538-540 Heidleberg Road, Alphington, Tel +61 3 9482 2991. Excellent eggs. Equally great extras. Fantastic fritters. Schmick venue. Smooth service. No mistakes. Schwing!

Perfection, I fear, is an elusive beast. Jessica Alba may be 2007's sexiest, but is she the perfect woman? Derek Zoolander may have been born with perfect bone structure, but is he the perfect man? Robert Parker may have scored the 1986 Romanee Conti Montrachet 100 points, but is it the perfect wine? No, no and no.

So please don't get hung up on the whole perfect score thing. Just enjoy a truly delicious corn, pea and feta fritter, drizzled with dill-infused sour cream and topped with a mountain of Tasmania's finest smoked salmon (and some nice, ripe avocado). Or tuck into a beautifully balanced big breakfast, with eggs, bangers, bacon and house-made relish, plus mushies, spinach, tomato and organic toast. Or go sweet with toasted, house made banana and coconut bread (with honey labna, pistachios and roasted seasonal fruit). Yum, yum and yum.

20/20 "almost perfect"

Eggs & Bacon $10.40 BB100 +4%

North, Carlton North

2007-12-09T12:03:00.000+11:00

At first glance, hiring Merv Hughes as a behavioural role model for beer-goggled cricket fans might seem about as clever as hiring Shane Warne to babysit your teenage daughter's slumber party. But this summer, Merv will indeed be urging you not to throw hot pies, roast chickens and jars of mayonnaise at your fellow spectator. Not even during a Mexican wave.

Personally, I reckon we should be allowed to throw any of the ingredients for huevos rancheros. Nothing too dangerous about eggs, avocado and some soft corn tortillas. To find out what else you can throw, order yourself a serve of Mexican eggs, ranch-style, at North Cafeteria, 717 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, Tel +61 3 9348 1276. They make their own tortillas.

If you're not in the mood for a belly full of black beans, you could try the baked eggs with pork sausage and roast fennel bulb. Or the very simple Champion's Breakfast of boiled eggs, toast soldiers and tomato relish.

The sweet tip has to be the French toast with poached pear, walnut and lemon-honey labne. Melinda tipped me off to this one, and I have to agree that it did look extremely good.

North is very nicely fitted-out, with white paint job, arty feature-wall, and red and white tulip chairs (probably not Saarinen-Knoll originals, but you never know). Service was a little slow at first, but it warmed up, and the Coffee Supreme coffee was very good.

16/20 "huevos rancheros"

Eggs & Bacon $10.00 BB100 +0%