Stephi's on Tremont, Boston

It was something of a hash frenzy, my Boston Summer breakfast spree. Duck hash at Mistral. Potato hash at Henrietta's. And last but not least, meatloaf hash at Stephi's on Tremont. I am, as you may have guessed, a sucker for anything hashed and brown. Especially when the brown component happens to be meatloaf, one of America's great contributions to world cuisine. The verdict? Stephi gives good hash...



Which is not surprising, when you consider that the "Queen of Patio Dining" just happens to be married to the "King of Ambulance Chasing", James Sokolove. With Jim making a motza from slip-and-trip lawsuits, Stephi clearly doesn't need the money. So the restaurant must just be for fun. A community service. Because Massachusetts deserves good meatloaf.

Mistral, Boston

Talk about slack. So many months, so little blogging. And so many breakfasts to catch up on. So here goes nothing. A highlight to kick things off, courtesy of Mistral. A rather fancy place in Boston's South End, serving a rather delicious confit duck and root vegetable hash topped with fried egg...

BOS, Des Moines, IA

It's pretty hard to resist a signature dish, even if it does look like someone just threw up on your eggs...

Clio, Boston

I was half expecting hollandaise foam when I sat down for breakfast at Clio, 370 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, Tel +1 (617) 536-7200. A quick flick through the Clio photo gallery reveals that Ken Oringer is quite the foam fan-boy. A trick he picked up from the godfather of foam, Ferran Adria, no doubt. But my farm eggs were foam-free, and smothered instead with a generous amount of Piment d’Espelette hollandaise. Spicy.



As innovations go, it worked quite well. A little touch of the Basque Country and a little extra kick. All perched on a bed of ham and sweet potato hash. Very nice. And at $17, so it should be.

More frugal options include old fashioned Irish oatmeal with "red & gold" raisins and brown sugar (a mere $8), or French toast with berry compote ($11). They also serve waffles, a couple of omelettes, and fancy-sounding crispy galettes of organic grains and banana with French salted butter and Vermont maple syrup. French salted butter? I thought the French preferred their butter sans salt?

For a power-breakfast venue, service was a little slow and clueless. But at least they won't be in your face while you discuss the finer points of the deal.

Sears Fine Food, San Francisco

I am always suspicious of "world famous" venues I've never heard of. But I decided to throw caution to the wind and sample the world famous Swedish pancakes at Sears Fine Food, 439 Powell St (between Post and Sutter), San Francisco, CA, Tel +1 (415) 986-1160.



Rather than 18 straight silver dollar cakes, I went with 9 little pancakes, corned beef hash, poached eggs and hash browns. The eggs came in their own dish with a puddle of water, and were so runny that they disappeared into the beef hash as soon as I started to slice 'em up. The beef hash was good, and the fat wedge of hash brown potatoes was even better. Soft in the middle. Crisp and golden on the outside. As for the pancakes, they were fine. I wouldn't call them world famous. But I wouldn't complain about them either.

13/20 "babycakes"

Metropolis, Boston

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

Hashtastic

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.

Dundas and Faussett, Albert Park

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"

Johnny's, Newton, MA

Johnny's... "Where the folks get their yolks"