King's Omelet

Another lazy weekend morning + some errands that needed to be done + bloggy breakfast. Also known as find a new breakfast spot and try something new. Usually I would Google it (isn't it fun how that is a verb now?) but the sign for King's Omelet has been taunting my morning commute for weeks now. Time for some tasty payback.

Remembering the wait I had at the Gateway Breakfast House I scurried out the door as soon as I was dressed. And a good thing as there was a line, but only a 10 minute wait for a single.

Walking in the door one is greeted by a an Asian style altar/ shrine in a display case covered with family pictures and at least a dozen military photos of young men and women in uniform. On inquiry I learned that the owner/ head cook's son is a Marine. Clearly there is a lot of Marine pride in this establishment. I'll have to take RedneckWidow with me next time.

King;s is a family run establishment with a clear crowd of regulars from the retirement village down the street. One gentleman opted not to take his leftovers home and was swiftly surrounded by the patriarch/ head cook and his older sons all demanding to know what was wrong with it. It was all in jovial good fun and quite amusing to watch. Sometimes people watching is better than the food.

Gladly this was not the case here.

My coffee cup was always full by the very attentive wait staff and my meal was quick in coming. I wanted something sweet so ordered the strawberry crepes with a ham steak on the side. The crepes were light, oh so fluffy and simply packed with sweet fresh strawberries. The ham steak was nicely grilled and slightly browned on the outside. Excellent.

I loved this place and am looking forward to going back again.

Gateway Breakfast House

Woke up Saturday morning with a day to myself… Or it would have been if I have any ability to stay away from thrift stores. (Explanation: Roomies = Extended Family Sisters, Brother in Law and niece/nephews were going back to school shopping. I couldn’t resist! But I did try. I have no spawn of my own so must resort to playing “parent” to the children of others.)

I had a once in a blue moon hankering (Dear Gods, I think the Redneck Widow is infecting my vernacular!) for some breakfast starch namely pancakes. The Parental Units can attest that this is a rarity for me. So in an attempt to further my cause of trying new places I opted for the Gateway Breakfast House. About a 5 minute drive from home, sounded perfect.

Upon arrival I discovered that I was gravely underestimating the appeal of breakfast out to Portlanders. The place was PACKED! I was third in line for a table when I got there, and before I was seated there was another 10 people behind me. Had I done any research at all I would have learned that President Obama made an unscheduled stop here when he was in town. Lots of publicity, lots of hullabaloo and yet quite a few regulars as well. Waitresses were greeting customers by name and exchanging news about each other’s families and friends.

The menu was extensive and offered quite a selection, but I’m a sucker for a good deal so I opted for the 1,2,3,4 Country Special marked at $8.25 with coffee. My total came to $9.75 before tip and let me show you what I got for that.

[Check our Facebook Album for photo]

That is two pancakes, a ham steak at least 7” across and ½” thick, two eggs scrambled with cheese, and a slab of hashbrowns. It was so big I was quite intimidated. I settled for dicing the ham steak and mixing it with the hashbrowns and eggs before setting that aside and tackling the pancakes. I managed about 3/4ths of the pancakes before I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Got the rest in a to go container and made my way out the door. There was still a line out the door, people just didn’t stop coming!

I knew that if I went immediately home after that carb load I would end up back in bed despite my best laid plans so I met up with the shopping expedition and did my best to be helpful.

Still, what a way to kick off the weekend.

Gateway Breakfast House, friendly staff, great value, wonderful food. I highly recommend, but make sure you have some time to wait for that table. Very popular destination.

Ritz Diner (or Breakfast with Fuzzy)

A weekend in Salem was wonderful. Made cinnamon rolls with the parental units (tasty tasty rolled pastries... Mmmm). Attended my Aunt's beautiful wedding to a delightful Irishman. Got a hefty dose of sarcasm from my blood relations. Happy sarcasm, we're a snippy and clever bunch of folks. Refreshingly irreverant.

This morning I kidnapped my good friend Fuzzy and took him to breakfast.

A smidgeon of back story. Fuzzy and I both reside in Portland, but our parental units dwell in Salem. About 6 blocks apart from each other. And usually when we're in town we eat at buffets, well known Chinese restaurants, or *gulp* Shari's. In light of the renewed blog efforts I opted for a tiny little diner at the corner of Lancaster Dr. and State St. We've both passed it a million times, but never stopped in.

So we took one of the 8 tables in the place and gave our orders. The German sausage special for him and the corned beef hash for myself. Both came with eggs and a choice of bread products.

I will admit that when my meal came I was hungry and tucked into it before I took a picture. But I did take a pic...

You see how I mixed my eggs into and all was one. Up in the corner is the unused jam, not a fan of strawberry. Blackberry is where its at. But more importantly... Do you see the large shreds of homemade corned beef? This stuff NEVER saw a can and tasted glorious!

Fuzzy was jealous. His German sausage was good... But couldn't compare to the homemade corned beef. Soo good.

Now I am stuffed on homemade tacos ala UnderMom. Talking about food is hurting just now. So hot. Going to go find somewhere cool to digest and prepare for the onslaught of the week. Fun times.

Laurelwood Public House & Brewery (Culinary Quest 3.8.11)

I woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning** and remembered that BellaBabe had plans. Flipping through my netflix and hulu queue I searched for my standby favorite food shows. After an episode and a half of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" I had enough. I wanted food, and nothing in my kitchen was appealing.

So I got dressed and took off down Sandy Blvd in search of breakfast. The first "Open" sign I saw was at the Laurelwood Public House and Brewery. BellaBabe has been telling me that the Laurelwood has one of the best burgers in town, but the only time we've attempted it we stood at the host's stand for 15 minutes without even a "Be right with you" from passing waitstaff.

But I was hungry, and they were open. So I decided to give their brunch menu a try.

With my stomach growling I pulled into the parking lot and headed inside. I was promptly greeted and allowed to pick a seat. I ordered coffee and it was delivered so quickly I didn't even have a chance to look at the whole menu. When I did find the beverages section I was a little vexed at being charged $2.00 for a 6 oz cup of coffee but not all coffee cups can be the 20 oz miniature flowerpots I have at home. The coffee didn't last long and I set the empty mug on the edge of the table to indicate a need for refills.

And there it sat. For 25 freaking minutes while my waiter passed the table 4 times. When I finally flagged him down and was able to place my order and ask for a refill.

I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and asked for a breakfast reccomendation as I was torn between the Eggs Benedict (my eternal favorite when its right) with smoked salmon and the Breakfast Burrito (I've been on a spicy kick lately) with chips and salsa. I was told that the breakfast burrito was "The best!" and ordered it with House sausage added (for an extra $1.50).

30 minutes later this plate was placed before me. Heaped with stale tortilla chips and sans the promised salsa. One good thing, the guacamole was fabulous! Bright, vibrant, cooling, slightly chunky without being a difficult dip.

But. Big, big but. That House Sausage that I paid extra for? Flavorless and rubbery. While there did seem to be a decent amount of it, it was completely forgettable. There was twice as much tortilla as there was filling and the filling itself was overpowered by the black beans. I missed the flavors of the egg, potato, and sausage that should have been sharing the stage.

All in all I was not impressed. But I'll try it again, maybe it was an off day?

Laurelwood Public House & Brewery
5115 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97213
tel: 503-282-0622

**I apologize for the late post, but mobile blogger wasn't working and after typing this entire thing out on my cellphone, by George I'm going to post it!