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Breakfast in America
In my "boring and predictable" column (Dec. 30) on New Year's resolutions, I forgot perhaps the most important resolution of all.
It is to find a go-to breakfast place that I don't need plane or train tickets to reach (so don't start telling me about diners in Limerick, Collegeville and Trappe).
Why is this so important? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, is it not?
It ties directly into the resolution on losing weight, which most of my small pool of loved ones would say should be first on my list - even above acting my age.
How so?
Eat a good, hearty breakfast and the pangs come lunchtime can realistically be quelled with, dare it say it, a s-s-salad. From there, a healthy dinner could conceivably follow. Do this enough times, and I could actually shed some excess poundage.
Too many times, though, the opposite is true.
I eat little or nothing for breakfast, pig out at lunch on the type of quick-and-easy food that still leaves me hungry all over again 4 1/2 minutes later and I'm going into dinner like a wild boar. Do this enough times, and the pounds - not to mention the burgeoning sleep apnea and open invitation for early Diabetes - will be flocking to my body like immigrants to Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century.
Plus, for reasons unknown, I just have a weakness for breakfast food. Going out for breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday morning is something my wife and I both enjoy.
Pre-Sofia (our daughter), we used to make a day of it. We would venture northbound along Rt. 73 to what was the area's premier breakfast-brunch joint - The Cedars ... (never caught official the name, to be honest) - in Worcester Township. From there, we would hit the stores in Skippack and then either jump onto Rt. 113 and find our way to the Hennings Market in Harleysville or keep going to Zerns Famers Market in Gilbertsville.
But you may need to play the theme to "Love Story" as I regale you with the sad ending to this one. We gleefully drove along one day last spring, singing along to Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions album and temporarily shedding ourselves of all cares as we pulled into the lot in Cedars.
"Wow," I said. "There's hardly anyone here. We're going to get a spot by the door."
My wife concurred without giving it a second thought and got out of the car and marched to the entrance while salivating.
A voice then called from the back on the place, near the kitchen.
"Are you here to eat?" he said.
"Yes," one of us replied.
"It's closed," said the man, while throwing some junk into the back of his pickup truck. "Why don't you try Mal's Diner in Skippack."
"Forever?" one of us said.
"Yep, forever," he answered, clearly not interested in filing a long and detailed report with us.
With heavy hearts we followed his advice and continued on to Mal's. The food had no chance that day. I was so geared up for my normal Cedars breakfast - three eggs once over, scrapple or bacon, potatoes, pancakes, french toast, large OJ and decaf coffee - and my wife hers (a vegetable omelet that I would often finish off) that nothing was going to ease our pain.
We have since gone back to Mal's and open minds, and it remains on the growing list of breakfast places that are OK but not "it." The list also includes some "chains" - IHOP and Cracker Barrel - but we long for the charm, a shorter wait for a table, at a mom-and-pop place.
I feel like a basketball coach who has some decent players but no one to call on to take that key shot down the stretch.
There are two leaders in this ongoing quest to replace of the Cedars restaurant. They are Patti Jean's Diner in Jeffersonville (best creamed chip beef I've had in years) and some joint in Towamencin (I forget its name or exactly how to get there, other than that it is adjacent to a beer distributor).
Patti Jean's let me down recently when we tried to order dinner from there (see the "I Don't Like Mondays" blog entry), and it's also not located in the path of our normal travels, but they fell all over Sofia - proving they have hearts and souls - and gave us good service and food.
If you can tell me of a better place, go for it. All suggestions are welcome.
There will only be one place without a name in Cedars.
It is to find a go-to breakfast place that I don't need plane or train tickets to reach (so don't start telling me about diners in Limerick, Collegeville and Trappe).
Why is this so important? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, is it not?
It ties directly into the resolution on losing weight, which most of my small pool of loved ones would say should be first on my list - even above acting my age.
How so?
Eat a good, hearty breakfast and the pangs come lunchtime can realistically be quelled with, dare it say it, a s-s-salad. From there, a healthy dinner could conceivably follow. Do this enough times, and I could actually shed some excess poundage.
Too many times, though, the opposite is true.
I eat little or nothing for breakfast, pig out at lunch on the type of quick-and-easy food that still leaves me hungry all over again 4 1/2 minutes later and I'm going into dinner like a wild boar. Do this enough times, and the pounds - not to mention the burgeoning sleep apnea and open invitation for early Diabetes - will be flocking to my body like immigrants to Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century.
Plus, for reasons unknown, I just have a weakness for breakfast food. Going out for breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday morning is something my wife and I both enjoy.
Pre-Sofia (our daughter), we used to make a day of it. We would venture northbound along Rt. 73 to what was the area's premier breakfast-brunch joint - The Cedars ... (never caught official the name, to be honest) - in Worcester Township. From there, we would hit the stores in Skippack and then either jump onto Rt. 113 and find our way to the Hennings Market in Harleysville or keep going to Zerns Famers Market in Gilbertsville.
But you may need to play the theme to "Love Story" as I regale you with the sad ending to this one. We gleefully drove along one day last spring, singing along to Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions album and temporarily shedding ourselves of all cares as we pulled into the lot in Cedars.
"Wow," I said. "There's hardly anyone here. We're going to get a spot by the door."
My wife concurred without giving it a second thought and got out of the car and marched to the entrance while salivating.
A voice then called from the back on the place, near the kitchen.
"Are you here to eat?" he said.
"Yes," one of us replied.
"It's closed," said the man, while throwing some junk into the back of his pickup truck. "Why don't you try Mal's Diner in Skippack."
"Forever?" one of us said.
"Yep, forever," he answered, clearly not interested in filing a long and detailed report with us.
With heavy hearts we followed his advice and continued on to Mal's. The food had no chance that day. I was so geared up for my normal Cedars breakfast - three eggs once over, scrapple or bacon, potatoes, pancakes, french toast, large OJ and decaf coffee - and my wife hers (a vegetable omelet that I would often finish off) that nothing was going to ease our pain.
We have since gone back to Mal's and open minds, and it remains on the growing list of breakfast places that are OK but not "it." The list also includes some "chains" - IHOP and Cracker Barrel - but we long for the charm, a shorter wait for a table, at a mom-and-pop place.
I feel like a basketball coach who has some decent players but no one to call on to take that key shot down the stretch.
There are two leaders in this ongoing quest to replace of the Cedars restaurant. They are Patti Jean's Diner in Jeffersonville (best creamed chip beef I've had in years) and some joint in Towamencin (I forget its name or exactly how to get there, other than that it is adjacent to a beer distributor).
Patti Jean's let me down recently when we tried to order dinner from there (see the "I Don't Like Mondays" blog entry), and it's also not located in the path of our normal travels, but they fell all over Sofia - proving they have hearts and souls - and gave us good service and food.
If you can tell me of a better place, go for it. All suggestions are welcome.
There will only be one place without a name in Cedars.
posted by Gordon Glantz at
4:06 PM
3 Comments:
Have you ever tried the Energy Station in Vernfield? Only place I know you can gas up, eat cheap and score live bait.
Breakfast out? No, No! Eat at home...low carb diet...and take a walk...this is exactly what you need at your age (45??). Start now and live longer and have a great outlook on life that will be reflected in your writings and Sophia will get a great looking and kinder Dad.
The name of the place was Country Kitchen at Cedars and I wasn't salivating. As for Anonymous on 1/12/08, Sofia couldn't have a kinder or better looking daddy.
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