Arkville Bread & Breakfast in Arkville, NY

Had breakfast at a restaurant called Arkville Bread & Breakfast while traveling through upstate New York. I was staying at a hotel in a neighboring town, and this place was recommended by the people working in the hotel. Arkville Bread & Breakfast was inside of a caboose with an extended building built around the train car.

I had a chorizo omelet, served with home fries and toast. Good breakfast.

There were some neighboring train tracks from a nearby scenic railroad, explaining the caboose theme of the restaurant.

 

Tastebuds Catering Food Truck in Winter Park, FL

I visited the Winter Park Farmers Market on a recent Saturday and decided to get some lunch from a food truck called Tastebuds Catering. Even though it was lunch time, I decided to get a second breakfast instead.

I ordered the Margarita Omelet. It was filled with tomatoes, organic spinach, mozzarella cheese, and was topped with pesto. Potatoes were served on the side. The omelet was tasty, although it did seem a little lopsided when it came to the cheese. One end of the omelet had plenty of mozzarella, while the other end lacked the cheese. Other than the cheese thing, I liked the omelet. There was plenty of spinach and tomatoes and the pesto was a nice touch. The potatoes were forgettable.

Overall, Tastebuds made a pretty good omelet that was a whole lot of food...

Menlo Park Diner in Menlo Park, NJ

During my travels along the east coast (which appear to be an extended adventure on this blog but actually happened during two trips which added up to just over a week), I had dinner one evening in New Jersey at the Menlo Park Diner. Menlo Park's big claim to fame was that they were once home to Thomas Edison's laboratory. I paid the site a visit, but unfortunately they were closed for renovations. That meant food was the big attraction here.

I ordered the spinach and feta omelet. This was served with homefries and toast. There was plenty of feta in here, making the omelet filled with lots of salty, cheesy goodness. The homefries were alright, although a bit bland. The rye toast came pre-buttered. Overall, pretty typical of a diner breakfast.

We dined here with someone named Jeffrey Wiernik. Jeff has ambitions of being a world famous food blogger. People normally aren't featured on this blog, but Mr. Wiernik asked to be published as he begins his food blogging adventure. He ate chocolate chip pancakes at the diner. This is what he thought of them: The pancakes were light & fluffy. There was an even amount of chocolate chips throughout each of the pancakes. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @JeffreyWiernik and read his blog (that has yet to contain any posts about food) for more insightful thoughts potentially about food.

Lester's Diner in Coconut Creek, FL

I had a late breakfast one morning while staying in Boca at a restaurant called Lester's Diner in Coconut Creek. Apparently there are a few Lester's Diners in south Florida although this was the first one I ever came across. The building was unique looking with a somewhat dated looking but cool sign. Looked like it was built in the 1960s or 70s if I had to guess.

I ordered the spinach and feta omelet, served with a side of hashed browns and toast. The omelet was tasty with plenty of cheese. The hashed browns and toast were both forgettable. The omelet was a bit expensive for a diner breakfast, about equivalent to the overpriced omelets at a place like IHOP. The big difference here though was that this omelet was way better than what most of the chains serve. I'd return to Lester's Diner.

Waffle House in Asheville, NC

On the return drive on my road trip to Baltimore, we took the scenic route back and ended up staying in Asheville, NC for the night. The next morning, we had breakfast at a restaurant chain that I haven't been to in a very long time.

 

Waffle House seems to have the reputation of having scary food. When people call the place Awful House, that doesn't exactly make other people want to eat there. Regardless, I figured I might as well give them another try. I had the Fiesta Omelet, filled with ham, cheese, onions, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers. Hashed browns and a biscuit were served on the side. The meal was actually above my expectations. The omelet was tasty, the biscuit was moist, and the hash browns were salty and good.

Waffle House really wasn't as bad as everyone says...

Keke's Breakfast Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL

I ate brunch at Keke's Breakfast Cafe in Altamonte Springs. Keke's is a local chain with a few locations around Orlando. This my first time eating there, and the food wasn't bad.

I had the Greek Omelet, filled with spinach, tomato, and feta. The omelet had plenty of fillings, served with home fries, wheat toast, and an orange slice. I enjoyed it!

Next time I need to try lunch from Keke's!

City Diner in Orlando, FL

I tried City Diner in Downtown Orlando on a recent Saturday morning. Diners and big cities seem to go hand in hand, but yet Orlando really does seem to be lacking in this department. Knowing nothing about City Diner before deciding to eat there, I was hoping to have a good diner breakfast.

I have a high tolerance for hole-in-the wall restaurants that many other people wouldn't venture to, but I was sort of creeped out by this place. There was one person leaving as we entered, and after that we were the only customers. The restaurant was filled with an eerie silence causing us to seem like we were talking far too loud at our table. Even worse, the waitress decided to sit in a nearby chair and intently stare at us for the majority of the meal. It was very weird and awkward...

On to the food, I had a four cheese omelet. This was a pretty standard omelet filled with lots of cheese. When I eat eggs at restaurants, I personally like when omelets have stuff in them that I wouldn't normally have at home, but the menu here was very basic. Plain, cheese, or meats seemed to be the only options. Wheat toast was served on the side, as was a bowl of cheese grits.

The breakfast was kind of mundane, but it wasn't bad either. Based on the food alone, I would have gone back to City Diner for breakfast if I was in the area. Because of the strange Twilight Zone atmosphere of the restaurant though, I most likely won't be back. Orlando needs a restaurant similar to Atlanta's Majestic Diner...

The Original Pancake House in Boca Raton, FL

I had breakfast/lunch at The Original Pancake House in Boca Raton on a few occasions now. I was under the impression that this is a local South Florida chain, but they are much bigger than that with stores all over the country.

On one visit, I ordered the Greek Omelet filled with spinach and feta. This huge omelet was different from most, with the egg surrounding the fillings being very thick and dough-like. Pancakes were served on the side.


I've had crepes on other visits. I tried both the broccoli & cheddar as well as the spinach & feta. Both were served with hashed browns. Although I had no issues with the fillings, the crepe itself wasn't the best. Both times it was thicker than the normal crepes served in restaurants and was made from a sweet batter. With savory fillings, the sweet batter didn't make the best combination of flavors...


While it is a big breakfast chain and the food isn't the greatest in the world, it's still several steps above Denny's or IHOP. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I would return to The Original Pancake House...

Belmont Diner in Elmont, NY

Belmont Diner is located in Elmont on Long Island, right across the street from the Belmont Racetrack. I ate breakfast here about a week before the Belmont Stakes...

Inside, there were plenty of horse racing themed paraphernalia...

A huge plate of whole wheat toast was served first.

Soon followed by my Spinach & Feta Omelet with homefries. This was a good omelet with plenty of fillings. The potatoes were also really flavorful, with no need to add salt or ketchup. With most of the nearby diners being insanely overpriced for what the food is, this breakfast was really affordable and the food was above average!

BagelWorks in Boca Raton, FL

I decided to get breakfast at one of Boca Raton's bagel places and ended up at BagelWorks.

BagelWorks was very popular with Boca's senior citizens. They had a line for tables that queued up along BagelWorks' deli cases. It was kind of like waiting for a ride at Disney while watching a preshow of cream cheese and Kosher smoked fishes and listening to people complain about the wait.

It was eventually our turn to be first in line and were seated. I decided to get a spinach & feta omelet, served with homefries and an everything bagel. The omelet was okay, although the cheese could have been distributed throughout the omelet better. There was lots in the center, but none at the two ends of the omelet. Homefries were good, but the bagel was horrible. At a restaurant called BagelWorks, I was expecting good bagels. Unfortunately, every bagel served to our table had an extremely hard outer crust. So hard that I couldn't bite into the bagel. I couldn't break through the crust with the utensils at the table either. Whatever caused the bagels to have this outer crust was definitely not good. I don't think I'd go back to BagelWorks because of their rock hard bagels. With the majority of the customers in BagelWorks above the age of 65, I wonder how well these bagels fare with dentures?

Majestic Diner in Atlanta, GA

I had breakfast one morning at the Majestic Diner in Atlanta. The neon signs of this classic diner, open since 1929, caught my attention as I was driving by the night before and I decided it would be a good place to get breakfast. Apparently they serve Food that pleases and also Food to take home, so I figured it must be good...

Inside, the Majestic had the typical classic diner look. They had an open kitchen lined with a counter with stools. There was lots of chrome and nice fonts on their signs...

I had the Spinach Feta Omelet, served with grits and rye toast. At $8.25, this definitely wasn't the cheapest diner omelet I've had, but I've seen pricier omelets too...

I was very happy with my omelet. The eggs were cooked to perfection. There was lots of salty feta. The freshly cooked spinach was also plentiful, and it all had great flavor. The grits needed some salt, but that was easily remedied.

When in Atlanta on a more recent trip, I tried their Gyro Omelet with grits and toast. Served with a large bowl of tzatziki and filled with lamb, I didn't enjoy this omelet as much as my first spinach and feta omelet, but it was still alright.

I've been to the Majestic twice now on visits to Atlanta and have enjoyed both meals. I don't think some of my dining companions were as happy with their lunch sandwiches on these visits, so perhaps breakfast is the way to go at this diner. Really though, why can't a good 24-hour diner like this survive in Orlando? For the most part, all we have back home is IHOP and Dennys for food at 3am...