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.

Green Owl Restaurant in Delray Beach, FL

I like to consider myself well traveled throughout the state of Florida, but one city that I had never been to was Delray Beach. For some reason I always went further north or south of Delray and never actually stopped to explore rather than driving through. On a recent morning, I decided to change that and was actually surprised by Delray. The city's downtown was much larger than I was expecting, filled with shops, historic hotels, and countless restaurants. The decision was made to have breakfast at one of these restaurants called the Green Owl.

The Green Owl had a sort of a retro diner look on the inside and outdoor seating on the sidewalk out front. We choose to eat outdoors. For food, I had the One Egg Special. This breakfast came with a scrambled egg, strip of bacon, and two pancakes. Everything on the plate was tasty, although I would have preferred actual butter for my pancakes rather than the margarine that was served. Real butter is always better!

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...

Old Spanish Sugar Mill in Deleon Springs, FL

When it comes to the most unique restaurants in Central Florida, the Old Spanish Sugar Mill in Deleon Springs State Park is near the top of my list. Being one of the few businesses located inside of a Florida State Park, this restaurant is a remnant of a time when Deleon Springs was more of a tourist attraction instead of state park. The building itself is an old sugar mills, surrounded by all sorts of old milling equipment. One of the restaurant's focal points is the huge set of gears attached to the waterwheel outside that once provided the power for processing sugar.

Each table in the restaurant has it's own griddle.

Pitchers of pancake batter are brought to the table, along with whatever other toppings you order. They give you traditional white pancake batter as well as a five grain stoneground batter, with the latter being my favorite. For $4.50, you get all you can eat pancakes, plus you get the fun of cooking them yourself at your table.

Here's a Banana-Blueberry-Pecan Pancake...

Pecan pancake topped with honey:

After you finish eating your homemade pancakes in a historic sugar mill, be sure to go swimming in the spring right outside. Swimming over to the boil with a mask and snorkel and then floating while you look down into the dark and seemingly bottomless abyss is a very cool experience...

Toojay's Western Skillet

I ate at the Toojays in Altamonte Springs, FL for breakfast. I ordered a Western Skillet, which consisted of potato pancakes topped with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and scallions. The Western Skillet normally comes with ham, but I wasn't in a porky mood that day. From how this dish was described on the menu, I was expecting a lot more potato pancake and less egg. Regardless, I ate it all and enjoyed it.

The Western Skillet also came with two slices of Toojay's wonderful rye toast. Even when compared to more authentic Jewish Deli style restaurants, Toojay's definitely makes the best rye bread that I've tasted in the area.

Chinese Food at Princeton Junction's First Wok

I ate at the First Wok Chinese Restaurant in Princeton Junction, NJ. I started off with an order of Scallion Pancakes, mostly because Chinese Restaurants in Florida do not serve them for some reason. They tasted fine, but were a bit too flaky and didn't hold together as well as other scallion pancakes that I have eaten in the past.

I ordered Chicken with Black Bean Sauce as the main dish. It was very good, with the tender chicken mixed with peppers and onions, all topped with black bean sauce. I ate the dish with brown rice. I had no complaints about the chicken...

I also liked how they automatically give everyone a tea cup and leave the tea pot on the table. This seems to be a northern thing because I can't think of any Chinese restaurants in Florida that do this. In Florida, if you want tea, you have to ask and get charged extra for it...

Chicken Florentine Crepes from Ihop

I ate Chicken Florentine Crepes for dinner. I got them from the Ihop in Sanford, FL and they were surprisingly quite good. They were filled with chicken, spinach, onions, and cheese, topped with hollandaise sauce.