The pancake choices are endless at this Falls Church pancake house.
For our last meal in the DC area, our friend Lavinia took us to The Original Pancake House (hereafter TOPH) for breakfast. This had been a favorite breakfast spot for her family for years, though they hadn’t been back for a while. Apparently, the same was true of many people. Once a very busy spot, it was half empty that Sunday morning. In an area home to federal workers and a time when these are being decimated by the Trump administration, perhaps that’s to be expected.
TOPH is a casual, old fashioned sort of place. It’s part of a small chain with locations in Bethesda and Rockville, MD, as well. Its main attraction are the endless variations of pancakes and other breakfast goodies it offers. Choosing among so many great sounding options was very hard.
I decided on the Croissant Cinnamon Nut French Toast ($14), which consisted of two croissants, sliced in half, dipped in egg batter and grilled. I came with sliced almonds and cinnamon sugar. There was corn syrup at the table, which wasn’t bad, but obviously not nearly as good as maple syrup would have been. The French toast itself was good, but nothing special. I think I actually prefer the texture of regular bread to that of the croissant. I’m not a big breakfast eater, so one croissant was plenty for me – fortunately Mike finished the rest.
Mike ordered the Two by Two by Two ($12.5) from the Senior Menu. It came with 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon and 2 buttermilk pancakes. He found it unexceptional but satisfying.
My daughter had the carrotcake pancakes ($13.5), which came with six regular size pancakes (I was expecting them to be smaller!) with cream cheese frosting. She felt they tasted like carrot cake and were very good.
We also had a side of hash browns ($5), which were pretty average and of the raspberry filled beignets ($4.50 for 2). My daughter had never had beignets before, and she was curious due to multiple viewings of the Princess and the Frog when she was little. She was disappointed. She found the beignets to be heavy, and compared them to a denser, unglazed jelly doughnut. I’d learned during our trip to New Orleans the previous year that I wasn’t fond of beignets either, and these didn’t change my mind.
I don’t remember what Lavinia and her son had, but I think they were satisfied. i had a cup of pretty average coffee ($4.5).
In all, I’d go back because I’d be curious to explore more of the many, many options in the menu – and the prices seemed pretty reasonable.
This Foggy Bottom hotel restaurant offers solid food in a relaxing setting
During our trip to DC, we stayed at the River Inn in Foggy Bottom. The hotel has its own restaurant, Matera, which serves breakfast and dinner daily. It wasn’t particularly busy during our stay, but I imagine that is different during more touristy times and when there are events at the Kennedy Center, given that it’s one of the closest restaurants to the venue. Of course, it’s unclear that the Kennedy Center will continue existing as anything but a center for Neo-nazi rallies now that Trump has taken it over.
We dined at Matera twice. We had breakfast one morning with our friend Maximilian, who was in DC for work. And we had dinner another night when I was craving Italian (after an amazing pasta dish at The Hamilton) and we were too tired to go out.
The restaurant has a smallish dining room, and a pretty casual vibe. There are some interesting posters on the walls, and the candle and rose on the table give it a somewhat romantic atmosphere, but the tables are bare and the place is more utilitarian than special occasion. Service was attentive and friendly, but it’s what we experienced almost universally in DC.
I’m not usually much of a breakfast eater, so I only had a coffee that morning (perfectly acceptable), but Maximillian and Mike ordered food. I didn’t pay attention to what Max had, and we were too busy talking about politics (it’s Washington, after all) to discuss the food, but Mike had the western omelet ($22). It came with ham, onions, green and red bell peppers and American cheese and Mike pronounced it to be “just fine”. It wasn’t remarkable or something he’d order again.
Dinner the following night was tasty and relaxing. We skipped appetizers, but had plenty of bread before our main dishes arrived.
I had the gnocchi with Italian sausage ($28) and was very happy with it. The gnocchi were soft, airy and pillowy, the sausage was tasty, the grilled peppers soft enough and the whole thing came together with a nice tomato basil sauce. I wished there were more gnocchi, the other elements sort of overwhelmed them and I absolutely loved the texture the gnocchi provided, but overall I loved the dish. People (ahem, my daughter) who prefer hardier pasta might not be as enthusiastic, however.
My daughter’s dish, unfortunately, wasn’t as successful. She had the mushroom ravioli ($28) which came in a creamy pesto sauce and she was disappointed both with the flavor and the quantity. There were only four or five ravioli in the dish, and the sauce just wasn’t that tasty. She wouldn’t have it again.
Mike had the calamari ($22), as he felt he wasn’t hungry enough for a main dish and nobody would want to share this. It cam with both a cocktail sauce and an herb aioli. The calamari was perfectly acceptable, with good flavor and texture. The herb aioli, however, was out of this world delicious. I was sad we’d eaten all our bread and couldn’t dip it in it.
I had read in reviews that Matera had a great tiramisu ($12), and we just had to try it. I’m happy to say that the reviewers were right. It featured a very light and airy cake, and thick layers of light and flavorful creams. Even the chocolate was tasty – no Hershey syrup here. We’d definitely get this again.
In all, it was a nice dinner made better by the convenience of it being at our hotel. We’d eat there again.
This 85-year old Union Square fixture attracts tourists and old-timers
I love historical restaurants. Really, I love historical anything. There is a reason why I majored in history, after all. So when I came across Sears Fine Food, as I was looking for places to eat before a play at the San Francisco Playhouse (btw, don’t miss The Play that Goes Wrong), I knew I had to go. The reviews were mixed, but I was willing to put up with substandard food for the historical experience.
Sears Fine Food was opened back in 1938 by Ben Sears, a retired circus crown, and his wife Hilbur. They specialized on breakfast food, particularly the silver dollar Swedish pancakes made from a family recipe. Served with lingonberries, they are still on the menu today.
The restaurant is pretty small and it has less of a historical look than I sought, though it does have black and white photos on the walls of old patrons and an old-fashioned atmosphere.
I ordered the “Our World Famous 18 Swedish Pancakes” with lingonberry sauce and sausages ($27) for dinner that evening – both because nothing else on the menu really appealed to me that night and because I wanted to try them. Alas, they were pretty disappointing.
The pancakes themselves were abundant but generic. They didn’t have the metallic flavor of those made with a mix, but they didn’t have a particularly pleasant flavor either. They came with corn syrup which didn’t do them any favors. A few days later I had a similar dish of silver dollar pancakes with syrup at a local fundraiser, and the homemade pancakes were far, far superior.
I did like the lingonberry preserves, which did elevate the pancakes, but there were only enough for about half the pancakes. I could have ordered another serving ($3), I suppose, but there were too many carbs on the plate as it was. The sausages were fine, pretty generic breakfast sausages. In all, I don’t think I’d recommend this dish. And yes, it was ridiculously expensive for what it was. But I figure you’re paying for the location here.
Mike had the lobster risotto ($27) and that was a somewhat better choice. He liked that the lobster came on top of the risotto rather than mixed in, as that allowed him to control how much risotto he consumed. The risotto itself was a tad salty, but delicious. It had the creaminess you seek on risotto and a very balanced, umami flavor. The lobster, however, was in need of butter. Without it, it lacked moisture and richness. Mike probably wouldn’t order the dish again.
For dessert, he had the creme brulee ($10). It was just OK. The custard should have been more flavorful.
Service was very good, however, and I did enjoy our time there. Still, I can’t imagine I’d go back.
Sears Fine Food 439 Powell Street San Francisco, CA (415)986-0700 Daily 6:30am-9pml
Where my craving for IHOP was permanently satiated.
Ever since an IHOP opened in San Leandro, now several years ago, I’d been wanting to give it a try. Even though I’m fairly certain that our last experiences with IHOP had been disappointing, there is something pretty magical about those glossy menus with photos of delicious looking pancakes in all sorts of flavors. Truth be told, I’m not actually that big a fan of pancakes, and I seldom even end up ordering them, but they still fascinate me. Even now, as I think about them, I’m almost ready to head towards the door.
Alas, I’m not a breakfast-eating-person – I’m just not hungry when I wake up – so despite such cravings, I still haven’t made it to the San Leandro IHOP and might not had gone to an IHOP at all, if I didn’t find myself hungry and with low blood sugar as we approached the Grapevine during our last trip to LA. I saw the sign for it as we approached Lebec and there we went.
The restaurant itself, part of the Petro truck stop/travel center which also hosts a Wendy’s, a Baskin Robbins and a mini-mart, in addition to other facilities, was clean and pleasant enough. It seems to have taken the space of an Iron Skillet, so it doesn’t have anything that screams “IHOP” other than the name. It was fairly empty on a Saturday around 1 PM.
While I needed something to eat, I wasn’t actually hungry so I decided to get something light: the fresh berry crepes ($13.50). In the menu, they were shown rolled around some filling, sprinkled with berries and drizzed with chocolate sauce. In reality, the crepes were served folded into triangles, had some cut berries on top and a super-light dusting of powdered sugar. They were an extreme disappointment.
First, the crepes weren’t fresh. I don’t know if they make them there or the buy them in packages and then lightly heat them but they were clearly old and tough – you could barely cut them with the side of a fork. They were also very dry, and with no wet elements on the plate, hard to eat. I did ask for some whipped cream – which I think was probably whipped “topping” – and that helped some. The berries were fine, though not juicy enough to help the crepes. In all, it was a very disappointing dish. If I wanted old packaged crepes with plain berries, I could buy them at the supermarket.
Mike’s meal was more special, at least, by virtue of this being the first senior meal that he ever ordered. We are now officially old. He had the 55+ breakfast sampler ($11.30) which came with 1 buttermilk pancake, 1/2 a strip of bacon, 1 small slice of ham, 1 breakfast sausage, 1 egg (he had his over medium) and hash browns. He substituted the latter for wheat toast for an additional 80 cents (!).
He felt that was the ideal amount of food for his apetite nowadays, and was hapy he hadn’t over-ordered. Quality wise, the food was comparable to Denny’s. He did like his egg, however, probably because he seldom has them.
We had sodas, but they didn’t charge us for them – perhaps because the waiter realized just how disappointed I was with my meal. He did ask me whether he could bring me anything else, but there was no way to save those crepes.
In all, what I learned from this experience is to not go to IHOP.
IHOP Petro Travel Center 5821 Dennis McCarthy Dr Lebec, CA (661) 663-4341 Daily 6 AM - 10 PM
Trader Joe’s does many things well, but cheese blintzes is not one of them. These little crepes are sold frozen and meant to be warmed in a skillet or an oven, though I used the air fryer instead – which worked pretty well.
The crepes themselves were slightly sweet, soft and elastic, and I liked them. The problem was the cheese filling. They use a combo of farmer’s cheese and cottage cheese which tastes fine, but has an annoying, gritty texture. Both my husband and I hated it. The cheese is lightly sweetened, so you don’t need to add anything to them, but this actually bothered my husband, who would have preferred them less sweet. We wouldn’t order them again.
The blintzes are around 6″ long, they have 105 calories each, with 16g of carbs and 6g of sugar, all added. The box of 6 blintzes sells for $4.50. The package doesn’t indicate where they’re made, so I assume it’s in the US.
Our dear friend Charlotte was back in town for a holiday after moving abroad last summer, and she suggested we have brunch at Cafe Bliss, a little breakfast and lunch place in Belmont. It was a nice, relaxing place to have a bite in a quiet Sunday.
I had the creamy chicken crepe ($18), which comes with a choice of home potatoes or salad. I liked the salad, but I really loved the crepe. It comes with chicken, mushrooms, onions and jack cheese and is served with a wine creamy sauce. The sauce, of course, is what makes it. The only problem was that I was still a bit hungry afterwards, though I probably wouldn’t have been if I’d chosen potatoes instead of a salad. Still, given the price, I think the portion should have been larger.
Mike had the Pacific scramble ($18) which comes with smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, dill and lemon zest. It came with home potatoes and toast. He was happy with it, but not more than one would expect.
Charlotte had the Bliss omelette ($18) which comes with bacon, avocado, jack cheese, bell peppers and caramelized onions and she was also happy with it.
Service was professional and it was overall a pleasant experience.
Cafe Bliss 2039 Ralston Ave Belmont, CA (650) 595-1520 W-M 8 AM - 2 PM
This chain sandwich store seems to have downgraded the quality of its sandwiches.
I discovered Panera during the pandemic, when I was looking for restaurants that offered family meals. I had heard, of course, of Panera before, but never felt compelled to try it. We had it several times during the pandemic, and I became a fan of their tomato soup and their steak and horseradish sandwiches. Still, after a while I forgot about it altogether until last week, when I got an e-mail with a free birthday pastry offer from them, and then saw them in the news for their literally killer drinks. So I got a craving and, after three years, I decided to order another family deal.
Panera has changed a bit since I last ordered. It still serves sandwiches, pastries, salads and soups, but the sandwiches themselves have changed. The prices have sort of increased as well, but it’s the quality going down that is the real problem.
Like in the past, I ordered a family deal. It’s now $36, up 24% from what it cost in 2021. It comes with 4 half-sandwiches, a salad, a quart of soup and a baguette. Pannera no longer has my favorite steak with horseradish sandwich, and instead they now sell a ciabatta cheesesteak ($15) that comes in a ciabatta roll and is served with Provolone cheese, caramelized onions, peppadew peppers and garlic aioli. Ciabatta is a very substantial roll which calls for a lot of filling for balance. This sandwich lacked it, which meant that the overall result was just too bready. Both the onions and the peppadews are served chopped and there were so many of the latter that they overwhelmed the sandwich, I could barely taste anything else. In all, I don’t think I’d order this sandwich again.
I liked the bacon avocado melt ($11) more, and it was probably my favorite of the four sandwiches I tried. It was also the one with the thinnest bread. The sandwich was very simple, but very tasty. It had bacon bits, melted cheddar and sliced avocado. It comes in sliced sourdough bread with chipotle aioli. It needed more avocado, but it was actually quite tasty.
The smokehouse BBQ chicken ($12) was just OK. The chicken itself had no flavor, so the sandwich tasted only of red onions and BBQ sauce. I liked the sauce well enough, but not enough to order it again. this sandwich also came in a ciabatta roll, and there wasn’t enough filling to balance all that bread.
Finally, we had the chicken bacon rancher ($14), which comes with pulled chicken, bacon bits, white cheddar and ranch sauce in a black pepper focaccia roll. The focaccia was good, but it really overwhelmed the filling. The chicken, again, was under-seasoned and while the bacon was able to carry the sandwich through, it wasn’t that exciting. I also wouldn’t order it again.
The tomato soup ($9.50 bowl/$26 quart) was just as good as I remember – but really not significantly better than the packaged Panera soup that you can get at the supermarket. Given that it’s just $10-12 for the 32-oz package at Safeway, it doesn’t seem worth it to get it at the restaurant (unless it’s part of a family deal as in this case). The baguette ($2.20) with a crunchy, hard exterior and a very chewy middle, is quite good.
Finally, both my husband and daughter really liked the Caesar Salad ($10.40). The vegetables are fresh and crisp and there is enough dressing to cover them all. In the past, the family meal included the more expensive chicken Caesar salad, but as my daughter prefers it without chicken, we are actually happy that they’ve removed it.
I might try the family deal again, but I’d probably try other sandwiches to see if any are substantially better.
I also got a cinnamon roll ($4.60) as dessert, given that I had a free pastry coupon. It was the end of the day, so it was hard, but after microwaving it, it loosened. It was quite tasty.
*Update*
A couple of days after this meal, Panera got me again by sending me a couple of big “rewards”. One gave me 50% off a single entree and the other gave me a free drink, treat or cup of soup with a $10 purchase. Of course, the two could not be combined – only one reward per purchase. But Panera still had its “get 15% off gift cards” promo, so I got that as an additional discount. In all, I spent $21 to get 2 sandwiches and a cup of food, which isn’t bad but not super great either.
For my sandwich, I started with the bacon avocado melt ($11) but I got it in focaccia bread, and added tomatoes and caramelized onions. The results were great. I liked it better than the original.
For my freebie, I got a cup of the French onion soup ($7.60), which comes with a piece of bread, a bag of chips or an apple – though they gave me both the bread and the chips. The soup was actually pretty good, it had a nice caramelized onion flavor which was deep but not too bitter. It did need more cheese. I would have added more, but I then would have had to warm the soup – which was barely warm by the time it got home. Still, it was quite satisfactory. In all, half a sandwich plus the soup was a satisfactory meal and left me stuffed, and considering that I have the other half of the sandwich for later, it was a great deal – but only because of the promo. I did read that promos become much more stingy the more you go to Panera, so this will probably be my last time.
I also use the 50% off promo (in a separate purchase) to get a ciabatta cheesesteak for my daughter and her boyfriend. I doubled the meat (and should have doubled the extra lettuce) and half a sandwich was sufficient for each one of them for a mid-afternoon snack. The discount didn’t apply to the extra meat, only to the original price of the sandwich.
While you can make up to five customizations on sandwiches you order by themselves, you can’t customize them in the family meal. So I think I will order Panera again if I get good coupons, but not otherwise.
Panera 24133 Southland Dr Hayward, CA (510) 732-0279 M-SU 7 AM - 8 PM
On our way back from Texas, we stopped in Natchitoches (pronounced like “knock a dish”) for the night. Established in 1714, Natchitoches is Louisiana’s oldest settlement. Located by the Red River, it was a prosperous city in the early 19th century, was almost burnt during the Civil War and saw significant decline during the 20th century. But in the 1970’s, a visionary mayor saw its potential as a tourist destination, both as a base for water related activities and for touring nearby plantations. This led to a massive renovation of old buildings which were turned into bed and breakfasts. Today, Natchitoches has about 18,000 citizens and 50 B&Bs!
Natchitoches appeals to local tourism, so its buzzing from Thursdays to Sundays and sleepy from Mondays to Wednesdays. We got there on a Monday night, and thus we had our choice of B&Bs. I chose the Judge Porter House because I liked the looks of the building with its second floor veranda.
The house and the room were beautiful, and I hope to write a review of them, but this is a review of the breakfast we had there – a two course affair served at the dining room.
Breakfast was at individual tables for two. That day we were one of two parties staying in the house. It’s at 8:00 AM sharp. The housekeeper/cook brings the food to you.
The tables were beautifully laid out, and the juice was some non-alcoholic cocktail which I found pleasant, but not compelling. The coffee was quite good.
The first course was a delicious raspberry croissant bread pudding. I love the idea of making bread pudding with croissants, and I might try it myself once I go back to cooking. It was served warm and was a great start to breakfast.
The second course consisted of eggs benedict with cheesy grits. Mike enjoyed the eggs very much, both his and mine and I don’t eat eggs. I thought the grits were fine, but while I like grits more than Mike does, I am not that big a fan of them.
The housekeeper/cook/waitress, whose name I can’t remember, a Boston transplant, was delightful. She was very personable, friendly and just amenable, in addition to a great cook. She made our brief stay and breakfast even better.
New Orleans is famous many dishes, with savory and sweet, but among the latter beignets reign supreme – at least, among tourists. I can only imagine that it’s the fun of eating a pastry that is guaranteed to cover you and everything around you with powdered sugar that makes them so appealing. And fun they are, even if they otherwise were rather disappointing.
Among the establishments serving beignets in the French Quarter, the two most prominent ones are Cafe du Monde, which has been selling beignets since 1862, and Café Beignet, a mere 30 year old restaurant which makes up for its youth by having actually four different branches in the city. We visited the one on Decatur St. for breakfast our first morning in New Orleans, though we twice stopped at the one on Bourbon Street to rest our feet and listen to some live Jazz. The garden at the latter site is glorious.
The Café Beignet branch on Decatur Street has a fun dining room, somewhat evocative of la Belle Époque. The wooden bar is beautiful. Outdoors, there are only a couple of tables on the sidewalk by the restaurant. It’s not particularly picturesque, but it allows you to people watch as you eat.
You order at the counter, and food is brought to your table. The menu consists of omelettes, sandwiches, breakfast items and Creole specialties like jambalaya and crawfish etouffee. And, of course, beignets and other pastries. They have a bunch of coffee dishes, but not fresh orange juice.
I’m not a breakfast eater myself, so I ordered the beignets ($4.50 for 3). These were relatively large squares of fried dough covered with powdered sugar. As the powdered sugar is the same everywhere, it was all about the fried dough. And this fried dough was not great. It was dense and chewy and not particularly flavorful on its own (thus the need for powdered sugar). Basically, they were heavy – and the last thing you want in the morning is a heavy piece of fried dough. I ate a beignet and sort of nibbled on the second one. Mike took a bite, and was done.
Apparently, the problem with New Orleans beignets is that they are made from a leavened dough instead of the choux pastry used in France. The latter makes them far lighter and enjoyable.
Mike ordered the Andouille sausage omelette ($12), which came with grits and a slice of French bread. Miked liked it. The sausage was very tasty, spicy and flavorful, and it was well mixed with the omelette. The omelette was on the small side, but it wasn’t very expensive. The grits and herbed toasted bread was a disconcerting choice – Mike would have preferred a biscuit.
Café Beignet 600 Decatur Street New Orleans, Louisiana M-Th 8am-6pm F-Su 8am-8pm
The other night I had a craving for a burger, which had me thinking: where can I get the best burger in San Leandro? We are not a city known for burgers. There are lots and lots of places to have burgers here, to be clear, but none that are particularly noteworthy. Still, I haven’t visited many of those places for years and I thought trying the different burgers available in San Leandro might be a fun project for the upcoming year (or two). I had planned to start with Rocky’s Charcoal Grill – a place beloved by many in San Leandro. I have not liked their burgers in the past, but it’s been fourteen years since my last visit, so they may have changed. My old review is definitely ready for an update. Alas, Rocky’s wasn’t open (it was a Sunday) and Nation’s is very close by, so Mike went there instead.
I like Nation’s burgers. As far as fast food burgers go, they have always been my “default” for over three decades – though they now share this “honor” with Habit Burger. At 1/3 lbs, the burgers are fairly large, they ooze with American cheese and they are very generous with veggies and toppings – though I always get mine with just tomatoes, while Mike prefers his with lettuce and onions. The burgers are smothered in mayo, probably enough to cause a heart attack to someone with cardiac issues. For this reason, I feel that they mostly taste of mayo and American cheese, though enough to not really be able to forgo it. But I like them. If I had to grade them – and I do, because this is a project about finding the best burger, I’d give them 8/10 as far as “fast food burgers” go, and a 5/10 as far as all burgers go. Indeed, I will make Nation’s my standard for an average burger, and grade others accordingly.
In addition to burgers, Nation is known for its pies. These are of a similar quality to their burgers: enjoyable. On this occasion we got the blueberry pie which was on season, and we liked it.
Nation also has breakfast items, which also are totally fine as far as a fast food place goes.
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