Breakfast Out

It was sort of a new place and sort of a revival of a place of memory.  I drove past on our town's main retail thoroughfare, noticing a now open sign for a diner.  Though it didn't look anything like a classical diner, more restaurant along the side of the road, it had a familiarity.  It's previous presentation was a short-lived Italian place that I dined at one time.  Expensive and not as good a pizza as other places more accessible.  It failed, lay vacant through the pandemic and now returns as a diner.  Way back when, that building was almost a weekly destination.  I had just begun a new job, facing Board Examination renewal within the next year.  Between the rigors of work and distractions at home, I needed a neutral place to study.  I selected two, a real diner on that road, one of excellent breakfast but little for me to eat at other times, which remained my preferred breakfast destination until it swooned during the pandemic, then closed.  And the place I rediscovered.  It had been a 24 hour eatery.  Sometimes I'd get breakfast, other times a hoagie.  I could go after work or on a day off.  To both places, I would get a booth, review paperback and writing pad in hand, and study while I noshed.  And I passed.

The 24 hour option ended shortly after my exam.  Always a pleasant place to be, never hurried, never crowded, though never entirely empty.  It closed.  But after an interim repurpose it is back as a diner.

Like most restaurants these days, prospective diners can preview the menu online, which I did.  No longer having a strongly preferred breakfast option, I gave them a try.  My meatless menu choices are really few:  two eggs, an omelette, or pancakes and coffee.  Pretty much same prices as everywhere, perhaps a dollar or so less on the omelette, so I ordered that.  Usually when I go out for breakfast, I have my first cup of coffee at home, but this time I didn't.  Not many diners there before 8AM.  Greeted by the owner or manager, service quick, though the waitress seemed scripted.  Coffee came right away, though without spoon.  the handle of my knife stirred the liquid adequately.  Pretty good omelette with a slice of melted swiss cheese in the middle.  Toast a bit underdone,  pre-buttered with less than I would have offered myself if they brought individual packets to the table.  Hash browns of pre-shredded potatoes, suitable crust on the outside, soft on the inside.  And a lot of them.  Coffee refilled only once.  Basically an OK breakfast.  A counter for solo diners would have been better.  If large enough, the counter becomes the gathering place for weekly regulars who eventually recognized each other.  I prefer my hash browns to be have identifiable chunks of potatoes.  And coffee seemed to be rationed.  But it's a new place, decent experience, its future not yet determined.