Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Pancakes in da house!

I love breakfast. I mean I really love breakfast. While planning my trip to Fayetteville, I noticed most of the places I planed to eat were lunch and dinner type places. Breakfast was being left out completely. That simply wouldn't do.
Years ago the hotel I stayed at was just off I-95 at Cedar Creek Rd. I think it was a Day's Inn. The location was great, the hotel was good, but the big selling point was the Denny's in the lobby. Denny's rules.
Just like Central Park and Baldinos form my prior two posts, my love of Denny's started in Macon. The Denny's in Macon was down the hill from campus on Riverside Drive. It was open 24 hours and was a well known Mercer hang out for those who needed free refills and room to spread out books and study. But like Baldino's and Central Park, Denny's also closed. What's worse is NOTHING has moved into the old Denny's location on Riverside.
To be fair there were other Denny's location in Macon, but nothing compared to the Riverside location, and all the other locations closed as well, including the super fancy one they built on Pio Nono in the Office Depot parking lot.
Finding a Denny's in my hotel in Fayetteville was great. After hockey games I always have a craving for food. Kim and I would make regular trips to Waffle House after Macon Whoopee games. I suppose if we had a Denny's in Macon we'd have wound up there.
After games in Fayetteville I could come back to my hotel, kick off my shoes, and get comfortable before walking down the hall in my slippers to Dennys for the late night snack.
That Denny's closed many years ago and the hotel closed not long after that. The hotel has reopened under a new name lately, but Denny's hasn't returned. Other places have moved into the area including a Cracker Barrel and a Waffle House, so I doubt Denny's will return.
With a clean breakfast slate I decided to try something new. For years driving form my hotel to the games I would pass my a tiny motel on the side of the road. In front of the hotel was an intriguing sign.
I had driven past this place for years as it is feet away from the turn I take to get to the coliseum. I decided that this was not only a literal sign but a figurative sign so I knew where I would go for breakfast.
It is really a cute place to eat. It's a bit small, but they turn over the tables quick. When I arrived and told them it was just me, the hostess was going to seat me at a "4 top" in the middle. I asked if I could sit by the window instead. She told me that the waitress for those tables was a bit swamped. I told her I was in no hurry, so I got a great 2 seat window side table. The reason i wanted a window seat was the the windows go floor to ceiling, and you are steps away from "Eastern Boulevard" in Fayetteville.
Eastern Boulevard is also I-95 Business. Back in "the day" it was the "Temporary I-95." While they were building the real I-95 on the eastern side of Fayetteville, this served as the route thru town. Cars still zip down the road and with a window seat you are VERY close. Throw in the squirrel tramping around in the natural area 2' away from me and it was a great seat. Almost as great as the menu.
The hen delight may seem expensive until you see what all you get. That is a LOT of food. I doubt serious the hen's "delight" in your ordering that.
As I glanced over the menu I noticed the "Tower Topper"
Three Buttermilk Pancakes topped with Fried Egg and Bacon or Sausage
I love to stack my food, so that seemed right up my alley. And boy howdy was I right! (When I do breakfast at Dub's, I have them place my over medium fried egg directly on top of my hash browns. Don't knock it til you've tried it.)
It looked wonderful. But how exactly do you eat it? My waitress gave me a side plate in case I wanted to move my egg to eat it. I didn't dare mess up my breakfast tower. So I was left with two options:
  1. Salt and pepper my egg and then pour syrup on top and eat it all together
  2. Eat the egg off the top, then syrup up the rest and keep going
I opted for choice #2. I felt as if I was some culinary archaeologist digging through the strata of deliciousness: fried eggy goodness followed by three layers of pancakey wonder. It was phenomenal. It was so phenomenal I had it for breakfast the next morning, too.
You may be wondering about the colorful things in the mall cup beside the butter. Since it was Easter Weekend, the Bunny had stopped by and dropped off jellybeans for everyone at Pancake House. I like this place. I'll be back for sure. Maybe one day I'll even try something else on the menu. But not any time soon.
Krystal Lovers like hot buns.

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