Tumble Inn Diner - 2

Due to this crazy cleansing diet I am on for the next few weeks, my breakfast choices are a little limited. It is unfortunate that baked goods, bread, and sugary items will not be on my plate for a little while. However, this gives us a chance to see how accommodating places might be and hopefully they can fill me up!

Date: 5/22/10

Restaurant: Tumble Inn Diner
Address: 1 Main St.
City: Claremont
Phone: 542-0074


STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast
Eggs *** Nothing special, but fine.


Potatoes **
Kind: Not sure if these have a particular name, but they are the sliced potatoes. We requested they be well done, but they came with only just a few crispy ones and the rest were pretty wet and soft. Sven is not a fan of the the sliced variety anywhere, so if they are your thing, you might feel differently.


Toast ***
Kind: Texas Toast
Homemade? No. Could see that it came from Market Basket. The toast almost got ditched for a muffin again. The only option was blueberry. I had to remind Sven that I couldn't eat either and we HAD to get toast for research purposes. He didn't seem too happy about that. I think Sven has a real muffin problem. 


Bacon ****
Pretty darn good.
 


SERVER RECOMMENDATION
Our server's favorite breakfast is the sausage gravy with biscuits and a side of scrambled eggs. Had I been able to eat this, I surely would have ordered it. 


SPECIAL/OMELET ***
They didn't appear to have any Specials board. I ordered the "Everything" omelet which contained ham, bacon, sausage, onions, peppers and spinach (which they let me sub for mushrooms). No potatoes, no toast. It was large and loaded with stuff, which was great, but it was a little overcooked which made it a bit dry. I have to gripe just a little bit here... I feel like if you ask for no potatoes and no toast they should offer an alternative, or reduce the price of your meal just a bit. Of course most places don't do this, and the Tumble Inn Diner didn't either, but I can tell you that if I stumble on a place that does, they are going to get major kudos from me!

MISCELLANEOUS
Coffee ****
Standard Chock Full O' Nuts coffee, but the strength was decent. Was definitely coffee and not just warm brown water.

SERVICE *****
Tanya was great. When we first arrived, all the booths were taken. She greeted us almost instantly and asked if we wanted coffee and menus to look at while we waited for a booth. She was personable and helpful. The place was pretty busy and we liked her, so not going to knock of a star for the slow coffee refills. 



DECOR *****
Classic diner car filled with really cool blue tile work, wood booths and details, retro counter and stools, stained glass above the curtained windows and diner models and memorabilia on the small "luggage rack" shelves. Very cool.


CLEANLINESS ***
Really a 3.5.


BATHROOMS ****
Small and clean enough. Each bathroom contained just the toilet and there was a common sink in the hall with the old-school, individual, hot and cold faucets.


NOTES This place is great for people watching. A good local place with good hometown folk. It appears to be an all women-run business. Homemade pecan pie (so the sign said), we didn't have any, but should have.

SVEN'S TAKE
There is a great art museum back in my hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania; and for over twenty-five years one of the funkiest and most magnetic exhibits has been a permanent diorama of the old Avalon Restaurant. The installation is scaled to 1/3 life size (that’s huge!) and is populated with 21 soft-sculpted dolls mimicking the real-life people who used to work in or frequent the place. Each figure is a wonder, with attention to detail that transports the viewer into the midst of the scene. You might not be able to smell the bacon cooking, but it sure seems as if you can hear the din of conversation as you gaze down at the characters – and I mean CHARACTERS! – in the place. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself smiling at the little Mennonite girl by the doorway; sympathizing with the harried mother whose babies are sitting every-which-way-but-right in the side booth; timidly avoiding the psychotic gaze of the frightening "Violent Viola"; or trying to catch the attention of the waitress behind the counter for a refill of coffee.

http://www.erieartmuseum.org/exhibits/permanent/avalon/index.html

The Tumble Inn Diner in Claremont, NH is a real-life version of just such a place. Sure you could go there for the food – which is consistently above average, though never great. But the real reason you go to a place like this is for the atmosphere. This is an old diner, populated with real characters. Witness the oversized father and his diminutive son at the counter, either coming from or going to a baseball game. They’ve got matching orange jerseys, with "Giants" screened larger than life on the back. Or look over at the booth with three fifty-something guys who look like they’re still nursing hangovers they had in their thirties. A steady stream of customers comes through the door and down the narrow aisle of the classic dining car, each one a living testament to the fact that this is a salt-of-the-earth eatery in a blue-collar town. I guess that’s my way of saying I love this place!



 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Gary's Harvest Restaurant - 1

Date: 5/15/10

Address: Rt. 101
City: West Wilton
Phone: 603-654-9969
Web site: www.garysharvestrestaurant.com (not up to date)
Breakfast Hours: Served all day, M-Th 6:30-3, F-Sa 6:30-8:30

Take Cards? yes

STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast
Eggs *****


Potatoes ***** Kind: Pan fries. Excellent. Crispy edges. Onions are optional and served on top, not mixed in.


Toast: substituted muffin
 (Sven didn't quite understand the rule yet... gotta get the toast, muffin is optional)

Bacon ***** Cooked just right. Crispy and chewy.
 


Muffin **** Kind: Pumpkin Walnut
The menu said "homemade muffins" and when we asked the server if this was true she replied, "No, but they may have been made in someone's home". Point off for that! However, it was quite tasty. Grilled, butter on the plate was soft and warm and spread easily. Sven wasn't very nice about sharing the top, which appeared to have the perfect amount of crunch.
 


SERVER RECOMMENDATION: Blueberry Pancakes 


SPECIAL: **** French toast sandwich. Egg over hard with sausage patty and hash browns. The sandwich arrived with a nice pool of melted butter on top of the a bit too thin, white French toast and the hash browns were not homemade, but for $5 this was a pretty good breakfast.

MISCELLANEOUS:
Coffee *** Individual flavored creamers on the table. Nice addition.

SERVICE *** The server was competent, but had an indifferent attitude. She was definitely not chatty, nor did she make us feel special or that she was happy to have us there. 
 


DECOR *** Sort of family, country, home-style. Counter, booths and dining room. Bad art, in a good way.


CLEANLINESS *****


BATHROOMS **** Clean, small. No paper towels, only a hand dryer.


Notes: Had all the standard breakfast offerings, as well as, skillets, 4 varieties of eggs benedict, and a mexican omelet.

SVEN'S TAKE
This must be how marathon runners feel right at the opening gun. I can do this thing, I know – after all, I’ve trained for this day since I started eating solid food some 43 years ago. I’m feeling strong and self-satisfied as Olga and I slide into the booth on week one of our quest. Slow and steady wins the race, I keep telling myself.

The first chink in the armor shows up as I look at the specials board. Five specials and I can’t have any of them! Every one of them unique, every one of them described in loving detail on the chalkboard by the register, and every one of them promising to be fantastically delicious – the full parking lot outside could leave no doubt about that. But the rules are clear: one of us has to have the standard 2 eggs over easy, bacon, toast and homefries. This could be more difficult than I thought.

Fast forward 20 minutes and suffice it to say that I’m a fan of this place. Olga was nice enough to share part of the special she ordered, and the standard breakfast was pretty darn good – not life changing, but respectable. We both agreed that this would be a place we’d be likely to eat at again if we ever find ourselves driving to the Manchester airport in the wee hours of the morning. I give the place bonus points for the back page of their menu – but you’ll have to go check that out for yourself to see what I’m talking about.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Our Plan

One thing I know is that the idea wasn't mine. Olga and I had been sitting there in the Hillsborough Diner downing our first cups of coffee, and were just beginning to take the place in, and I'll swear to this day that the waitress must have brought the whole plan over like a plate full of french toast dripping with syrup and dropped it right in our laps. That's sure how it felt, anyway.

The drive over had been a picture-perfect way to start the weekend -- winding up over Lempster Mountain and meandering into Hillsborough with one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on Olga's knee, and the conversation flowing easily over a background of Greg Brown singing about Spring and what's left of the hippies. Truth be told, we weren't even headed for the Hillsborough Diner -- but it's an awful difficult thing to drive by a place like that when your travel mug is empty. So I looked at Olga, she looked at me, and we veered into the parking lot and grabbed what must have been the last spot in the lot.

Once inside the diner, we sidled into the booth and began to cast our eyes about the place. The waitress had brought the menus over, and filled up a couple of big mugs of coffee for us, and our eyes darted about the room, devouring the veritable feast of montages and one-act-plays unfolding in the booths and tables around us. Specials boards announcing the freshest homemade pies, tables of good friends just in from a morning of fishing, advertisements on the place-mats for the best place to get your brakes fixed, the two-year old girl in the booth beyond us already starting to play peek-a-boo with me, a waitress coming out of the kitchen with four plates balanced on her arms, and in the middle of all, Olga, with her hair in loose braids, and hot-damn there is nothing in the world that is better than starting a Saturday morning just like this.

I don't remember who spoke first, but suffice it to say that by the time the last bite of toast was gone, we'd hatched a plan to visit 52 diners across New Hampshire in 52 weeks.

At each restaurant we will order one standard breakfast of 2 eggs over-easy, potatoes, toast and bacon. We will also order either what the server recommends, or something from the specials board. Not only will we be reviewing the food and coffee, but also the atmosphere, service, cleanliness, etc.

We may choose not to put the entire review here, as we might need to save some of the dirty details for our book! However, if you are like us, and are always looking for a good place to get breakfast, then maybe this will be helpful. Happy eating!