MamaDukes Diner - 3

Date: 5/28/10

Restaurant: MamaDuke's Diner
Address: 226 Fitzwilliam Road (Rt. 12)
City: Troy
Phone: 603-242-7733

Breakfast Hours: 7am-2pm everyday. Thus, Fri & Sat open until 8.


STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast
Eggs **** Good. Perfect for dipping the toast. 


Potatoes **
Kind: Home fries. More like a 2-. The potatoes were undercooked. Not only not fried long enough on the griddle, but the potatoes still had a bit of a raw crunch to them. 


Toast ****
Kind: White
Homemade? Yes! They also have homemade wheat. Good thick slices. Could order a the specialty bread of the day for 35¢ more. That day it was Aloha bread. Mango, pineapple, coconut (I think). It looked like they also had whole loaves of bread available to purchase.


Bacon **** Perfect combination of crisp and chewy.


Muffin *****
Kind: Blueberry
Homemade? Yes!
So, you know it has to be REALLY good if Sven gives it 5 stars! The muffin was super moist and firm enough to hold together. It was grilled and served with homemade BLUEBERRY BUTTER! Even though it was not on my "diet" (which will thankfully be ending soon) I had to have a bite of this muffin that Sven dubbed as PERFECT! It was pretty darn good.
 


SERVER RECOMMENDATION ****
Irish Hash. Toasted and buttered english muffin (which Sven ate) covered with corned beef hash, two poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. This was the first time in my life I have ever ordered hash, so I am no expert, but it was pretty darn good. The eggs were perfectly poached. The only problem was I got the same undercooked potatoes that were served with Sven's breakfast. 


MISCELLANEOUS
Coffee ***
Real maple syrup available? Yes How much? $1.25

SERVICE ***
Actually a 3+. All the wait staff were friendly and personable. They seemed to work well together as a team. We had one main server, but the others would check in with us, to see if we needed anything, as they were passing by. They all seemed to enjoy working there and there were some obvious "regulars" that they greeted by name and chatted with a bit. They were a little slow on the initial greeting, menus and coffee. I had to ask twice for a glass of water, and was just about to ask a third time when the server remembered. The place was pretty busy, but not so busy that these things should have happened. 
 


DECOR **
The stools and counter added a little character, but basically the place was pretty nondescript. Has the appearance of being thrown together. Bad art, and not the good kind of bad art. There were cheesy inspirational quotes taped up here and there and an few children's drawings taped to the wall.


BATHROOMS ***
Only checked out the women's room, which is Pepto pink, floor to ceiling. It wasn't the cleanest, but not horrible.


NOTES
After two failed attempts at finding breakfast, this place was recommended by a landscaper in Fitzwilliam. He did good. Homemade pies, breads, muffins and cheesecakes. Can special order pies and cheesecakes. The lot was full, but easy to find a spot. It seemed like a popular place. It was busy the whole time we were there and the staff was very accommodating by moving tables around to be able to seat everyone as soon as they could. We sat at the counter and ended up sandwiched by other customers. We could see the cooks through an open pass-thru window, which is always nice. The flavored butter gives them definite bonus points!

SVEN'S TAKE 

First off a disclaimer: I really liked Mamaduke’s, and I have no doubt that we are going to head back there for some future breakfasts. I would even say that this is a "destination" restaurant – one worth jumping in your car and driving some distance to.

That being said, I have to vent a little. What’s up with the potatoes? I don’t just mean Mamaduke’s potatoes (which suck) but potatoes at 85% of the breakfast places in America. I just don’t understand what is so difficult about cooking home fries. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never manned a greasy-spoon grill, so maybe there is something inherently difficult about getting potatoes right in that environment. But I suspect with a little planning and a little attention to detail, it wouldn’t be that difficult.

Rule number one is that homefries need to be crisp on the outside. Give me that and you automatically get 4 stars. Make ‘em crisp and greasy at the same time and you get bonus points. Even more if you throw some onions and peppers or a pinch of cumin or chili powder.

Back to Mamaduke’s . . . we especially liked the local vibe this place had. It looked like there were a lot of regulars, and the blueberry muffin I had made it easy to see why. It was big, moist, grilled up in butter, and served with homemade blueberry butter . . . I have difficulty imagining how it could have been any better. With a cup of hot Joe, this would be a perfect start to any day.