Timoleon's - 16

Date: 8/22/10

Restaurant: Timoleon's    
Address: 27 Main Street   
City: Keene
Phone: 357-4230

Breakfast Hours: 6am-?, Sat & Sun until 1:30      

After sleeping in a little bit, due to a really late night at a great, 11 inning, Red Sox game, Sven and I decided to keep it local. At one time Timoleon's was a regular place for me and my family, that was long ago, Sven had never been, and I had a Scrabble date, across the street at Prime Roast after breakfast, so it was the perfect choice for this weekend's breakfast.

Potatoes *
Kind: Home fries. I am curious...when potatoes are called "home fries", wouldn't that suggest there was some sort of "frying" involved? I am not looking for deep fried, but even that would be better than the soft, mushy lumps that were on our plates. Come folks, is it really that hard!?
   

Toast *****
Kind: Lo-carb   
Homemade? Yes
I remembered this toast from the past and was happy to hear they still had it. I would love this toast even if it wasn't lo-carb! I could tell Sven was licking his chops when he saw the crunchy crust and the big crannies loaded with butter so I had to share with him. I think he was a little surprised at how good it was!
       

Bacon *****
Sven got bacon on his breakfast sandwich and he let me have a nibble. I wouldn't say the nibble was equal to the amount of delicious toast I gave him, but hey, who's keeping track? Anyway, the bacon was delicious. 
    


Coffeecake *****
Kind: Blueberry   
Homemade? Yes
We asked for it grilled to see if it compared with Yesterday's. It arrived cut in half with an extra plate. That was very wise because if we had to share the one piece, I think there might have been a fight. It was delicious. Just the right amount of sweetness and really moist. The cinnamon streusel  topping was to die for. I could have gone for just a bowl of that! Can't say it beat out Yesterday's, but it is right up there!

It looked so good I forgot to take a picture before I ate it!

SERVER RECOMMENDATION
Our server recommended the pancakes, because that is what she likes. She added that everything was good and the sausage and biscuits were very popular.     
   

SVEN'S BREAKFAST **** Nick's Sandwich
Fried egg, bacon, tomato and American cheese on an english muffin. The tomato was an excellent addition and as said before, the bacon was great. This sandwich would have gotten a 5 if the potatoes hadn't been so bad.

OLGA'S BREAKFAST *** Spinach and Feta Omelet
The spinach was either frozen or canned, which was kind of a bummer, and what gave the dish a lower mark. Well, that and the potatoes. Other than that, the egg part was nice and thin and cooked perfectly and they didn't skimp on the feta. And the toast, oh the toast!

SERVICE *****+
Fantastic! Best yet! Our server seemed to know what we wanted before we even walked in the door! She was naturally enthusiastic and offered the popular choices, without us even asking. She was attentive at just the right times and was intuitive enough to bring me a larger glass of water after seeing me down the tiny one that was originally placed on the table.         
    
   
DECOR ***
Family style with a long counter, booths and table seating. There was cheap, bad artwork (available to purchase) on the walls. Pretty bright, not cozy, but just right for the place.   

NOTES
The place was busy. Filled with young and old. Obviously a popular place with locals, as well as visitors. Many homemade items: breads, pies, cookies, cakes. The menu wasn't anything special, but Timoleon's is definitely a good, solid breakfast place!

SVEN'S TAKE    

Timoleon's potatoes are like the Redsox bullpen -- soft, uninspiring, and capable of spoiling an otherwise solid outing.

OK. That was probably a little harsh. The Sox aren't THAT bad.    
    
    
    
    
   
  

Bradford Junction Restaurant & Bakery - 15

Date: 8/14/10

Restaurant: Bradford Junction Restaurant & Bakery   
Address: 2370 State Rt. 114   
City: Bradford   
Phone: 938-2424

Breakfast Hours: 6-2:30 7 days/wk       


CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP and GOOD!
           
Potatoes ***
Kind: Home fries.
Inconsistent size. Many were too big. The ones that were smaller had a nice crisp to them, but the bigger ones were way too soft.  

      
   
Toast *****
Kind: Anadama   
Homemade? Yes
The bread was wonderful. Sliced thick and loaded with butter. The perfect amount of molasses made it very flavorful without being overpowering.

Bacon *****
Hot and perfectly cooked.
    

Muffin ***
Kind: Blueberry   
Homemade? Yes
This muffin was nicely grilled and had a sufficient amount of wild blueberries. Unfortunately, it lacked flavor. My well trained tongue said that it needed some salt in the batter. If we were rating for value we would have given it a 4, you can't beat 60¢ for a homemade muffin, but the taste rating was only a 2.

  
   

SERVER RECOMMENDATION
Our server said the "Upper Berth" and "Lower Berth" and the omelets were all big sellers.

SVEN'S BREAKFAST **** Junction Special Omelet with toast and potatoes.
Peppers, onions, tomatoes and American cheese. Believe it or not folks, Sven said, "Awesome!" (I really think he is getting soft in his old age). Perfectly cooked in the middle but a little overdone on the edges. Delish.

Junction Special Omelet with Anadama toast

OLGA'S BREAKFAST *** Blueberry Pancakes with bacon.
Plenty of wild blueberries but like the muffin, it lacked salt. I sprinkled some on, which helped a bit with the flavor, but didn't help with the dense, chewy texture. Fortunately, for and extra $1.25, I opted for real maple syrup. There was plenty of it to drown the pancakes in. Anything is delicious with enough maple syrup on it!

Blueberry Pancakes (minus one piece of bacon)

SERVICE ***
The service started out as pretty bad, but got better. When we first arrived we were told to sit where ever we wanted. There was only one 2-top that was not in the center of the room and we wanted it. We noticed that it was still dirty from the previous patrons, so we paused a bit to see if it would be cleaned. All the wait people ignored it. After a few we went and stood by the table to see if they would get the hint. Nope. They didn't get it. Once we actually sat down at the table someone came right over and cleaned it off for us. From that point on the service was fine. Our server was friendly and our cups were always full.    
  

 
DECOR ****
It was a cozy place full of wood and big windows in the back. The walls were random width WP4 V-match premium grade pine (thanks Sven!) and everything from the booths to the tables and bar were wood. The walls had numerous framed photo collages. The only thing I didn't like about the place was they had a large quantity of Bradford Junction t-shirts and sweatshirts, for sale, hanging in a couple random places in the dining room, which definitely took away from the coolness of the place. Part of the restaurant was set up like a dining car on a train. It's too bad that section was closed when we were there.  
    
   
NOTES
It seemed like a family operation. Noticed one server calling another "Mom" and I think it was "Dad" who came out and cleared our plates. A huge quantity of loaves of fresh bread and homemade English muffins were available for purchase. It appeared as though they had some sort of "mug club" with shelves behind the bar filled with matching mugs with names on them. Can only assume these were for "regulars" of the place. It was a full house with folks old and young. I got the feeling that was like that most of the time and it didn't have anything to do with the League of NH Craftsmen fair going on that weekend.

SVEN'S TAKE    


When the waitress at the Bradford Junction slipped the paper placemats down onto the table in front of me, there were two things that immediately caught my eye. The first thing was that the placemat had an ad for the Bradford Bog People – an old-timey band that I'd heard of but never heard.  I wonder what made them decide to advertise on a placemat? Very unusual, but very cool, I thought. I figure that one of the folks in the band must have had something to do with the layout or printing of the placemat and made good use of the opportunity to get their name out there. Bravo.

The second thing I noticed was that the place mat itself was old-timey. I mean old-timey like 1940's pricing. The whole center section includes a breakfast menu, and at first glance I assumed that it must have been a mistake. The prices were so low, that these either had to be old-stock placemats, or a nod to the pricing that would have been in effect when the place was first opened. Turns out I was wrong. The prices were real. Game on!

A half an hour later, I could happily report that the food was real -- real good -- too. Great omelet, fantastic toast, adequate potatoes, muffin and coffee. When we left, I was filled up, and it only cost about $12 for both of us, including tax and a 20% tip. Suffice it say that if I lived closer to Bradford, I'd eat breakfast here several times a week.    


Knowlton's Kitchen - 14

Date: 8/7/10

Restaurant: Knowlton's Kitchen   
Address: 16 Church Street   
City: North Walpole
Phone: 445-2660

Breakfast Hours: Served all day. Closed Mondays. Tues. 7am-3pm, Wed.-Sat. 7am-8pm, Sun. 7am-2pm       

This marks the beginning of a new quarter. We are now thrilled, and maybe a little overwhelmed, with the option to order anything we want off the menu. Sashenka (Sven's daughter) joined us this week and she ordered pretty close to the "standard" which was a nice way to transition into our new way of doing things.

STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast

Eggs ****         
   

Potatoes ***+
Kind: Home Fries. Sven said a few of his were underdone. Some of them definitely had some crisp, but not many. Sven improved his by adding some homemade salsa.        
   

Toast ****
Kind: Sashenka - white, Sven - rye, Olga - wheat   
Homemade? No
Nicely toasted and loaded with butter. Perfect vehicle for a little strawberry jam!
       

Ham ***+
This is the first time there was no bacon on our plates! It was a little strange and slightly disconcerting. When Sashenka ordered her breakfast she first requested bacon, but as she was finishing up her order a server walked by with another customer's breakfast and there was a steaming slab of ham on top. I noticed it too. She quickly changed her order. So, I had a bite of her ham and thought the flavor was pretty good, but it could have hung out on the grill just a little bit longer.
    


Coffeecake ****
Kind: Pumpkin Filled   
Homemade? Yes
So, this is our 2nd week in a row we have had coffeecake. Because of our piece last week at Yesterday's, Knowlton's coffeecake really didn't have a chance of getting a 5, but it was still pretty stinkin' good. It was homemade by our server, Linda, and it consisted of pumpkin pie filling sandwiched by two layers of pretty basic coffeecake, topped with cinnamon and walnuts. It was definitely fresh, moist and tasty. It was nuked briefly and arrived at the table nice and warm.    
   

SERVER RECOMMENDATION
Linda started off by recommending the pancakes and omelets, but then went on to rant about pretty much the whole menu. 
   

SPECIAL/OMELET
A couple of specials on the board: Lobster Omelet, Strawberry French Toast

SVEN'S CHOICE ***** Basil, Tomato and Feta Omelet
Perfectly cooked and really flavorful without being over powering. The basil in the omelet came from the potted plant sitting on the counter. Sven upgraded to organic eggs for 50¢.

OLGA'S CHOICE **** Veggie Quickie
The jokes were flying when I asked Linda what a "Quickie" was. I think I might have blushed. Turns out a "Quickie" at Knowlton's is a scramble and mine came with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and peppers. There were lots of vegetables and I am pretty sure the mushrooms were fresh. It was a large portion and it was cooked just right.

Veggie Quickie

SERVICE *****  Linda
Linda rocked! She was super enthusiastic, warm and friendly. Our cups were always full and she really made sure we were happy. When Sven asked for hot sauce she brought over three different kinds, as well as two containers of homemade salsa! All the servers seemed very nice and every customer was greeted with the same enthusiasm and some with a pat on the back. We got more than one nice farewell as we exited the place.    
    
   

DECOR ***+
Family-style with premium grade Eastern White Pine, V-grooved boards on the walls and diagonally under the counter, and a dropped acoustical ceiling with black T-bars. Gee Sven, thanks for those details! The place was rather dark with a faux country feel. All the mugs were different, which was a nice homey touch. The walls were mostly blank except for a few dry-erase boards listing their specials and seafood offerings and a few kitschy signs featuring kitchen/diner sayings. It was a comfortable place to kick back and enjoy breakfast.    


 
NOTES
There seemed to be a number of pork options. They offered a BBQ pulled pork and roasted pork omelets. Each plate came with an orange slice and a sprig of fresh parsley, which was a nice touch and unusual for a place like that.

SVEN'S TAKE   

Coming whenever he gets around to it.     
   
  

Yesterday's - 13

Date: 8/1/10

Restaurant: Yesterday's  
Address: NH-16A  
City: Jackson  
Phone: 383-4457

sarahsyesterdays.com   

Breakfast Hours: 7-3 everyday       

Yesterday's marks the end of our first quarter of a year of breakfast eating. Not only is it #13 (which just so happens to be my favorite number), it is my favorite breakfast place thus far! I think Sven still puts Blackwater Junction at the top of the list. Blackwater is still up there for me too, but there were just a couple little details at Yesterday's that gave it a slight nudge to first place in my book.

Being the end of the first quarter, Sven and I have decided to make a little change in our process. Basically, we are both really sick of being required to eat 2 eggs over-easy, home fries, bacon and toast. We want to eat sausage and pancakes and scrambles and benedicts and waffles and ham and... well, you get the idea. We are just feeling too limited and being able to each decide on our own complete breakfast will give us the opportunity to give you more varied descriptions on each place. We will still check out the specials, and ask our server for recommendations, and who knows, maybe occasionally there will still be a couple over-easy eggs to write about.

Now, about Yesterday's...

STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast

Eggs *****
Perfectly done.        
  

Potatoes ***
Kind: Oven-roasted home fries.
A little crisp, but needed more.        
  

Toast ****
Kind: Cheese  
Homemade? Yes
If it had been buttered just as popped out of the toaster it would have been a 5, but they serve the toast dry and you have a pick of butter or Promise out of the bowl on the table.
      

Bacon ****
Really good. Hot, chewy, well cooked.
  

Coffeecake *****
Kind: Raspberry Cream  
Homemade? Yes
We ordered a piece as an appetizer and realized right away why they charge so much for it and why they offer it with a side of fruit as a meal. The piece was HUGE! Not only that, it was delicious! They grilled both sides of the slice which gave some of the raspberry filling a kind of crispy-chewy quality. The cake was super moist and flavorful. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
   

SERVER RECOMMENDATION
The pancakes (table next to ours got some and they looked great) and the breakfast special sandwich.     
  
  
SVEN'S BREAKFAST: **** Hunter's Hash with eggs over-easy and oat toast.
The hash was made up of shaved steak, mushrooms, peppers, onions and cheese, served on top of potatoes with the eggs on top. It was a very generous portion and quite filling. There was little to no salt, which it could have used, but Sven used hot sauce instead.

SERVICE *****
Our girl, who reminded me of Juliette Lewis, was really exceptional. She checked in, more than once, to make sure we were happy and our coffee cups were always full. She seemed really enthusiastic about the food and was very detailed in her descriptions of items we asked her about. She was genuinely personable and friendly.    
 
 
DECOR ****
Old photos, wooden beams and great counter with stools, and an average sized dining room gave this place a nice, cozy, country feel. The mugs, cereal boxes and 4-packs of root beer were neatly organized as if they were on display.    
    

NOTES
The choice of homemade breads was pretty impressive. We could choose from cheese, oatmeal, cinnamon raisin, rye, wheat or white. When ordering something that is generally served with syrup, you get an individual serving decanter of real maple syrup, included in the price of your breakfast. If you need more, it is extra. These are two of the things that really left a positive impression on me.

They seem to be conscious of people's specific dietary needs. The toast being dry and very little salt, if any, in Sven's breakfast made us think they did that on purpose for those you need to restrict their salt intake.

Root beer with their own label, mugs and loaves of homemade bread were available for purchase.

SVEN'S TAKE    
    
    
    
    
    
  
Coming soon!

Peach's - 12

Date: 7/31/10

Restaurant: Peach's   
Address: 2506 White Mountain Hwy   
City: North Conway
Phone: 356-5860

Breakfast Hours: 7-2:30 everyday       

In order to hit a couple breakfast places further North, Sven and I spent the weekend camping in the White Mountains. We drove the Kancamangus Highway, hiked up Mt. Chocorura, and were the ultimate tourists with a white-knuckling drive up Mt. Washington. The weather was perfect, had the most successful Jiffy-Pop experience ever, and put two more breakfast joints under our belts—which at this point we need to let out a notch!

STANDARD - 2 eggs OE, potatoes, bacon, toast

Eggs *
Way under-done.        
   

Potatoes **
Kind: Homefries
A 2 is being almost too generous. These potatoes were just like Mr. Nick's, but smaller. Soft and no crunch what-so-ever. They did have a little bit of spice added to them, which is the only thing that saved these spuds.        
   

Toast ****
Kind: Wheat   
Homemade? No
       

Bacon ***
The flavor was good, but it was cold. We were one of the first few parties to be eating that morning... shouldn't the bacon have been hot?
    


Muffin ****+
Kind: Blueberry   
Homemade? Yes
Grilled. Great flavor, lots of berries, not overly sweet, moist and held together nicely. So good that Sven only let me have one bite! The nerve.
   

SERVER RECOMMENDATION ***** Apple Walnut Crepes
Dusted with cinnamon, a few small dollops of whipped cream and crème fraîche on the side...these were delicious! The server said they were amazing, and she was right. The edges were nice and crispy and the filling wasn't too sweet. They were, as I often say, "pretty stinkin' good"!

 
SERVICE *****
The service was fantastic. Our server was quick, on top of things, right there with the coffee warmups, and when I ordered the crepes she seemed genuinely glad that I did. I could tell she really did think they were amazing.        
    
   

DECOR ****
Peach's is a house. Well, it was once a house, now it is a restaurant. There were tables tucked in small rooms and a built-in porch looking out into the woods, which is where we sat. It was lovely. Each table had its own little lamp with a stained glass shade. The tables were all topped with napkins on which customers had written rave reviews of the place. Nice country charm. There was a nice patio outside that had many tables. 
    
   
NOTES
As I got up from the table I was thinking that this place was pretty great. Aside from the undercooked eggs and cold bacon, the food was good and the atmosphere was quite nice. I needed to stop into the restroom to A) check it out for the review and B) take care of business. When I stepped into the small room that the restroom was attached to, my opinion of the place dropped significantly. This room was like some sort of shrine devoted to, as Sven puts it, a stylized-man-made-inaccurate-corrupted imitation of Jesus. The large painting of the man on the wall, and the Bible on the table made me not want to linger too long, or at all, so I quickly made my way into the restroom, not quite believing what I had just seen. I sent Sven back in to the restaurant to confirm.

SVEN'S TAKE
Here's a quick grammar lesson, with help from Merriam-Webster.com:
alter (verb): to make different without changing into something else. i.e. "When Sven and Olga drove by Peach's Restaurant in North Conway on Saturday, the place had so much curb-appeal that they immediately banged a u-turn and altered their previous breakfast plans."

Not to be confused with:
altar (noun): a table on which the eucharistic elements are consecrated or which serves as center of worship or ritual. i.e. "When Sven saw the pagan altar set up near the bathroom at Peach's Restaurant, he knew immediately that the owners do not rightly divide the word of God, and had fallen into grave doctrinal error."