Offbeat Eats

For the last several years, I’ve been doing a lot of travel through LAX, and generally I’ll get a hotel room in El Segundo the night. As a result, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to explore Manhattan Beach (the next town over). Several times, I’ve walked by Uncle Bill’s Pancake House, but have been unable to try it out since I was there in the evening, and my flight times in the morning have been early enough to prohibit a breakfast visit. Until last week, when I had an outgoing flight at a much more comfortable 8:25 in the morning, allowing me to have a quick trip to Uncle Bill’s right as they opened.

Like any good vacation, ours needed at least one seriously righteous breakfast. After consulting several online sources (Chowhound, Yelp, etc), we decided that Front Porch Cafe was a good place to try (and it had looked good as we passed it the day before). I’m glad we did. Situated on the north end of South Beach (i.e. the mellower and more-relaxed end of the beach), inside the Penguin Hotel (one of the apparently older Art Deco boutique hotels, albeit one that’s obviously been refurbished recently), the Front Porch is well named, since the vast majority of their seating is, well, on the front porch, or the sidewalk in front.

Before our cruise, we spent a few nights at the Doubletree Grand Biscayne Bay Hotel, which is located just north of the Venetian Causeway. However, this part of town is being redeveloped, and there just aren’t a lot of restaurants. However, one notable place we did find was The Daily Creative Food Co on Biscayne Avenue, about two blocks from the apartment. The Daily is a breakfast and lunch joint that sports an exhaustively large menu of sandwiches, salads, and breakfast items, most named after various newspapers. They also have a nice assortment of juices, smoothies, and coffee drinks.

(Closed) Last weekend, we had a free day, and decided to us this opportunity to go see some of the fall colors (due to our trip to Miami, most of the leaves will be gone by the time we get back). After discussing many possible destinations with good colors, we settled on Bennington, VT. We were planning on eating at the Blue Benn Diner (which gets really good reviews), but, unfortunately, the Blue Benn had a kitchen fire and was closed for several days. The guy in the parking lot recommended the Northside Diner as a good alternative.

One of the great joys of visiting England is the ability to enjoy the masterpiece of English breakfast cuisine: the “Full English”, also known as a “fry up”. Many philosophical discussions revolve around the ingredients constituting a proper “Full English”, but this is basically a dish built upon a combination of English-style bacon rashers and some eggs. However, bacon and eggs alone does not a “Full English” make…

(Closed) After years of visiting Manchester’s famous Red Arrow Diner, I figured it was worth checking out downtown Manchester’s other diner, the Manchester Diner on Hanover St. I recall that this place has been here as a diner for a while under other names (I think the last incarnation was the Golden Oldies Diner), so it’s one of those slightly gritty and worn-around the edges cozy diners that most any New England city like Manchester used to have dozens of, with your basic lunch counter and a few tables, and a few black and white photos and knick-knacks. It also appears to be owner-operated…

(Closed) It’s not often that I’m tempted to write a second entry for a place, but when I reviewed The Pines Cafe in Palmdale, CA back in December, I ended my review with “I need to come back.” Indeed, several people had told me that when I got my “Loco Hominy Quicky” breakfast, I had missed two better items on the menu: the Chicken Fried Steak, and the pancakes. I’m happy to report that I’ve since been back to the Pines, multiple times (I’m in Palmdale for several weeks for business), so I’ve had a chance to much more fully explore the menu.

I’ve been craving pancakes for a number of reasons (including National Pancake Day on this upcoming Tuesday), and both of my regional favorites (Polly’s and Dana’s) are seasonal and not open until spring thaw. Several people on Chowhound recommended this place to me as a good place for pancakes, and, indeed, they were right. This is probably one of the best meal deals I’ve ever found. The breakfast included pancakes (with real maple syrup), toast, corned beef hash, home fries, bacon, and eggs.

(Closed) It seems everyone is moving to Canaan these days. It’s like it’s becoming the new Enfield. In any case, it was time for another visit to Canaan to check out the food scene. So Finn and I met up with Chris and Val to try out on of Canaan’s newer restaurants: Mom and Dad’s Family Diner, right on Route 4. Mom and Dad’s is your basic diner, with an array of pancakes, waffles, omelets, and related breakfast fare, including some fairly interesting items such as the “Hangover Special” (a poutine-like assemblage of home fries with gravy), as well are the more usual items like biscuits and gravy and CBH.

(Closed) I’ve always had a fascination for old diners. And small restaurants with very small seating areas. So when I happen across a gem like Dot’s Diner in Bisbee, Arizona, it’s obligatory that I stop in and check it out. Dot’s is an authentic Valentine Diner care, originally built in Kansas bu the Valentine Manufacturing Company in Wichita. According to the literature they’ve got as a diner, Dot’s started life as a burger diner in Los Angeles before being purchased in the mid-90s and moved to it’s current location in the Shady Dell RV Park in Bisbee in 1997, with Dot at the grill.