Monthly Archives: February 2010

L’Eden Cafe

I got up this morning and found Marek hard at work. He says, dad, this Tampa Bay Breakfast thing is going nowhere if we don’t put in some overtime getting it done and done right. I’m just trying to help you out, Slo-Mo. I asked, where are we going this morning, ma jeune petit garcon?

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Well, what do you think about THAT. Lad’s not even three and he’s taken over my laptop and set up office at the dining room table. It was early and I wasn’t all the way woken up yet, so I was, I’ll admit, feeling put out to pasture. Then I figured out what Marek was REALLY doing. Instant messaging with Grandma and watching Clifford cartoons, just like I do at work all day. He pointed out that he’d already done his homework and suggested we should go to France!

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We had to go downtown to find a taste of Paris.

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We don’t have the Eiffel Tower, but we do have an enormous “beer can” building that is every bit as awesome.

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(In case you were wondering, this is a view from the top.)

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We visited L’Eden Cafe at 500 N Tampa St on 20 February 2010. This was our first ever visit to L’Eden, though we have visited the Samaria Cafe next door and loved it. And of course, we just love being downtown!

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Marek was full of talk. We walked in and he grabbed a table by the window. Bonjour, he says to the gentleman in the chef’s uniform. Serious. I don’t know where he picks this stuff up.

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We both grabbed a menu and perused. No pancakes. But there’s some great tastes listed here, including the expected petit déjeuner avec cafe noir. And the croissants and pains on the counter were exquisitely fresh and tasty looking. I went for the coffee and Marek for the jus d’orange.

While we waited Marek says, hey speed freak, what do you think about re-enacting the 24 hours of Le Mans? I said, well, we won’t be here for 24 hours, but sure, let’s do some time trials. I said “un, deux…” and Marek hollered, “trois!”

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Then Marek got some juice. He says, “merci bien, papa!” Now he’s just trying to impress the girls that walked in while we were sitting there.

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I had a little bit of coffee. Now let me tell you something, ami, this is some very fine coffee. A bit more delicate, perhaps, than the harsh diner acid we usually drink, but no less strong. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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While we waited, Marek and I started a serious discussion. First I asked him if he knew that Rilke also wrote poetry in French as well as German? While his most famous and intricate works were in German, he was no slouch in French. This pleasant conversation meandered into politics. I said that President Sarkozy is great, but I’m sure he’s not nearly the poet Rilke was, in any language. Marek got a bit upset as he is a staunch supporter of M. Sarkozy and his economic policies. He really took it personally. Gosh, kid, I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about Sarko.

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Then here came some petit déjeuner! This is the savory croissant with ham, eggs, and cheese, along with some fresh fruit. And it was delicious!

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Marek went “yoink!” on the fruit bowl. I suggested to him that “yoink!” is not actually French. It’s not actually anything.

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When we were done we paid the bill. About 17 Francs for all this plus un pain au chocolat to go for mom. Not exactly cheap, but what L’Eden loses in cost effectiveness it more than makes up for in deliciousness and ambiance.

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Marek got a tour of the facility, including the lovely little courtyard in the back. He was still sore with me for the Sarko vs Rilke talk (though I WILL admit that Sarko would take Rilke easily in a WWF suspended cage match, as Rilke was sort of a pansy), so he was happy to just trot off away with a fellow Frenchman.

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While Marek was gone I sat and daydreamed about a motorcycle ride I took through France years ago. Ahh, c’est bon.

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I don’t usually override Marek on the ratings, but I’m going to today. Marek had pancakes on the brain and really wasn’t very interested in eating anything else. But our visit to L’Eden evoked a lot of fond memories for me from some years ago when I worked for a company in Paris. The people at L’Eden were both friendly and French. The food was lovely. The coffee was simply great. The location was downtown cool. And they played some nice French music in the background. I’m rolling out the four and a half pancake rating for this great Tampa Bay Breakfast.

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After breakfast, Marek and I went to visit the new Curtis Hixon park. If you haven’t been, you are missing a really nice park. This urban public space made Tampa feel like a real city!

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There’s a great slide, too!

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This shifty-looking character was sitting on a park bench.

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The park has the latest in playground features, the “Little Bartender.”

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And there’s a great dog park. That’s not Marek’s dog, by the way. We were probably in violation of some city ordinance by going to the dog park to play with other peoples’ dogs.

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What a fine morning. Merci, L’Eden, for starting us out right.

Inglis/Yankeetown Lions Club Pancake Breakfast

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It’s Valentine’s Day! What did YOU do for your true loves? Did you consider breakfast as one of the best, most appreciated, and cost-effective ways to say “Baby, I loves you like pancakes!”? I surely did. Me and Marek, we took mom to the Inglis/Yankeetown Lions Club Pancake Breakfast at the Lion’s Club at 22 59th St. in Yankeetown.

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We saw the sign on the highway: “Pancake Breakfast $5” It’s a sign worth following!

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When we got to the front, we were greeted with good news! There’s pancakes behind THIS door!

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Here’s something cool. Marek and I walked in the door and the nice lady says, out of the blue, “Are you Andy?” I says back, “Why yes ma’am, I am.” She says, “Is that Baby Inglis?” I says, “Yes ma’am, he is.” She says to us “Your breakfast is already taken care of. Come on in!” Wow. That is the first time we’ve ever been told when we walked in the door that breakfast was complimentary. We felt like celebrities! We got ready for a great breakfast with the Lions! (Marek’s middle name is Inglis, for our readers who are just tuning in. Around south Levy County that’s his nickname. I’m sure he’ll truly hate it when he’s ten, but for the moment he’s only two so he doesn’t get a say in the situation.)

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We were in for a real treat this morning. Grandma and Grandpaw joined us for breakfast!

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Our favorite guest reviewer, Mom, joined us too.

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And here comes breakfast! This is one of the finest breakfasts you’ll find in Yankeetown, the tri-county-area, or even in our whole Tampa Bay Breakfasts territory. I’ve got nothing but good to say about any of this most excellent chow! Even the coffee was exactly the way I like it, black as the tannin-stained water of the Withlacoochee River.

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When we were done we went back in the kitchen to thank our Breakfast Benefactor and Yankeetown Vice Mayor Doug for the great breakfast. Also in the back is our friend, Yankeetown Councilman and I/Y Lions Club president Larry. Thanks, guys, and to all the Lions, for the invitation and a great breakfast!

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While we were hanging out in the kitchen, we also ran into Levy County Commissioner Marsha! For the record, Marsha still owes me a pie.

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Marek says, dad, where’s Yankeetown Mayor Dawn-Marie? I want to show her how I can try to do backflips in your arms while you’re trying to talk! Over here, son. Show her your squirmy best.

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When it was all said and done, me and Marek, A.K.A. Baby Inglis, met lots of our Yankeetown friends and we had a superb breakfast with our first five-pancake review of 2010! We’d like to thank the Lion’s Club for inviting us and for putting on such a fine Valentine’s Day breakfast.

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We’re pleased to award The Inglis/Yankeetown Lions Club Valentine’s Day Pancake Breakfast with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts rating of five pancakes!

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A few notes about today’s breakfast. First, did you catch my fabulous “University of Inglis” shirt? The Fighting Devils! Folks are probably starting to forget the fun we had a few years back with our Satan Issue. Also, I wanted to wear an Inglis shirt both in honor of my main man Marek “Baby Inglis” but also in small protest against this foolishness.

Here’s something that most folks probably don’t know. 15 years ago today I “popped the question” to Baby Inglis’s mom, at sunset on a rickety old dock in Cedar Key. We got married in Yankeetown 15 years ago on July 4th and had our wedding reception right here in this Lions Club clubhouse. Now how’s THAT for Valentine’s Day romance?

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And here’s what the same spot looked like 14 1/2 years ago. Check out our red, white, and blue theme (and my particular shade of blue).

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Marek went home with Grandma and Grandpaw while our Favorite Guest Reviewer and I rolled up to Cedar Key to recreate the moment. There’s the dock behind her where the proposal Deed was Done.

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And the spot of our first meal as fiancees. Sadly, it was closed. We’ve actually never caught it open since we ate there on Valentine’s in 1995, which is a real bummer.

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But when we DID have supper there on the proposal night, the prospective groom did not actually have any money. I had to leave my lovely bride as collateral while I ran to the island’s only (at the time) ATM to pay our bill. If my account had been empty, Heather would have become the property of the Cook’s Kitchen restaurant and we’d not have Marek and our 15 years of true love. For your entertainment, here’s a recreation.

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Now those are some great Valentine’s Days! Both in 1995 and 2010! (Oh, and also all the others in between were groovy, too!)

Tick Tock

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We got in the car. Marek was still dreaming. “Mmmmm. Pancakes, Dad. I need pancakes.” Okie-dokie, bubba!

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We visited the Tick Tock restaurant at 8123 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg on 13 February 2010. This was our first visit to the Tick Tock.

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We liked it extra good before we even went in. Check out those motorcycles! Oh, and also, the tagline, “Tick Tock, It’s Time to Eat!” Now really, how can this place not be great?

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Inside was very clean and orderly. New-ish looking, even. We were greeted by several folks and it was just all-round friendly. A nice first impression!

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So the whole way over, Marek is saying, oh dad, don’t you just love cars? I say why yes, Marek, I DO love cars. But what about … RACE cars? Yes, dad, I love race cars too. I don’t know where he got it, but the little nugget pulls out this month’s Hot Rod magazine. Notice that he’s got a page open with hot cars and a hot girl; like most guys, he pretty much had to flip a coin on which one to look at, and he settled on the cars.

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Looking at that magazine really got us in the mood. For RACING! Whooo! Go Blue!

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Between heats, we looked at the menu. This says blueberry pancakes, but what it really is is pancakes with blueberry gunk on the top. I just don’t like that at all. So I got the regular pancakes. Had I known how large they’d be I’d have not gotten Marek his own, but I was still remembering our small pancake experiences from the last few weeks. Better having too many pancakes than too few, I always say!

The Marek, who is still waking up, says hey old timer, you going to come off of any of that coffee or am I going to have to teach you a lesson? Duly chastised, I came off of some of that coffee and we both enjoyed it. We even said “cheers!”

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Marek has been off the coffee for a few months, as our dedicated followers may have noticed. But boy, did he like it today! Deelish! And let me tell you something, this coffee cup was never more than half empty. The Tick Tock has a serious coffee pipeline going on, with every gal working in there doing a sweep of every table every five minutes. This was awesome!

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Here comes …. breakfast! Check out this ginormous “Mickey Pancake,” for which I’m hoping Disney does not actually get any royalties for the name. Marek “Gimme some Bacon” promptly did his slice-of-bacon-grab. Steve probably would not have cared for this bacon, but we’ve had much worse in our travels.

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And look at this heap of pancakes. Holy moly, if I’d known this I’d have skipped supper last night! These were seriously good pancakes and I was very sad that I’d not brought an appetite appropriate for their demise. First Marek beats me in arm wrestling two out of three, then these pancakes put me in the hurt station. Top-notch, in the same category as The Dome’s pancakes, I’d have to say. The eggs, on the other hand, were pretty good but somehow were runny inside and I didn’t care for that at all.

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Nothing stopped Marek. He was cheerfully humming Mr. Plow as he dug in.

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When we were done we played more cars, read more magazines, and waited for the bill. Not the cheapest we’ve ever had, but not terrible for two breakfasts for just over 11 clams.

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Marek paid the bill. Which was a bit of drama as he kept getting lost, dropping his money, and all around goofing off. Come on, kid, act your age! Oh wait, you’re two. OK, you’re doing pretty good.

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While Marek was off trying to pay all the wrong people, I was busy stashing our cards in strategic locations. We’re on our second box of business cards and entering our second year of breakfasts. That’s a lot of pancakes, brother!

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On our way out the door we had a frank, serious discussion about the Tick Tock. Did you love it, Marek? Yes, dad. Do you love your dad, Marek? Yes dad. Good, ’cause I love you, too. Now give your old man a kiss. OK, Dad. But only if we can go to the drag strip after this.

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We rolled out of here full as can be. Folks were supremely friendly. The coffee was bottomless and bitter. The price was fine, but not great. Overall it’s just a good, solid breakfast experience that we’re looking forward to visiting again. We’re pleased to give this Tampa Bay Breakfast a four pancake rating.

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When we left we went cruising to the Sunshine Drag Strip to check it out. On the road to the track were these cool old jalopies.

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And we were able to pull up onto the strip to take a picture. See Marek tucked in the back?

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The whole ride home (it’s a long way from our house to St. Pete), Marek kept saying, “look at me, daddy, LOOK AT ME!” Whudda goofball.

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Before we got home, he asked if we had any apples. Sure enough, I did. That apple is the same size as Marek’s head! Look at that! What a great morning for little Marek!

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The Gold Ring

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It’s a special double-header weekend! Marek and I had the day off so we went and had breakfast again. We went to The Gold Ring at 2510 N. Tampa Street. This was our first visit to The Gold Ring. They have a web site at http://goldringcafe.com/. I drive by The Gold Ring on the way to work every morning and it looked like a warm, homey, greasy spoon diner. It does not look like any picture you will find on their web site!

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Inside is just a small little diner that seems to mostly cater to take-out. The menu is on the overhead and is pretty short and straightforward. Eggs. Toast. Hashbrowns. Grits. Bacon. Sandwiches. Coffee. Looks like some Cuban influence. Sort of Havana meets Down-South. The menu actually reminded me of the kind of truck-stop diner I used to favor when I was a lot younger and used to drive between Nashville and Inglis or Biloxi and Ocala all the time.

While I was looking at the menu, Marek grabbed a seat and pulled out some cars. He had two special cars, a “Race Car, dada” and a “it’s Green Car!” These two cars saw a lot of action both on and off the table-top.

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We took a look around while we waited. Just a small diner, looks like it’s been here for at least three decades (the web site says they’ve been catering for 30 years, so there you go!).

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We played more cars! There was a steady stream of customers, almost all of whom were getting take-out. While they waited they watched us. Most of the folks waiting started out sort of grim-looking. But after just a few minutes of watching Marek work his magic with race cars they warmed up. Marek got quite a few waves and hand-shakes by the time we were done!

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Then breakfast came! You know how we feel about breakfast! Marek had pretty much all the bacon and a little toast. I had the eggs and hashbrowns and rest of the toast. It was a pretty filling meal, though the eggs were a little runnier than I personally care for. Marek chowed down on that bacon, though. He’s got a new passion.

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Marek asked for orange juice. He got hooked up just right.

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I had the large coffee. I had a choice of American or Cuban. I went with the Cuban and I was not disappointed. This was really delicious coffee. This alone is worth the stop. As you can see, even Marek liked it and he’s been off his coffee kick for months now. Some new-age diet of his, I think. You know how kids are these days, with their all-bacon/no-caffeine diets.

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So here’s something interesting. The bill was $7.25, which I thought was pretty reasonable for a good-sized breakfast and a great coffee and a juice. I stuffed the two dollars in the tip jar at the counter and kept the three quarters. Whenever I get a pocket of change I always look for bicentennial quarters because I think they’re neat. So I look at these three quarters and notice that the dates on them are 1966, 1967, and 1980. They gave me three coins and one of them is 30 years old and the other two are over 40 years old. How odd is that?

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When we were done we walked outside, after saying goodbye and adios to everyone. Marek had a new group of fans! We stopped to take a picture together because, honestly, we’d forgotten to take one inside!

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The Gold Ring is really more of a take-out joint than a sit-in diner, which is sort of at the edge of the kind of breakfasts we tend to review (Especially since they don’t have pancakes!). The web site certainly counts as the “unique factor,” that and this corner is the only place in Tampa where I have ever actually heard gunfire. The price is reasonable and the place is full of regulars who don’t start out overly friendly but still end up that way. The food is pretty good, but the coffee is really excellent. We give The Gold Ring a Tampa Bay Breakfasts three-pancake rating.

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La Pelota

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We started the morning feeling very adventurous! Let’s try something new! So we went to the Honduran Cafe at 0830 (opening hours on Sunday: 0830) and there wasn’t a sign of life at all. OK, maybe they’re running behind. Let’s try the Viet Asian breakfast we drove by last week on Waters. They don’t open until 1000 during the week and 1100 on the weekends. That’s LUNCH, man! So now we’ve got this odd opinion that Vietnamese folks don’t eat breakfast (and that Hondurans sleep late on Sundays). In order to get a second opinion, we decided to try the An Luc Vietnamese market and cafe on Armenia. While they were open, it turns out they’re under new management and not quiet ready to serve food yet. This morning’s desire for adventure is not resulting in actual breakfast for us yet.

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Yesterday our neighbors stopped us to say they just had breakfast at La Pelota. “It’s a bar, with breakfast!” So Marek says to me, dad, after all this running around chasing Honduran and Vietnamese breakfasts, let’s go to the bar. I need a drink. So we took Matt’s advice and tried La Pelota at 701 West Waters Avenue. This was our first visit to La Pelota. Our next visit will probably be for liquid lunch.

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Here’s a great picture of Marek’s eyeball. You could cut class with that blue.

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We went inside. Sure enough, it’s a bar. Looks like a good bar, too. We appeared to be the only breakfast customers the whole time we were there.

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Our very pleasant waitress brought us the menu. We asked for heuvos revueltos. We’re in a bar named “La Pelota” so surely everyone speaks Spanish! Turns out everyone did, except her. We found out her secret within moments of walking in the door! She was the high point of the breakfast, I’ll say right up front. Very sweet and sweet on Marek, too. He is loved by Tampa’s ladies, that’s for sure!

I’m not sure about the Swizz …

While we waited for desayunos, we played cars!

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We got un bessito! (Look at Marek eyeballing the camera!)

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We had a serious discussion about the table. This is cool, Come, Bebe, Baila (I have no idea what Goza means, though if it follows eat, drink, dance, it’s got to be good!).

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And we had a nice cafe con leche! This was very yummy. We actually had two. And Marek had chocolate milk, which was sort of new for him.

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And then … breakfast came! Like a curveball thrown by Alfredo Aceves.

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Marek did a quick snatch on the bacon, which was cooked the way both Steve and Marek like it. And then he dug right in to the pancakes. When our nice waitress asked how it was, Marek said “only good.” When asked if it was “delicious” he shook his head “no.” Lad know what he likes and how he likes it!

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The eggs and pancakes were pretty good but had an odd taste, like maybe they were cooked with something else at the same time. The bacon was very crispy but a little on the greasy side. The pancakes were thick and not as small as our neighbor Veronica led us to believe, and they weren’t bad. I think the overall breakfast was OK but the atmosphere was definitely bar, not breakfast. We were sitting under this speaker, which was pretty much blaring Salsa and Reggeaton. (We liked the music, it was just Really Loud for having breakfast at 0830 on a Sunday.)

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And the television across from us seemed to be showing looping Spanish advertisements for a Viagra knock-off (a depressed-looking man sitting on a bed by himself, a picture of a pill bottle, flashing words that I think said “no side effects, all natural, guaranteed results,” followed by the same man in a smokey, passionate embrace with a seXXXy woman). Not knocking the need for such supplements nor the necessity of advertising them, it was just odd for the breakfast scene.

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The total bill for two was about 12 bucks. We had two full breakfasts, two cafes con leche, a chocolate milk. So I’d say price was just fine. The chow was certainly filling, but did seem like there were other tastes mixed in that weren’t quite negative but were also sort of unexpected. The atmosphere was certainly unique and I think I’ll go back for the bar scene (tampabaybars.com? Nope, someone’s already doing that one), but I think the loud music and general stocking of the liquor well was sort of not conducive to a great early morning breakfast ambiance. Our waitress was exceptionally nice and we’d cheerfully return for the cafe con leche, her pleasant demeanor, and maybe so Marek could stand in the middle of the floor and dance again. I didn’t ask, but I get the feeling that La Pelota is trying something new with breakfast and it’s going to mature into something really good over time. We came away thinking that this was a 2.5 pancake breakfast, but I’m going to give a half-point bonus because the people were so nice and friendly.

We give this Tampa Bay Breakfast a three pancake rating.

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