We were driving down the road. This morning we were discussing the finer points of the Existentialist authors. I said Albert Camus. Marek said Sartre. I said Kant. Marek said Allen Ginsberg.

WHAT? Ginsberg was a Beat Poet, not an Existentialist writer! You silly little boy you. Tickle, tickle! Not an Existentialist, tickle giggle tickle! What were you thinking, goo, goo, giggle, tickle!

Kids these days. I mean, really, Ginsberg an Existentialist? Sure, there’s some common themes there …

Wait! Stop the car! FIRETRUCK!

That fire truck was parked at The Country Skillet at 2839 Roosevelt Blvd in Clearwater. I wonder if they have pancakes! They have a web site at http://thecountryskillet.com/. See how they love their customers with all those pictures? How can this not be a great place?

Inside was homey, just like you’d expect in a breakfast joint. I’m using “joint” in the 1950s diner sense here. This is a kid-safe review, you Beat-generation hippies!.

That’s right, a perfect place for the face-off that we’ve all been waiting for. Ever since we started Tampa Bay Breakfasts over a year ago, we get emails, telephone calls, and yes, even Western Union telegrams, asking us who is faster, a classic 1976 VW Bug or a tuner VW GTI.

Race fans, you’re in good hands.

The GTI has the advantage of wheelbase. And nitrous. But anything made in 1976 has got to be good! Like Marek’s mom.

Are you ready? Three! Two! One!

What a race! Marek’s been taking all the pictures this morning.

Calls for a coffee. This was good coffee.

Here comes some pancakes! Rumor is, this is a special Chicago recipe. The warmed up syrup is a nice touch, too.

Marek has decided that he likes syrup on his bacon. This was actually the first time Marek was ever responsible for his own syrup. A milestone!

No ketchup, though. It looks buggy. VW buggy. Get it? Bug, like the car not like actual bugs! Haw, haw, that’s hilarious. Seriously. I slay me with this stuff.

Marek likes to keep the coffee flowing!

When Marek is taller, we’ll sit over here. Nice counter!

We wrapped up with a bill for around 11 bucks. Pretty standard pricing model.

We walked away with smiles all the way. And Marek took all the pictures. It’s hard to read, but my t-shirt says “BEER, it’s what’s for dinner.” With a shirt like that, I’m surprised I’m not the mayor of Tampa.

Did someone say that the BEER shirt looks sort of aged? Here’s a shot of me wearing the same shirt about 8 years ago. Note the lack of kid-induced gray hair. Note that favorite guest reviewer Mom has a care-free “I ain’t never havin’ no kids” look in her lovely eyeballs. Note that we’re having fun at an actual beer festival. Yes, dear TBB fan, this shirt pre-dates a lot of things, including the concept of getting up early enough for breakfast.

So this is a good breakfast. Solid on the bacon, great eggs, nice coffee. Marek loved the pancakes. Seemed to be full of locals. Overall, a nice experience. We didn’t identify anything unique, like brains on the menu or a Buddhist shrine in the corner, or anything like that, just a good, solid breakfast diner.

We’re pleased to give the Country Skillet a four-pancake rating.

On the way home, we stopped at the beach on the Courtney Campbell. That makes for a very nice morning.

This morning we meditated about breakfast. We were on a quest. We are the visionaries, and we WILL try EVERY PANCAKE in the Tampa Bay area. We shall lead the people to a better breakfast!

When you have visions like that, you’ve gotta wear shades.

We visited Skyway Jacks II at 11140 4th St N on 9 May 2010. This was our first visit to to SJ2, The Other Jacks. We found out about it through the tried-and-true method of looking for another place and getting lost (Country Skillet, we’ll hit you up next time!). Note the reserved parking spot for the Breakfast Bullet Car. As Tampa Bay’s only true Pancake Professional, this is the kind of treatment we’ve come to expect. S JK 308. Stuttgart Jurgen K. 30 August. There’s a story there, a lotta history. Buy me breakfast one day and I’ll tell you all ’bout it.

You can’t really tell from the picture above, but Jacks2 is in a strip mall. That’s usually a killer-of-breakfast-ambiance, but here at SJ2 this outside patio actually manages to seem welcoming and friendly.

This is obviously, and not just by the name, a second iteration of Skyway Jacks, the winner of the prestigious 2009 Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year award. All through SJ2 you see these echos of the original.

We had a special guest reviewer today. TBB Fan Shelley, and her four-legs sidekick Banjo. Shelley is just like us, a member of the Bay Area Regional Food Epicurean Reporters, a group I just made up. Check out her great recipes and writings here!

Marek welcomes Shelley …

And then proceeds to ignore her for Banjo.

And then moves in on Banjo’s territory completely. I’m not going to lie to you, dear reader, this was pretty strange.

Marek got back in his seat because this enormous chicken with eggs for boobs told him to. Here’s a reason why I love Skyway Jacks. Eggs are potential baby chickens. Obviously, not every egg is a new chicken, but that’s the whole point of eggs. So isn’t it sort of grotesque to have the Skyway Jacks chicken wearing a shirt with broken, cooked eggs on it? It’s just like when you see a sign for a BBQ shack where it’s a pig in a skirt, grinning and holding out a platter of pulled pork. Perverse, I tell you. Perverse.

SJ2 has the same sort of extensive menu that the original offers. This is the only place I know where you can get a nice plate of S.O.S. I remember having this at my grandparents’ house in the 70s, and I seem to recall that it stood for something on a shingle, not “Save our Ship”.

It didn’t take long for us to get breakfast.

And it was the same awesome blueberry pancakes you’d find at our fav SJ1.

The coffee was good stuff, just the way we like it. Though I’m going to have to admit, we saw the bottom of the cup several times. This was probably because we were outside and most of the action was inside. But us growing boys, we need all those healthy vitamins and minerals you can only get with a good cup of morning motor oil.

While we were having our morning chow, Marek had some fans stop by to ask for autographs. Marek obliged because even though he’s a celebrity, he’s still in touch with the people.

We finished up and went inside to wash up. Sows. You gotta love it. Of course, we didn’t use this one.

The same sign at the original Skyway Jacks is in color. Just cross-referencing here, to keep the academics happy. Next week we’ll write the whole review in MLA style, with footnotes.

So we washed up and were headed out. Marek sees the counter and darts behind it. Say I to he, “what the Sam Hill are you doin’ back there, boy?” He replies, and I am not making this up, “I’m looking for a pop!” The nice register lady announced that they did not have any pops. But they have a whole bucket of them at the original Skyway Jacks! We were disappointed.

We paid the bill. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Around 11 bones.

Marek and Shelley sat and talked about the finer points of our respective breakfasts. We had a very nice breakfast. Great pancakes, reasonable eggs and bacon. Coffee delicious but sometimes vacant. Guest Reviewers Shelley and Banjo had a great breakfast, with a health-conscious vegetable omelet. No one went away hungry. Though we did all go away, as spending the entire day at a breakfast joint would be sort of creepy. They agreed that this was a 4-pancaker experience; great food, reasonable prices, but dry coffee wells, no pops, and it’s in a strip mall knocked it down a bit.

We’re pleased to grant Skyway Jacks II a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Four-Pancake Rating.

When we were done, Marek says, hey there parental unit, why don’t we quit saying “Skyway” over and over and just go take a ride on it? This Marek, he’s the one with ideas! So we did. We went uuuuuppppp….

This is really high!

And we came down the other side. Wow, that’s the Biggest Bridge Ever! It’s even bigger than the bridge in Bratislava, though it doesn’t have a UFO restaurant.

I know what you’re thinking, oh loyal reader. Why the heck would you pay the toll and go all the way across the Skyway? Well duh, because there’s a race track in Bradenton!

We saw these guys race.

We saw Lady Drag Racers.

And we saw some motorcycles race, too.

And we got some fries and juice, because we’re three years old and so that’s what we do.

And all this makes for one long day.

After we all parted ways, TBB Fan Shelley sent a picture of Banjo’s ride home. Now that’s one good lookin’ puppy!