We’re going on the bikes to find breakfast this morning. Ivo invited Veronica. I think he has a crush.

Veronica is our neighbor. We live about seven miles from downtown. This was her first time ever riding downtown and on the roads, and it was her longest bike ride ever. I don’t think she really knew what she was in for.

We parked bikes in front of Fresh at 507 North Franklin Street on 25 August 2012. We last visited Fresh back in January 2011.

Veronical’s father Matt also joined us, because he knows better than to miss out on a Tampa Bay Breakfast!

They moved the cereal bar to the other side of the room since last we were here.

Matt and Veronica have been here more than we have, usually for non-breakfast meals. Matt and I share an opinion that the food is fine, the decor is really nice, but it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Where you order, where you pick up, where you sit, where you get napkins, everything seems to be sort of haphazard. We were the only customers, and yet we seemed to mill about and stand around a lot.

Me and Ivo did a recon on the cereal bar.

And supervised Veronica’s building of a perfect breakfast.

Perfect, in this case, means Fruit Loops with M&Ms and Jelly Bellies. Oh, to be ten again, where that would sound the least bit edible.

Hat’s off to TBT for “Republicane” … double entendre nicely played, given both the whirlwind that Tampa is becoming and the impending storm due to hit this week.

I had the “Belgian,” which is a “French toasted” Panini with raspberries and blueberries, along with home fries. Odd that it’s named for Belgium with Italian bread cooked in an American fashion named after France. You almost need a passport for this one!

While I was waiting, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Fresh sells candy cigarettes. Not that I’m particularly interested in providing this experience for my own kids, but I remember them from when I was young. Matt and I had a good conversation about the value. “How else would little kids learn to smoke?”

Fresh has a TV showing you pictures of the food you could be ordering, and how good it is. It’s almost like the modern habit of having a great time, taking pictures of the great time while you’re having it, and then stopping having the good time to enjoy the pictures of the time you just stopped having.

We enjoyed our breakfast outside. It’s a pleasant day in Tampa. Downtown cafe. Kids like us on bikes, stimulating the local economy and acting like Tampa’s a real city.

This is just Andy getting in the picture.

Ivo didn’t eat very well. Fresh wasn’t to his taste. And he missed his brother Marek, I think.

Here’s a close-up of breakfast. Let’s revisit the melange. It’s very attractive, with service on a classy white rectangular plate. But then it gets the plastic syrup container. The salty-savory potatoes were delish. But they completely clashed with the sweet and tart of the panini. And the panini sort of clashed with itself, the tart was overpowering on the sweet. Good, but just over-tart.

Fresh gets high marks for the ambiance and location. The food is ambitious but still seems to be looking for cohesion. The prices are OK, but you don’t walk out feeling like you just got a bargain. Fresh is certainly worth a trip and is surely going to keep getting better and better. We give Fresh a Tampa Bay Breakfasts three and a half pancake rating.

Squads of cops on patrol in Tampa. The start of a creepy martial-law feel in the city today. The paramilitary appearance lends to my unease.

But the blocked streets and heavy police presence kept the roads clear for Ivo and Veronica to chase pigeons.

Fresh is beside the new downtown Taco Bus. We love the Taco Bus.

We’re uncomfortable with the national guard patrolling our breakfast, though.

By the time we left Fresh, these barriers to our transit were flying up all over the city. It’s a shame that the state of our nation includes a political climate where one side has to wall itself off from the other.

We rode the Riverwalk by the convention center.

We stopped to check out the fabulous Nemo on Wheaties.

Then we found the Riverwalk inexplicably barricaded under the Brorein bridge. There were guys on bikes coming the other way blocked, too. All we were missing was someone to ask for our papers.

We made our way over to Curtis Hixon Park. We had to go all the way around by the performing arts center to almost sneak in to the playground. Mickey’s been along for the whole ride.

Ivo and Veronica had a great time playing on one of our favorite playgrounds in Tampa.

We rode from Curtis Hixon to Ybor City. A flight of three helicopters overhead.

At Ybor City we enjoyed the Saturday Market.

We had fresh, hand-made smoothies.

And then we rode home. The whole ride from start to finish, about 20 miles through downtown, West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Ybor, Seminole Heights. That’s a heck of a ride!

Just a normal day.

We revisited Mom’s at 4816 N Dale Mabry Hwy on 4 August 2012. Last time we were here was over two years ago. That’s like a million years in breakfast time. Mom’s is the kind of place where you can drive your classic v12 Jaguar and still get treated like a regular Joe.

We did not all dress alike on purpose this morning. This is a classic example of the thousand monkeys chained to a thousand typewriters for a thousand years.

Marek and Ivo are like a Breakfast Recon Team, infiltrating the pancakes.

Inside Mom’s is unchanged since we were last there. And maybe since forever. This is the way we like it.

We spent a lot of time talking about this car and what kind it may be. We never did come to a conclusion, though it probably spent a lot of time at Ronnie Setser’s.

Ivo wasted no time making a mess. He’s decreased his TTM (that’s time to mess, for technical folks) by 51% since last time he popped one of these creamers when I wasn’t looking.

The menu is exactly what you’d expect for a classic greasy spoon mom-n-pop diner.

Me and Marek, we’re having our coffee. Have you noticed, dedicated TBB fans, how Marek has grown out of looking like a little kid and into looking like a little person?

Ivo demands coffee, too. I think I’m going to start him on decaf, though.

Can’t you just imagine sitting with Marek over a slow Sunday breakfast and coffee, just talking about the news and the weather and how Grandma’s doing these days?

Every toddler ought start out this way, mainlining black coffee.

Marek of the future, read back to 2012 and this picture. When you and I are arguing over if you can take the hovercraft out for a date with your robot hybrid girlfriend and you’re mad at me because I just don’t understand, I’m going to pull up this picture and remind you how we used to be such good friends.

New tattoo. The original hand is Marek’s when he was two. Last week we got Ivo’s. Which is a bit larger than Marek, at the same age. We’re predicting Ivo will grow to be the size of a horse.

Breakfast came like Operation Vittles, a plane-load of chow. Marek is now, as of two weeks ago, on a sausage patty kick.

Pancakes this morning: Not Mom’s finest work. I mean, they were fine, but very small. We’ve encountered a lot of pancakes in our career, so I know a small pancake when I see one.

Ivo has perfected the use of the fork to deliver chow to his lap, where he then uplifts it to his maw by hand. Perfect aristocratic table manners have to start somewhere. Not here, of course.

This bacon, what tiny bit I got of it, was good. I like it just over the edge of being done plus one. This was happy bacon for all of us. The look on Marek’s face needs a caption, though.

Enough chow to feed us all, coffee, Marek coffee, and Ivo coffee all added up to a bit over 12 clams. That’s about right for a good, filling breakfast in Tampa Bay. Bacon was great. Eggs just right. Hash browns were nice. Pancakes, a bit small but otherwise OK. Sausage was a winner. And the coffee was tops, by the way. Mom’s has a great rhythm, where all the wait staff circulate the whole room and refill everyone every five minutes. That’s the way it ought to be done.

Marek and Ivo negotiated. Ivo would pay the bill, Marek would bring the change back.

This appears to be some sort of bartering about the bill.

A crowd gathered to watch the young financial wizards.

And … another Breakfast Job, well done.

The boys came away with pops when they paid the bill. That’s always awesome! Also, the 370z behind them was almost the new Pancake Mobile, but there’s no back seat at all. At least the FR-S has this thing that looks like a scale model of a back seat so I can fake it and fit them in. But not the 370, no sir.

After Mom’s, we went to the beach. What a great Florida day.

We’re pleased to award Mom’s with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

It’s me and Ivo again this morning, a rare two-breakfast weekend! We’re on the bike today.

We visited the Forest Hills Diner at 9399 N Florida Ave on 8 July 2012. This used to be the Pine Grove Family Restaurant but changed ownership last year.

Excepting for the sign, it’s pretty much the same place. We’re calling this a new restaurant from our serious pancake statistical analysis approach, though.

This is our 99th unique mom-n-pop location in the Tampa Bay area. We’re so dedicated that we even wore one kid out on pancakes. I had to bring in the emergency backup kid to keep going.

There’s a kid’s menu, and drinks for kids are free with purchase of a kid’s meal.

Ivo suggests that maybe he’ll just take what he wants, seeing as how he’s got a knife and all.

This is the look you get if you say, “Ivo, are you playing with a knife, you silly little boy?”

Inside is pretty much unchanged since we were last here at the Pine Grove in 2010. Very large place.

We’re having coffee this morning! Which is a great improvement over yesterday morning’s no-coffee problem.

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Ivo!
Ivo who?
Ivo you!

That’s how you make Ivo laugh.

Here’s breakfast! Kid’s one scrambled egg and bacon also came with hash browns and toast. It was quite a lot of food for three bucks.

Decent pancakes, size-wise. And these were really tasty, too. Fresh blueberries did the trick for me.

This breakfast is so good that we’re even wearing it.

And this look is the result of me saying, “Hey Ivo, guess how much a college education for you is going to cost me? Nothin! Join the Army! Hah!”

Two big breakfasts, coffee, kid’s coffee weighed in at 12 clams. Not too bad. Notice how I need new business cards, that say “Andy and Ivo” instead of “Andy and Marek” … we’re going to just call this what it is, a player change in mid-game.

Ivo took care of business, as he does. This time he even signed the charge slip for me since I spent our breakfast cash yesterday.

New readers may think I make this up. But off my 2yo goes to find someone to run his credit card, while I sit back and drink coffee.

Why, you ask? Because when I pay the bill no one ever offers me a lollipop. But here is Ivo, with a big one.

That pop, by the way, didn’t make it home (well, it did, but in Ivo’s tummy).

Parked outside the diner is this sweet, stock Dodge. I saw it had a club lock on the steering wheel. It’s a nice, straight old car, but why would anyone try to steal something that looks so, well, old? Kids these days probably wouldn’t even know how. Then I noticed the dual pipes underneath.

And the hood pins up front. There’s something lurking under that unassuming old-timer.

The Forest Hills Diner was a very nice experience. Folks were friendly, chow was good, and the price was about right. We’re pleased to give Forest Hills a Tampa Bay Breakfast four pancake rating.

We visited the 301 Diner at 3407 N HWY 301 on 12 May 2012. They have a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/301-Family-Restaurant/113574495337246. Notice that it’s right across the street from the Dallas Bull.

And just up the road a bit is the Veteran’s park, complete with helicopter on display.

Me and the boys, we’re so excited! From the look on Ivo’s face, you just know he’s thinking about line dancing.

We parked next to this Can Am. These things seem to me to be the worst parts of a car combined with the worst parts of a motorcycle.

Poor Marek, it turns out, isn’t really feeling swell this morning. If I’d realized earlier, we’d have just stayed home and had cartoons for breakfast.

Me and Ivo, we’re just waiting for the line dancing to start.

The 301 is a really good place. Classic greasy-spoon country diner. The menu is full of all kinds of our favorite things.

Ivo, as you may see here, is clearly his father’s son.

Good place here, full of locals wearing baseball hats. It’s a good breakfast when people know each other when they walk in the door.

Ivo starting young with the coffee. Just like Marek did when he was that age.

And today is the day before Mother’s Day! We got Favorite Breakfast Reviewer Mom some books and made her favorite supper.

Ivo is also being very agreeable for being photographed, while Marek is less so today. So I’m taking advantage of the situation.

It’s a good thing he looks like his mother.

After all that kissy-faced goofin, we surely worked up an appetite for breakfast! (Note the Ivo Yoink move)

Good size on these pancakes.

Marek works the bacon conveyor belt. It beats sucking the juices out of the bacon and leaving the gristle, which is what he was doing for a while.

Ivo and I dug in pretty well on our side, too. Pancakes! Just what the doctor ordered after a long morning of driving 20 miles to get some pancakes.

All told, the bill was pretty reasonable. Fit nicely on a Jackson.

Ivo is up-and-coming in the paying-the-bills department. He still needs big brother assistance to close the deal, but he starts out strong.

At the end of the morning, we can tell you this about the 301 Family Restaurant. It’s a gem of a diner. It meets all our marks: Cozy, full of locals and regulars, good prices, basic and tasty chow, nice people, and a bit of history. We’d go back anytime. Even if they do play country music. We’re pleased to give the 301 Family Restaurant a Tampa Bay Breakfasts a four and a half pancake rating.

We visited The Recipe Box at 147 Bloomingdale Avenue in Brandon on 21 April 2012. They also have a nice web site at http://recipeboxdiner.com. This was our first visit, and we went at the recommendation of Tampa Bay Breakfasts fans Shawn and also Will. Will was actually supposed to join us, but our secretaries had trouble getting our schedules aligned.

This was a Very Special Event: Our third anniversary breakfast! Since 18 April 2009 we’ve been exploring the ups and downs of mom-n-pop breakfast throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, with some occasional trips to Levy/Citrus/Marion counties. Almost 100 unique breakfasts and a lot of great times. This breakfast is just Marek and Andy. Ivo’s home with Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom. Well, it’s Marek, Andy, and Bumble Bee.

The first thing I noticed when we got out of the car was this vulture on the top of the light pole. I’m not going to say that made me feel comfortable about breakfast. But we soldiered on!

Family portrait, Simpson’s Style.

First thing that happened when we got in the door was coffee. It didn’t take but a minute.

Marek asked if there was hot chocolate. Of course there was, and watch us make it in this fancy machine! I suspect that this machine also calculates tax returns and could land the Space Shuttle. If we still had a Space Shuttle.

That’s a good hot chocolate! Though from the look on Marek’s face, you’d think it was a hot lemon.

Any menu that has an item named “Officer Andy” is OK by me. I really wanted to get this just because of the name, but also I really didn’t want a ribeye steak for breakfast.

One of the many points Ayn Rand made in Atlas Shrugged was that you could always trust a company that put the owner’s name out in front, but businesses with words like “consolidated” or “amalgamated” in the name were surely places that were getting it wrong. Not that we approach breakfast from an Objectivist point of view, but every time I see the owner put his name on the menu I think back to that bit of literature class lesson.

This place is licketysplit fast. Here’s pancakes, with no time to dally. And also note, they’re Not Small. The perspective is funny on this picture, but these pancakes are the span of my hand.

Marek got the scrambled eggs and bacon. And also note that I didn’t get a picture of the counter, but we’re sitting in the high high chairs at the counter, at Marek’s request. He really likes that.

The look on Marek’s face begs for a caption competition. “And now, for my next trick!”

The bill was a bit high for what we had. Not super-expensive, but I reckon that Marek’s new thing of having hot chocolate adds a few bucks to the tab. He’s worth it!

Marek, and Bumble Bee, took the bill to pay.

In line to pay the bill. It’s a good sign when a restaurant has kid artwork taped to the counter.

And there we go. Our 95th breakfast and third year behind us!

The recipe box is a good recommendation. The service is fast. The people are friendly. The prices are moderate. The chow is tasty. We’re pleased to give The Recipe Box a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

We visited the Riviera Cafe on 18 Feb 2012. Riviera is in the strip mall by Michael’s craft store, or as Marek calls it, the “arts and crabs store,” 14819 N Dale Mabry in Carrollwood. Riviera Cafe was a recommendation from Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom.

Me and Ivo, we’re bringing up the slow lane. Note the smug little grin on my little guy. He knows … pancakes. He’s going to get to hurl pancakes at strangers.

Remember when Marek would bring some little cars to breakfast so we could quietly play? He’s a big boy now so he needs big cars.

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom and Ivo strike a pose worthy of G.Q. magazine. Look at his far-away adventure look that says, “somewhere … there’s a mountain for me to climb. And … on that mountain … is something of Dad’s … something I can break when he’s not looking …”

The menu is standard, comprehensive, but no blueberry pancakes. Our waitress, of whom we don’t have a photograph, was outstanding. Super-cheerful and understood how kids operate.

We had coffee and clinked the mugs, as is the ritual in our tribe.

Inside Riviera Cafe is clean and open. That’s an ATM on the right, which is necessary since they’re a cash-only operation. I like cash-only places. They exist just off the grid and will be the last hold outs when the world slips into Gibsonish technical dystopia.

Ivo made the rounds of people to sit with. After me, I passed him to the next table over and he went around the room like a beach ball at a Jimmy Buffet concert.

This photograph has nothing to do with breakfast. I just think my wife is pretty.

Here’s breakfast! You’ll notice right away, because you’re reading this and you probably are already familiar with our routine, that there’s what appears to be a whole can of corned beef hash on the table. This was an impulse purchase. Honestly, I really like hash but just not a lot of it. And I figured I’d introduce it to the boys. Both of whom turned their noses right up at it. Mom saying, “it looks like dog food” (say that in a mocking, nasally tone) didn’t help. More hash for me, fellas!

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom had the French toast. Whenever I have French toast I say in a gravelly, sultry voice, “oh la la, cest bon, oui? Heh heh heh.” When she has it she says, “pass the syrup.” This is why we’ve been together for so long, because I know not to get the French toast.

Ivo had some pancakes and eggs. You can tell Mom’s on the scene by the way she’s setting him up. She forgets that we’re well-practiced at all this. It’s our ding, eh. (Say in a Jersey Shore voice)

This photograph doesn’t tell the whole story. If you look very closely at Marek’s eggs, you’ll see that he just finished dumping a quart of syrup on them. He ate them, cheerfully, and completely bypassed the pancake. Ick, says I to he and thee. Ick.

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom and I took some moments to goof while Marek and Ivo took some moments to destroy something valuable they found in Mom’s purse.

The bill came. 22 clams for three full breakfasts, including a plate of hash. That’s a fair price for a good meal.

The brothers took on the perilous mission. That’s teamwork! Sing along with me: What’s gonna work? Teeeeeem work! Also note Ivo’s shirt. Clever, no? This was Marek’s shirt. Here’s a picture of Marek in that same shirt, on the Think Geek web site where I bought it.

They paid, they got pops! It’s a good life, being a kid. No one ever offers me a lollipop when I’m alone. I’m actually known for creeping people out. They always say hi to the kids when I’m out with them, and I always say, “If I were here alone you’d have ignored me. You should say hi to me, too.” And I look sad and move closer to them. And people seem to walk away quickly. It’s a fun game!

Can you believe I took spousal abuse for allowing this to happen after breakfast? Everyone knows it’s a Tampa Bay Breakfasts tradition!

The Riveria Cafe as a good experience. The food was just what you expect for breakfast. The coffee never ran dry. Nice, neighborhood place with good value for the dollar. I’d say this was a 3.5 on the breakfast scale, with a half-pancake bump for our waitress, whose name I now have misplaced, who was really excellent. We are pleased to rank Riviera Cafe with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

After breakfast, we dropped mom off and we went to the MD Oriental Market on Fowler.

This is a great place to go if you like to look at crabs.

Though, truth be told, this is the cheapest place in town to buy goji berries. Half the price for twice the quantity of our usual health food store.

And Marek always comes here for Hello Kitty snacks.

Just a normal day for the Tampa Bay Breakfast crew!