We were going to go to this Boston Grill up on Fletcher. It’s apparently closed on Sundays. It always pays to do your Breakfast Homework before you go.

We re-visited Nicko’s at 4603 N Florida Ave on 24 October 2011. We’ve been to Nicko’s many times over the years. It hasn’t changed, probably for 40 years. Just the way we like it.

Nicko’s is in an authentic O’Mahony’s diner. Check out Inkwatu’s great write-up, which talks about diner lore and Nicko’s: http://inkwatu.com/2009/07/25/nickos/.

We’re sitting in the corner booth. The nice lady in the background is sitting in our favorite spot, The Elvis Booth. We thought about joining her, but we didn’t want to impose.

It’s me and Ivo on this side.

Ivo is in charge of the menu. And he’s got a knife, so watch out, everybody. I’d hand over my wallet, but I’ll pretty much be doing that for the rest of my life anyway.

Another perfect cuppa joe from Nicko’s. It’s all that bold, black, bitter, bottomless we know and love.

While Marek and I were busy discussing coffee (he actually likes those flavored coffees, like hazelnut winter squash blueberry delight coffee), Ivo spent his time pouring salt onto a spoon and eating it.

I might be kidding. How would you know, what with all the tomfoolery we’ve dished out over the years?

Marek and I came to an agreement. In order to fairly approach the Greek debt crisis, we’d dissolve the Euro-zone and the E.U. and also NATO. What? Don’t look at me, it was HIS idea. Cheers!

We got the 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 eggs to split for the three of us. That’s pretty crafty, isn’t it. Our skilled waitress figured out what we were doing and did all this hookup just for us.

Ivo, he doesn’t know what to make of this one. That pancake is talking to him. Probably saying something like “make a diversion and we can both get out of here alive!”

Self portrait. There was a time when I would have not been able to reconcile the presence of a “mickey” pancake and a little shoe in my life. Of course, now I order mickey pancakes when I’m by myself, and I carry a sack of little shoes with me so I can throw them around and trip on them.

Marek made the bacon disappear like some sort of magic act. Next up, scrambled eggs.

Watching Ivo use a fork is mesmerizing. It’s like watching pseudo-sumo wrestling.

Marek paid the bill.

I just love the dining room here. Makes me feel nostalgic for a time I never knew. There’s little Marek, negotiating payment. He seems so small and yet confident in this role. Which is in contrast to his new thing at home, saying he can’t put on his shoes because he’s a scardycat.

This is our outstanding waitress Candice. We were very impressed! She took excellent care of us.

And away we go, off to terrorize some other part of Tampa.

As usual, this was a great breakfast at Nicko’s. One of our most consistent favorites in the bay area. We gave Nicko’s a 4.5 rating two years ago, but let’s be honest, we were being stingy when we got started. Nicko’s has everything we look for: Really good, consistently good, breakfast at a very reasonable price (about $11 this time around). Really friendly people with lots of regulars being asked if they want “the usual.” And a lot of history and unique bits that keep us coming back to find out more and more. The ONLY thing that Nicko’s doesn’t have is blueberry pancakes, but we’ve decided that’s no longer a point deduction in our ratings. We’re pleased to award Nicko’s with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Five Pancake Rating.

Hey Ed in Ocala, here’s another one. 1995. $12.5k. Every few months this lot has another one of these.

We’ve been to Mama’s so many times. Mama’s was our first ever review, back in early 2009. But this is the first time we’ve been by bicycle, ridden on 21 August 2011.

On the way, we stopped to look at these neat motorcycles.

Then we found this areal survey target. That’s really neat. There’s a lot of things I’ve never seen before, and this is one of them.

And here we are, front-door parking!

It’s just me and Ivo, as you’ve probably figured out since we’re on the bike. We had a good laugh, Ivo and me, about how we have these here car keys, but no car. Hahahahahahaa! That’s funny!

Now, I’m not going to lie to you. Ivo already had breakfast before we left the house. But that never stopped him from wanting to just “have a look at the menu.”

Of course, this waiting for breakfast thing gets old. So Ivo started eating the menu.

Seriously, just gnawing down on it like it’s made of pancake or something.

Have to wash that down with some water. Now you, faithful reader, may have noticed that Ivo usually has a bottle. Or at least a sippy-cup. Not today. In the finest of guerrilla-dad traditions, I brought him without any change of diaper or clothes, no toys. no food, no sippy cup, no bottle, no baby-anything.

So have a drink of water, kid. Let’s see where this goes.

Still learning this one.

But we’ve got this one working pretty good.

This is a simple breakfast for us at Tampa Bay Breakfasts. But it’s just me and Ivo, and like I said, he’s already ate.

Not that you’d notice by how he’s teaching this pancake a lesson.

Ivo’s thing now is to give you things and then let you give it back to him. Hours of fun. It even works with a wad of pancake he takes out of his mouth.

This game is fun, but it’s the intensity on his face that I love most. Fun AND important.

And we all know that little boys need a coffee in the morning. Ivo’s already looking for the go-juice.

Here’s Vicky. We love Vicky. She is our favorite waitress in all of Tampa Bay.

Here’s Vicky with Marek back in 2009.

Loaded up and ready to head home. I love the parking here.

On the way home, we ran into this neat old Dodge. Not literally, just as we passed it by on the sidewalk.

We live a few miles from Mamas. A full belly and a long, soothing ride makes a boy sleepy. If you’re a little impressed that Ivo’s sleeping on the bike, you should be even more impressed that I took this picture while pedaling. I’m still not sure how I managed it.

It’s another five pancake rating for Mamas’ on Florida. Really, it’s a 4 or 4.5 pancake place, but Vicky gets a full pancake point all her own. Go get some breakfast, and tell ’em Andy and Ivo sent you! And Marek, too, of course.

We re-visted the Samaria Cafe at 502 Tampa Avenue on 9 December 2010. This is our second visit to the Samaria and our last official breakfast of 2010. What a year it’s been!

Downtown Tampa has a new parking system. Not only can you pay with cash, but you can use credit cards or just leave your infant as collateral.

The menu has been updated since our first visit. Now they have blueberry pancakes! That was our biggest gripe from last time, and here we are, influencing menus throughout Tampa Bay! We have yet to influence politics on the national scene (though we DID help Mr. Obama get elected and we’re proud of it, despite what that makes select family members think about us!), we are clearly the most influential Breakfast power brokers in town. Marek is the Mayor of the Morning Meal. (And Andy: Alliterative as always. Awesome!)

Ivo gets priority. He’s both the smallest and the loudest, so we take care of him first.

Me and Ivo had view of the television. Three Stooges were on. Some things never get old. Nyuk, nyuk.

We’re busy recycling all of Marek’s old toys through Ivo. We’ll be able to get away with this for a short window of time, so we’re making the best of it. Here’s one of my own all-time favorites, a little guy I call “Quantum Duck.” This is the kind of thing I imagine Steven Hawking’s kids growing up with.

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom joined us again! She had hot chocolate, which was a pure shock to everyone. Notice how Marek’s working with a paper cup? On our first visit he (or one of our party, there was never any actual court record) broke a coffee cup. Even though this was our only broken coffee cup in 18 months of Serious Breakfast Activities, the Samaria’s proprietress remembered and was somewhat against giving him a second one. We acquiesced.

One of my favorite things about the Samaria is the presentation. These plates are high style!

This is Marek’s “race track.” I know, you’re thinking, why is he racing the butter against the jelly? Well, he’s not doing that at all! He’s racing his cars along the top of the butter and jelly. Which makes me think that someone ought to invent that in real life.

Does this look like Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom is giving Tampa Bay Breakfasts Head Reviewer Marek a piece of her mind? And is Marek laughing at this?

That was a close one! Marek got saved by breakfast. Is there anything that a good breakfast CAN’T do?

The nice thing about having a guest reviewer is that there’s someone to take MY picture! And tell me, really, honestly, is there ANY situation that’s not made classier with the addition of flaming sleeves?

These are some really fine pancakes. The eggs were pretty good, too. The bacon never came, but it also wasn’t on the bill and we had more than enough chow, so we didn’t complain. But now we can’t tell you how good the bacon was. You’ll have to go there yourself and find out, then tell us!

This is my “magic dad” act. I’m also inflating bicycle tires with a foot pump under the table while doing this.

The bill at Samaria is higher than average for the area. Not saying it’s not worth it, just that you need to make sure you’ve got Uncle Jackson with you if you go.

Marek jumped right on his job and delivered the cash to the till.

The chow remains great here at the Samaria Cafe. And we were remembered, which always impresses us. The price is OK, the atmosphere is maybe a little more polished than is our own taste (we’re greasy-spoon dive-diner guys, after all), but all told it’s a great breakfast. We’re pleased to confirm the Samaria Cafe’s four and a half pancake rating.

P.S. So how DO you get a coveted, rare, super-duper Five-Pancake rating? In general, the ratings run like this: Under 3, we didn’t like it. 3 means it was fine. 3.5 means we liked it but given the sheer number of breakfasts we try to do in a year, we’re probably not going to make it back ever again. 4 means we liked it enough to come back. 4.5 means we really, really liked it in every way. 5 means all that, plus we got surprised somehow. There’s something about the place that is so completely unique that we just find ourselves talking about it all week. So a place like Samaria is really an excellent restaurant and we don’t have a single complaint about it, but we weren’t surprised with an actual Greek dancing crew coming through doing the Tsamiko, yelling “Ha! Ha! Ha!” while everyone gets Ouzo.

We visited Athens at 226 Main Street on 9 October 2010. This was our first visit to Athens and our second review in a row in Safety Harbor. We’re practically locals on that side of the bay. Marek’s been such a good boy lately. He’s been picking up his toys, feeding the dog, voting Libertarian, and all around being a model citizen.

So I let him drive.

When Marek heard we were going to Athens, he thought we were going to Greece. He packed a bag. No kidding. He has his piggy bank in there, because he figured he could help out.

Also, Ivo came along for the ride. I say that like somehow he conveyed to us in writing, or perhaps song, that he really enjoyed our breakfast project, but the reality is, he’s two months old and he doesn’t say a thing. It’s all cry, cry, eat, eat, puke, poop, sleep, cry with Ivo.

Pictured here: Ivo crying.

While we were parking we saw this hot little number go by. Look at those curves! I love the way she moves. Exotic, a little bit older but very sexy in a European way. That red coat really looks great on her, too. Mmmmm, if I wasn’t already married to a Celica I might ask for her VIN number.

Athens is a nice little diner on Main Street. There’s a bowl of water out front, that equally services dogs and three year olds who frequently channel their inner dog-spirit. That water sure is delicious. Marek would know.

Inside is warm and cozy, and includes little feet in the picture. Not to be confused with Little Feat, whom we did not see today.

The Menu. It has all the right stuff in it. And, if the cover may be judged, it was written by Nikos himself. Also, did you ever get the feeling that Lightning McQueen shares some styling points with the Opel GT?

Did you ever think that you’d find a reference to breakfast, Kazantzakis, Lightning McQueen, and the Opel GT in the same thought? Neither did I. Tampa Bay Breakfasts is like a summer-school humanities class if it were taught by your shop instructor so he could pick up some extra cash to buy a pallet of Papst when it goes on sale at the Food Ranch.

All three of us had coffee. This was good, diner dank black brew, just the way we like it. Obviously, Ivo’s coffee-to-leche mixture is weighted towards the leche end of the spectrum.

This is how we do it. (And you thought TBB was all about heavy metal and arthouse music!)

And here comes breakfast! We had some pancakes and some bacon. No eggs, though, as they weren’t part of the special and, frankly, we all started out a little gassy anyway.

The pancakes were really top-notch, as we were told by some of our fellow patrons as we first sat down. The bacon was nicely done and met with Marek’s approval. And, of course, everything is better with syrup.

Sitting under this mural felt perilous. As in, I was perilously close to jumping up to dance the Hasapiko! If I’d had just one more ouzo it would have been dancing time!

The bill came and we were very pleased. Mr. Hamilton, finally, got to see some action. It’s been all Jackons lately for us.

Marek stood up to the challenge. One day, perhaps next week, he’s going to pocket the cash and run right out the door.

And he got lost and ran around like crazy and caused a generally high level of chaos. I’m always surprised he doesn’t just start schlepping coffee around to the customers.

Our pleasant hosts reigned him in and brought him back down to earth. With change, no less.

Marek took this picture while I was strapping Ivo into the ejection seat. Err, car seat.

This dog doesn’t talk. I wonder where this was? If Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom reads this review before her birthday, it might ruin the surprise on what her present is.

We had a great time at Athens. The chow was just right, the people were friendly, and the price was center-target. We’re pleased to award Athens a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

We re-visited Mom’s Place on 29 May 2010. Our last official visit was way back in June 2009. We haven’t met Mom yet to tell her we like her place, but we do like Mom’s Place.

The front door tells you Mom’s is a support-the-troops place. As a former guy-in-uniform, this is always something nice to see. Sometimes I get asked if I’m still in the service. I always reply yes, yes I am, but standards have reallllly been lowered lately.

Inside is the definition of home-town, mom-n-pop diner comfort. This is a place where people come to feel good and eat good, too. And with the open kitchen back there, there’s no spitting in the grits here, either.

Here’s something we’ve never, ever, not in all the Tampa Bay Breakfasts of all time, ever done. Race cars.

People have been stopping us on the street and asking questions. They say, Marek seems to be all about the race cars, but what does he really know about racing? It turns out, quite a bit. He’s a regular at the Sunshine Drag Strip.

Mom’s menu is full of “international omelets” that will take 30 minutes to sort through. Lucky for us, we know what we want. Betcha can’t guess … pancakes! (Oh, and also some bacon.)

A place like Mom’s, you’re almost guaranteed to get good go-juice. Marek likes his bold, bitter, black, and burning-hot.

And so do I.

I try to educate Marek about the truly important things in life. As our TBB fans know, we talk about literature, politics, military issues, family, good food, racing, foreign policy. But lately I’ve been feeling that there’s a real void. Marek is growing up not knowing anything about Chuck Norris. I started out with a Google Search.

Marek’s going to have a little brother. So I used this opportunity to teach him about the C-Section. The “C-section” is named after Chuck Norris, for when he roundhouse kicked himself through his mother’s stomach when he was born.

Just as we were getting deep into Chuck Lore, some pancakes arrived. Here’s a good spread. Great eggs, magical disappearing bacon, and some good, solid, all-American pancakes.

A new thing for us is Marek as syrup-handler. He’s got it goin’ on with that action.

When we were done we looked at the bill. We’ve been pretty consistently hitting the $11 mark for breakfast these days. Not bad for two growing boys (Marek’s growing in the upward direction, but not me).

When we paid the bill, Marek took a moment to do what he does best these days. You guessed it, running amok.

Then this lovely lady says she has some lolllllleeee pops.

As you can see here, I got one too. Marek took two and handed one to me, “this one’s for you, dad.” Seriously, that’s what he said. In 6 more months it will be followed by, “and can I have some money,” but for now it’s just the sweetest thing ever.

We discussed Mom’s Place on the way home. Good, solid chow here. Eggs, bacon, pancakes. Never saw the bottom of the coffee cups. Nice folks. Full of locals and regulars. Mom’s is just Our Kinda Place.

Last time we were here we gave Mom’s a 3.5 rating because the pancakes weren’t so great. But this time around we had a very fine experience. We’re going to bump Mom’s up to a very respectable Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.