Category Archives: Breakfasts

Breakfasts

The Pink Flamingo

This might be our last breakfast of 2011. We’re cruising with Marek…

And also Ivo. I’m always impressed that everyone fits in my little car.

It’s a dreary day here in Tampa. The sky is heavy. The air is cold. And we’re hungry for breakfast. Heading to Davis Island this morning to meet our old friend Loren and to re-visit The Pink Flamingo.

The Pink Flamingo is at 304 E Davis Blvd on Davis Island. We last visited in May 2010 and before that in June 2009. We’ve always enjoyed the food, kitschy/funky decor, and the fact that we can bring the family hound-dog and sit outside when the weather’s fine.

We met our TBB friend Loren this morning. If you run into Loren around town, you can say, hey man, aren’t you one of those Tampa Bay Breakfasts celebrity guests?

Loren brought finger-birds. It’s not what it sounds like. Fun finger puppets! Also notice that I’m wearing my only Christmas shirt. It’s an amazing bit of trivia being reported by People Magazine that I also wore this same shirt back in 2009 when we visited the Grecian Island, also on Davis Island.

Marek’s new thing is hot chocolate. Ivo’s new thing is trying to get his fingers in Marek’s hot chocolate. Check out Marek’s defensive maneuver. That appears to be a Jiu Jitsu wrist lock.

Can you guess what Marek’s saying here?

That’s right, he’s saying, “Hey Loren, zip that car back over to me!” I’m betting that there aren’t a lot of pictures on the Internet of Loren playing Hot Wheels cars. Once again, Tampa Bay Breakfasts has the scoop on the Bay Area social scene.

Breakfast arrived just in time, before the little cars started really flying and we got tossed out of the place. Bacon and eggs for Marek, pancakes for me and Ivo.

This is Loren and breakfast. If he looks all serious-like, it’s because he’s saying something about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Tampa Bay is the best region in Florida, and so clearly Tampa Bay Breakfasts is the most important and best web site in the world that focuses on breakfast in the Tampa Bay area.

While I’m listening politely, Sneaky Ivo slithers right in to gouge my pancakes. This kid is like a Breakfast Ninja.

And then, while I’m protecting my breakfast, Marek shows up on Loren’s side. This is nuts! I can’t keep up!

When the bill came it wasn’t bad news. For three whole breakfasts it ran a bit over $20. That’s well within the TBB budget!

Marek and Ivo paid the bill together. This is sort of a first, at least in that they both did it willingly as a team.

This scene caused the whole dining room to stop and collectively go, “awwwwwwww.” Big brother with money in one hand, little brother in tow in the other hand. It could also be that he started out with two little brothers and just completed sale of the one and on his way to sell the other, but everyone just assumed they were paying the bill together.

Which is, of course, exactly what they did. (Notice the lady giving me a good eyeballing, to make sure I’m actually paying attention to the boys.)

Here’s the winning point on the Flamingo. They appear to have pulled a booth out and made a kids’ play area. Bunch-o-toys back there and room for a handful of kids. Still the deafening sound of raucous joy, but surely was nice to let the boys just chill out there instead of turning our table upsidedown.

And then they bring me the toys that they want to take home with them. Thanks, kids! We’ll never be welcomed back.

The boys and Loren all seemed to have a swell time. Good breakfast, good coffee that never ran dry, great company, and a play area. What’s not to love?

We’re pleased to revalidate the Pink Flamingo as a four and a half pancake Tampa Bay Breakfast.

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After breakfast, we went to the Ybor Saturday Market. Where Marek promptly got into a gun fight with the Creative Loafing girl.

Marek, despite being out-gunned and 1/3 as tall, ended up with the upper-hand. Don’t mess with Marek.

Then we went shopping at the Oceanic Market. The kids could each pick out one thing for lunch. Ivo went with the radishes.

Marek chose a durian. You know you wish you were at OUR house for lunch, don’t you?

Just a normal Andy, Marek, and Ivo day.

The Golden Bear

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We visited The Golden Bear at 12540 Starkey Rd in Largo on 13 November 2011. They have a nice web site at http://www.goldenbearrestaurantlargo.com/. TBB Fan Melanie recommended this one to us over a year ago. It took us that long to get here.

In the same complex there’s a Krav Maga school. When you see the words Krav Maga, do you also think about The Simpsons? Also in Italian.

The menu is full of Bear cuteness.

Marek, my budding photographer buddy, took this shot. Me and Ivo, we’re quite a pair.

Here’s a really high point for the Golden Bear. I noticed this fork was less-than-clean. I didn’t get a chance to say anything about it. While I was goofing with the boys our excellent waitress noticed it and swapped it out without anyone noticing. Really nicely done.

The coffee at the Golden Bear is just right.

I like to live on the edge with Ivo. No high chair. No booster seat. Just him, me, and lots of goofing.

Marek had the breakfast of choice for 2011, the bacon and scrambled eggs.

It took a promise of a thousand dollars and a pony, but Marek gave Ivo a piece of bacon.

These are some nice, tall pancakes. See that little chunk missing out of the middle one. That’s Ivo taking a tax off the top before the plate even hit the table.

We split up a pancake with Marek.

And split it up with Ivo.

We sat right under this bear mural. The whole place is about bears.

Everyone ate their fill. This was a good breakfast all around.

The bill wasn’t bad. Added up to around 14 clams.

Marek paid the bill. Ivo’s not on board with this yet, but we’ll train him up.

Look at all the bears. Like I said, the Golden Bear is all about bears.

Marek got a lollipop for his trouble.

On the way out we stopped to pose by this bear. It’s all bears here.

This was a really fine experience. Great food, great service. Eccentric bears everywhere. Krav Maga for a neighbor. This is a fine breakfast. We’re pleased to award the Golden Bear a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

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The St. Pete Diner

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We’re spinning Mudcrutch this fine Fall morning.

Pink taxi in Tampa. Take THAT, Dayton, Ohio!

Marek is set up in back and looks like a teenager, almost. It’s frightening.

We visited The St. Pete Diner at 1101 34th street N in St. Pete on 6 November 2011. TBB Fan Mike R in Vermont told us about the St. Pete Diner and the great times he had here years ago. Thanks, Mike!

It’s just me and Marek. We’re sitting at the counter.

The Diner has been here for years and years, and you can tell. I mean that in the good way.

Everything a growing boy needs, right here on one page. Of course, we don’t bother with “children’s breakfasts” anymore.

Me ‘n’ Marek, we’re like peas and carrots. Now, anyway. In about 12 years he’ll have all the answers and I’ll be yesterday’s news. I’ll also be pretty old and may have lost some of my street cred by then.

Pretty good coffee here at the Diner. Just like you’d expect, hot and black, and it kept on coming.

We brought a book today. Florida’s Fabulous Spiders. One of our favorites for bedtime reading. Seriously, would I spin a tale on something like that?

Every man has a “trick” he can do. Some can pull a quarter out of your ear. My grandfather could put his hands together so it looked like his thumb could slide off. Me? I can do this.

Here’s breakfast at the counter. This was so much fun. Marek enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, the ladies behind the counter enjoyed it. Those are some whopper pancakes.

Really, these pancakes were delish. Apparently they don’t always have blueberries but they did today! Note the Boston Red Sox 350Z car in the background. That car belongs to Uncle Jim, but Marek is allowed to play with it.

This is what it looks like when world-class Breakfast Pros are at work. Bacon. Eggs. Pancakes. Coffee. It’s a tough job, but we can handle it.

Do those little cherub thingies look like they’re structural supports of some kind? If so, I’m not entirely comfortable.

This nice lady came by to play cars. We enjoyed her company.

The damages at the end, under twelve bucks for two full breakfasts. That’s pretty good. Plus, we felt well taken-care-of.

Out on the tarmac, there’s a line of Mustangs. Coincidence?

And then this car in the parking lot with the t-rex hanging out the back.

This was a great breakfast. We had good chow in a locals diner for a fair price, and the coffee never went dry. That’s a good way to start the day. We’re pleased to present The St. Pete Diner with a four and a half pancake rating.

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The Four Coins

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This trio is ready for action. Breakfast Action.

It’s a gloomy day in Tampa, this Halloween Eve.

Marek isn’t so much a young photog as a 4-year-old master of my smartphone. I’m equal parts amazed and annoyed that he can, for example, take this picture of me driving, despite the fact that I don’t think I ever actually showed him how to do it.

And he’s having even more fun. Here’s Marek’s first self-portrait. Oh golly, the poor kid looks just like me in this one.

We visited the Four Coins restaurant at 2700 34th Street North on 30 October 2011.

Marek is a Breakfast Team Leader, first at the door. You can see the reflection of Ivo in the window. Ivo is HONGREE. (Which is our way of saying “hungry” with a lot of North-Central-Florida inflection.)

A not-extensive but certainly not-lacking menu. Odd font on this one. At first I thought they used a printer with a fouled print head, then I realized that it’s just a fancy font. It’s readable, but did give me a moment’s pause. Probably because I’m odd enough to actually think about the concept of “font.” I’m the kind of guy who has a preference for serif vs. sans-serif (I like my fonts to have serifs, thank you very much), which means that Marek is probably NOT going to EVER introduce his girlfriends to me when he gets older.

Remember when Marek wasn’t so grown-up? Believe me, he reminds me all the time that he’s not. But sometimes it’s like he’s all done being a kid.

Here’s Marek’s new thing: Hot chocolate. No more coffee for him, no sir. (This is his mother’s influence, obviously)

Is it just me, or am I starting to resemble the professor from Back to the Future?

Our traditional coffee cheers-toast.

You may find this odd, but there’s a shoe in the middle of the floor. Equally odd, Ivo is only wearing one shoe. Marek is reconciling these two odd facts and retrieving what appears to be Ivo’s shoe. How it got there … remains a mystery.

Marek is carrying around HIS new Al Udeid travel coffee cup. Until two hours ago, this was MY new Al Udeid travel coffee cup. So it is with being a parent, yes? I guess I’ll just go travel another 7,000 miles just to get myself my own since he took this one. sigh

This spot right here … this is where we tickle Ivo. As you can see by the look on his face, that is not his favorite spot right now.

Here’s a bodacious breakfast. I went with the Greek omelet. Though I really do wonder if Greeks in, say, Thessaloniki, actually eat like this.

Does Ivo look uninspired by what’s in front of him? Don’t worry, it will end up on the floor soon enough.

Marek’s got himself a plate-o-eggs. It’s funny how now he gets flat-out excited about eggs.

Marek’s new game is eating bugs and rats and worms. He’ll hold up a fork of eggs and say dad, do you think I should eat these WORMS?! And I, as the Responsible Adult, reply, “yes.”

Ivo’s never happier than when he’s got food. Now whether that food goes down the hatch or over the fence is up to him.

Ivo’s one year old and he’s got the fine-motor-skills to use a fork to yoink my breakfast. Would you believe that his daycare sent home a note this week saying he needs to “work on his fine motor skills?”

The three of us finished up breakfast and started in on the goofing. It’s not really fair for Ivo. Since he doesn’t talk yet, it’s hard to tell if he’s having fun or getting freaked out by being over-tickled.

We had a pretty big breakfast. Fourteen clams for two big breakfasts isn’t bad. Not great, but not bad.

Marek stepped right up to get the bill sorted out.

Note the life-sized Elvis against the back wall. You know that there’s only two sizes for Elvis: life-sized and larger-than-life-sized.

Both Marek and Ivo got treats from the nice lady behind the counter. Marek’s new thing with these pops is to open it in the car, and then hand it to me while I’m driving with an “I’m all done, dad.” Like what am I supposed to do with it?

Betty Boop is guarding this door. Life-sized. She’s tall, really thin, and has a gargantuan head. As a cartoon, she’s cute. As a real-life mannequin she’s disturbing. And Marek talked on and on about “Betty Boob.”

Behind the Four Coins restaurant is this duck pond. Emergency egg supply!

These long-haul breakfasts really knock Ivo out. It’s about 45 minutes from our Breakfast HQ to the Four Coins.

It’s a long enough drive that the Breakfast Mobile started acting up. I didn’t know the vehicle had that many lights on the dash.

We had a pretty good morning at the Four Coins. Our waiter was really nice, and also he was Albanian. The Four Coins is a clean, well-lit, friendly place, and the food is done right. We’re pleased to give the Four Coins a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

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Breakfast for Supper

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It’s suppertime. Mom’s not home tonight. I ask Marek, what do you want for supper? And so …

We had breakfast for supper at home on 26 October 2011.

Can you guess? That’s right, bacon and scrambled eggs.

So here we are having supper, Marek with his bacon and eggs.

Ivo with his bacon and eggs and raw toast.

And me with my bacon and eggs and toast. Is this a crazy supper or what? Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom won’t even know what she missed!

Marek thought this was a great breakfast-for-supper.

Ivo, on the other hand, made some editorial comments about my cooking.

Ninja Eggs! Hiyah!

For the record, Ivo did this all by himself. Like any good Breakfast Journalist, I just recorded and reported the facts.

Eggs 1, Ivo 0. But who’s keeping score?

Faithful family hound, guarding the floor against ninja eggs and other wayward edibles and potential-edibles. Now you’re wondering how Ivo’s shoe got off, aren’t you?

Clean plates all around. Dare I say … “compliments to the chef!” I had the Island of Sodor plate. Creepy place, that Sodor.

The value of this picture is largely because in 10 years I’ll be able to say, “look, Marek, when you were FOUR you could clear the table. Why can’t you do it when you’re fourteen?”

Of course, we won’t give this breakfast a real rating. We just did it because we’d missed so many breakfasts in the last couple months that we wanted to do a fun one. (Though everyone knows that dad’s crazy supper cooking is always a five-pancake-rating barrel of laughs, and usually involves the beer you may have noticed on the very first picture from this review.)

Nicko’s Restaurant

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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.

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

Egg Platter

Ric’s Kountry Kitchen

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I visited Ric’s in Manama on 3 October. I visited Ric’s in Doha a few years back, too. Ric has a nice web page, with a few broken links, here: http://www.ricskountrykitchen.com/

Ric’s is just a cricket field away from the Grand Mosque. Points for location.

Nice entrance. Very rustic.

The menu has the whole story on how Ric’s got started. Oddly enough, this story is not on the web page. And sadly enough, my phone camera was shaky when I took the picture.

A respectable breakfast offering here. With blueberry pancakes!

Makes me wish that I had room for pie.

After The Dome’s Emir-grade coffee yesterday, Ric’s coffee is sort of, well, lusterless. But it comes with refills, the way a good American diner should handle coffee, so we’ll call it even.

International Mississippi syrup ingredients. I’m not entirely comforted by this label.

There’s a big Kountry theme in Ric’s Kountry Kitchen. Including this portrait of John Wayne.

And these chaps.

Inside is faux rustic and very cowboy. Just what you need when you’ve had your fill of sand and camels and need to get back to the familiar. If your familiar is Out West. Or a movie set.

Mary Ann Rowell painted these walls in 2002. Google offers no insight on Ms. Rowell.

Here’s me. No Marek. No Ivo. This is no fun at all without them.

Blueberry Pancakes! That’ll take the edge off of any problem. It’s not just that the pancakes have blueberries in them, but they’re actually blue, too. I’m going to decide to like it that way.

It’s hard to tell if these pancakes are better than The Dome’s pancakes, but they’re certainly good, and different.

I’m sitting by the window. There’s a little courtyard. In the courtyard is a bunny.

Seriously. Look at the picture.

Let’s hope breakfast fits on a fiver, ’cause that’s all I’ve got!

It’s interesting that you flip the bill and it’s in English. Unlike the U.S. dollar these days, where when you flip the bill it has negative numbers and the sound of bankers laughing at you.

Walking out the door, you see this nice and friendly sign. With ridiculous graffiti. “See you later nerd.” Seriously? That’s the best you could come up with?

I left just in time to catch a cricket match! The guy in black in the dead-center of the group is in mid-bowl of the ball. Given my non-professional phone camera, I’m sort of impressed that I caught him in the act.

I love cricket. It’s as boring and nonsensical as American baseball, but only more so because it’s foreign. I watched cricket on BBC Asia for almost a year in the BMC days (that’s before married and children) and finally figured out the rules. And promptly forgot them when I got home and got married. Love’s like that.

This was a good breakfast. Cricket. The Grand Mosque. Blue pancakes with blueberries. A bunny. Lonely, though. Next breakfast will be with Marek and Ivo. That’s not Ric’s fault, though. Given the location, you’ve got to give Ric’s a lot of credit for making a real expat oasis. I’m pleased to give Ric’s Kountry Kitchen a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

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The Dome Cafe

Mamas Family Restaurant

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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.

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