We visited Pot Bellies Family Restaurant at 3826 South Himes Avenue on 11 September 2010. This was our first visit, and we found it through the scientific method known in academia as “just drivin’ ’round.”

Inside we found a very bustly place full of pigs. Not the customers or staff, but rather the decor. Pigs everywhere, just like at Skyway Jacks. The wallpaper? Pigs. Those little shelves on the wall on the right? Pigs. Pigs at the front door, pigs on the menu. Pigs!

When we found a seat we immediately started goofin’.

Here’s the menu. Now I’ll share a little secret with you, dear reader. This menu and things like this sort of freak me out. Here’s a pig. He’s presumably cooking pork there in the cooker. He’s quite pleased with himself, and he’s happy to be cooking another pig, perhaps sharing that pig with others and maybe having a little nip himself. It’s perverse to think that an animal would relish in cooking, eating, and sharing others of his own kind.

While we waited we played cars. Note the flying Mater.

We were very lucky today, as our favorite guest reviewer, Mom, joined us. Check out that serious look on her face, like piloting that VW GTSi is the Single Most Important Thing right now. Which it probably was, considering that Marek will run you down if you’re not on your game.

Even our newest TBB member, Ivo, got into the act. When you’re an infant, people just put things on your head. All you can do is endure it.

We had coffee and it was good. Black and bottomless, just the way we like it. Except for Favorite TBB Reviewer Mom, who has hot chocolate because she doesn’t like coffee. Her lone character flaw, in my opinion.

Ivo didn’t have coffee, but he was overrun by spiders. Breakfast spiders everywhere! Lucky for him, the Nephila clavipes is not poisonous.

Here comes breakfast! Mom had the French toast. She would like to report that she did not like it. It was cold and bland.

I offered Ivo the eggs but he wasn’t interested. I found the eggs to be pretty good, though not quite as dry as I usually like them, but good. The bacon was really great. Probably due to the pig fixation.

Marek had pancakes, natch. The pancakes were pretty small, but otherwise were about what you’d expect from a mom-n-pop pancake shop.

When the bill came we weren’t unhappy. Fifteen bucks for all four of us. Granted, Ivo didn’t eat much so he doesn’t really count. So we’ll say that the price, it was right.

Marek paid the bill. Ivo declined to assist. He’s only a month old, so we’ll let him slide this time.

Marek gained a lot of dining room attention for his ability to recognize the register and then wait patiently in line. Nice folks at the next table over were pointing and gesturing to each other with the “oh my goodness, look at that boy” talk. Afterwords I told them that Marek was actually a highly-trained professional.

And of course, when it was his turn he handled the transaction like a pro. Which he is, of course.

Chow was OK on average. Coffee was just the way we like it and had a good conveyor belt delivery. Price was right, folks were exceptionally friendly, and the joint was full of locals. All in all, a fine breakfast. We’re pleased to give Potbellies Family Restaurant a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Four Pancake Rating.

We re-visited the Pine Grove Family Restaurant at 9399 N Florida Ave on 5 September 2010. We’ve been here plenty of times, but not since our last official visit over a year ago.

If Pine Grove looks like it’s been here a while, that’s probably because it has. Based on the cars in the parking lot, it’s a little bit like stepping back in time a couple decades. That’s a good feature for a diner.

Here’s an exciting new model from 1972. I know that sounds a little like I’m making fun, but I always liked a Dodge, and 1972 was a good year for the 318 v8. Not that this Dart is running a v8, I’m just sayin’, a 72 Dodge is a quality vehicle. This’d make a fine stock car, if it weren’t already so pretty.

Pine Grove has a new menu since last we were here. It’s probably the same old menu, but newly printed. We don’t seem to have a picture of the old menu from last year.

I dressed for breakfast. Because yes, I WOULD eat them in the rain, and I WOULD eat them on a train. And on a boat. But NOT with a goat, Marek I Am.

MAREK! Oh My Hat, what’s THAT next to you?

Holy Moly, Dad! WOW, I can’t believe it!

It’s our new breakfast partner, Ivo! (For y’all who haven’t met him personal-like, hat’s EEEEEE-vo, not eye-vo).

Now we’ve got to get new business cards.

As is the custom in our growing breakfast tribe, we had coffee.

Ivo had coffee.

Actually, he didn’t. This photograph is completely posed, unlike all the other crazy things we do. Ivo would OBVIOUSLY need his coffee in a bottle. Duh.

Marek and I played cars. This monster tow-truck is currently known as “Mater,” despite the clear fact that it’s nothing like Mater at all. Ivo just slept. His time is coming.

Here’s breakfast! Marek did his Praying Mantis Kung Fu move and yoinked a bit of bacon before the plate was done spinning.

Now I’m not going to lie to you, these are NOT scrambled eggs. I could have asked to have it fixed, but with a three year old and an infant, plus reruns of Walker, Texas Ranger coming on in 15 minutes, we do not really have time to wait for replacement eggs. Sadly, I don’t really care for over easy eggs. This was a bit of a disappointment. Plus, even Marek didn’t really care for the bacon. The bit he yoinked in such dramatic fashion went uneaten.

The bill weighed in at about eight clams, which isn’t too bad for feeding three hungry boys.

You are seeing correctly, that is an empty coffee cup. A sad sight, indeed.

Marek paid the bill.

Can’t argue with baby feet.

Even with a new baby and a not-the-best-we-ever-did-have morning chow, I still managed to get a bit of love from Marek.

While the price is right and the place is full of our kind of regulars, we just didn’t really love the chow this morning. We give this visit to Pine Grove Family Restaurant a Tampa Bay Breakfasts three pancake rating.

When we were done with breakfast, we started out on an epic journey to show Ivo the ropes of Tampa. First we went to the park and played on the slide. Marek was impressed at how fast Ivo went down.

Then we went to La Tropicana for a jugo (para Marek) y cafe con leche (para mi). Que bueño!

We went to the Ybor Saturday market and bought a present for our favorite TBB Guest Reviewer, Mom. (Not pictured here: Mom, who is home sleeping)

We went to Tampa’s best bookstore, Inkwood Books, to get a birthday present for Baby Zach.

And we went to baby Zach’s birthday party and bounced and bounced and bounced.

All in a day’s work for Marek and Andy (and Ivo, too!)

We visited Munch’s Restaurant at 3920 6th Street South in St. Pete on 21 August 2010. This was our first visit to Munch’s, and we heard about this little gem via a recommendation on the Breakfast Hotline. Munch’s has a very groovy web page at http://www.munchburger.com/.

Right away we were struck with how perfect Munch’s is, in the diner-sense of the word “perfect.” Cozy booths, a great lunch counter. Obvious investment of a lot of time over the years making this a personal and warm place. A bit sublime, really, the atmosphere here.

After all that wistful, nostalgiac, philosophical thinking, we had to play cars.

After all that work, the cars fell asleep. This makes it a challenge to play with them, honestly. But I don’t make the rules here.

Notice anything different about Marek? Did you think that maybe he got new glasses? Or maybe that his old man (that’s me) sent his butt off to the Army …

… Where he got a regulation haircut. Oddly enough, he kept telling me it was my turn. Yeah, like THAT’s gonna happen.

He spent the whole ride home enjoying that fresh, fuzzy feeling on the back of his head. Now that’s a haircut you can set your watch to.

So now that the mystery is cleared up, let’s get back to breakfast. The menu has all kinds of healthy goodness in it, and a heaping pile of not-so-healthy-but-really-goodness too. Check out this little number on the back of the menu.

We debated the various merits, back and forth, on what to drink. After a lot of arguing, we settled on coffee, for a change.

While we waited for morning chow we noticed the walls covered with pictures from the local middle school. These pictures went back decades. Munch’s is truly a place with a deep root in this neighborhood. You just can’t franchise that.

When breakfast came we were both hungry and delighted in equal measures. We actually got two breakfasts rather our usual M.O. of splitting one. I like to say “M.O.” so that my writing gets a Mickey Spillane feeling to it. I’m like Mike “Breakfast” Hammer. Marek had some little pancakes and as much bacon as I’d let him have. It never seems to be enough.

I had the blueberry pancakes and the scrambled eggs. The eggs were quite nice and the blueberry pancakes were something special.

I was really enjoying all of this when I was rudely interrupted during breakfast by a series of phone calls. First, the ketchup starts ringing off the hook.

Then, as soon as I hung up, it was the syrup.

Finally, when the pepper rang I had to get rude and tell them to just stop calling.

Here’s the only flaw we found in our whole breakfast experience. That’s an empty coffee cup on the left. Stayed that way until we flagged down someone.

We’re going to give a free pass on the echoing cavern of the empty cup because when we went to wash up we were treated to this lovely larger-than-life Baywatch girl on the inside door of the men’s latrines.

The bill came. It was high by our usual standards, weighing in at 14 clams, but considering that we had two meals instead of our usual singleton, I think that’s OK. Oh, and that blue superbeetle with the intake stacks and derby numbers, it’s got a blown front axle and bad wheel bearings all around. It spent a few weeks in the bathtub and managed to find its way into the Pancakemobile and onto the breakfast circuit. Another mystery solved.

Marek paid the bill. Don’t you just love that haircut? He looks like a six-year-old, only half-as-tall.

He found the register and handled the transaction like a pro. Which, obviously, he is considering that he’s been doing this for half his life!

When we were leaving I saw this sign. I’m glad that Marek got that haircut and looks so old, otherwise they’d have auctioned his butt off at the next bake sale.

Munch’s being a restaurant AND a sundries place, we had to stop and buy a 15 cent pop on our way out the door.

This was one fine breakfast! We talked about it on the way out the door.

We talked about it while having a tootsie-pop.

We talked about it while we were listening to the brand new Android Lust album that I just got in the mail the day before.

We talked and talked and talked. And we decided that Munch’s is as close to a perfect diner as we’ve found. Great food, lots of locals, been-here-forever and it shows. Prices good, lots of interesting things to keep you coming back. Great food. Oh, and the food was great. I think we’re going to have to break down and pull out our five-pancake rating for the second time in as many months.

We’re pleased to award Munch’s Restaurant and Sundries with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Five Pancake Rating.

Today we’re giving Pinellas some breakfast love. It’s a long ride, so we cruised across the Gandy listening to our latest local-band find, Have Gun Will Travel. We <3 local music.

We visited The Busy Bee at 7345 49th Street North in Pinellas Park on 14 August 2010. This was our first visit to The Busy Bee, and we liked it as soon as we walked in the door.

Marek and I have always felt that a good diner should have an exposed kitchen. The guy with a Mohawk is just a bonus.

The menu is good, old-fashioned, quality breakfast chow. No big surprises here. Well, except for the “Assorted cold cereals with mild”. We can probably blame some left-brain/right-brain cross-talk there, since the ‘k’ and the ‘d’ are both the middle finger on the keyboard. At least it’s not “cereals with mold.” That would be terrible.

First thing we did was get coffee. This is good morning go-juice! Marek, for the second week in a row, put in our order. “I want pancakes. And dad wants eggs. And coffee. Thank you ma’am.” Kid knows what he wants, and he’s polite, too. Let’s see how long this lasts. I’m thinking until he’s 10, then it’s all down hill.

When was the last time you saw a Hebby Chebby slung that low? And what the foxtrot is that orange car? Some sort of futuristic jet-powered contraption, it seems. Probably a direct descendant of the early Chrysler turbine car. Check out the double-decker bus and the 1986 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck behind Marek’s coffee. Do you think a London bus and an ’86 Chevy pickup have ever been parked next to each other? Not until this moment, breakfast fans. As always, you can count on us for innovation in both the breakfast AND automotive departments.

When breakfast came we were ready. We had an appetite that you can only get from a morning of playing cars. Our first impression was, this is sort of a smallish breakfast. But it turned out to be just a smallish plate; we really did walk out of here with full bellies.

Marek actually gained an audience from several tables as he took care of the syrup.

As our loyal TBB readers may know, Marek can be picky sometimes. But he didn’t hold back from these hotcakes. It helps that I don’t let him eat for 24 hours before we do an official breakfast, just to be sure I can get a good picture of him eating something. Fashion models do the same thing.

Marek’s verdict? The Busy Bee is a knock-out breakfast!

The whole thing set us back under eight clams. NOW we’re talking good value. We’re not disparaging the more expensive places, but an $8 breakfast means we have something left over for the flea market. (That’s the “flohmarkt” for our German readers.)

After Marek woke from his pancake pause, he jumped up to pay the bill.

After wandering around for a while, he finally found someone to take his money. Everyone here treated him like he was their own grandkid. Not only was Marek the youngest kid in the dining area, but I think I was the second youngest.

Marek brought back change, and TWO lollipops!

We had a great visit to The Busy Bee. Great folks, everyone (but us, of course) were by-name regulars getting “the usual.” Really good chow: Eggs were delicious, bacon just right, and the pancakes were exactly what we had in mind. Black and bitter coffee. And lollipops at the end. It’s all good at The Busy Bee!

Thanks Busy Bee! See you next time!

We’re pleased to give The Busy Bee a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Four Pancake Rating.

With all the money we saved at breakfast, we were able to go to The Wagon Wheel!

We got to hold and pet a bird.

And we found this table of cars. 50 cents each, or three for a dollar! (We got three for a dollar, of course!)

Marek picked out two stock cars and I picked out the solar car because I’m a believer in the future of clean energy, and because I was completely impressed that Matchbox made a solar car. We love Matchbox.

Car seat and $1.95 Wal-mart children’s sunglasses?

Or military-grade ejection seat and wicked aviator glasses?

You, our dedicated reader, know Marek pretty well by now, so I think you already know the answer.

That’s right, car seat and two dollar kid’s shades. He’s only three, for cryin’ out loud. Plenty of time for him to be a pilot when he grows up. For now, all he needs is daddy-kisses and pancakes.

We went to Sub World at 10051 North Dale Mabry on 7 August 2010. This was our first visit to Sub World, and we would have never in a hundred years looked to a sub place for breakfast if Tampa Bay Breakfasts fan Brandt hadn’t recommended it.

Once we got in the door we were greeted with some friendly hellos. Customer-wise, folks seemed to be more tucked into breakfast than anything else; it was sort of quiet in the room at 0830. We, of course, broke the seal on that in a hurry.

I’m going to tell you a story that, for once, I’m not making up. Nice lady comes over to ask what we’d like. Marek turns to her and says, complete with waving hands and bugged out eyeballs, that he would like juice, and empty coffee cup, and his dad wants coffee with chocolate too, and we want pancakes.

Chocolate? Really, Marek? Don’t you ever read Tampa Bay Breakfasts?

Did we get our coffee based on his wild, ranting, slightly inaccurate order?

Yes. Yes we did.

Our truly dedicated readers, the ones that also read the tabloids and the speculative writers, the opinions and the fan sites about us, and there are hundreds (including one that suggests that Marek is actually Jennifer Anniston’s long-hoped-for baby), our truly dedicated readers know that all of our photographs are taken with the super-delux, professional-grade camera built into my little Nokia. Frankly, I’m amazed you can even tell the difference between Marek and pancakes with this sorry little phone cam. But regardless, for you, the TBB fan, we try to push the limits and really bring you as close to the breakfast edge as possible. So here’s a look at the Sub World’s coffee … from inside the cup! Now that’s ground-breaking breakfast-photo-journalism, seen here first!

Inside Sub World, you find folks who either know the secret that this sub shop serves breakfast or folks who are hoping to get a foot-long cheesesteak for breakfast. Two tables over from us we overheard an interesting conversation. “So, what is this face book thing everyone’s talking about?” “It’s this thing on the inner net where you tell people things about yourself.” .38 Special was playing on the radio in the background.

While we waited for some morning chow, I was given the duty of operating the fire department mobile command post vehicle. I pointed out to Marek that a mobile command post would probably be at least an SUV if not a full-blown rig. He told me that he was calling the shots here. It was his active flightline.

Active flightline, you say? Yes. Not only is it an active flightline, from what I could gather through local intel, this was a secret spy mission flightline somewhere in the Kyrgyzstan mountains. Why else would they be flying a decomissioned cold-war-era SR-71? (And if you follow that link, notice that it ends with “shtml”. I didn’t know ANYONE was using server-side-includes anymore. That’s so cutting-edge-web for 1996. (I still write HTML by hand, to the version 3 spec, so I’m actually excited that someone else is also stuck in the 90s. In Kyrgyzstan.))

The SR-71 is truly a lovely aircraft. This one has been tricked out with chrome exhaust ports. That’s definitely not in the maintenance TO. Another reason why I think this whole operation is under the radar. (Get it? Under the radar? For an airplane? I slay me.)

Sure enough, without following the established guidelines for aircraft maintenance you’re bound to get in trouble. This is why you should always have the United States Air Force involved. Do not try to operate your chromed-up, tricked out, end-of-life military aircraft without adult supervision, kids.

Luckily, the ejection seat from the start of this morning’s effort came in handy. No one was hurt.

Good thing for us hungry pilots, here’s breakfast!

Not bad, all around. Pancakes were just fine. Bacon was not Steve-Standard but was above average for our travels. Eggs were pretty good. Syrup came in a cute little jar.

We ate and we ate well. When the bill came we were a little surprised that we were set back almost 13 clams. This same breakfast usually costs us about 11, so we’re going to call this on the high side, price-wise. Must be a surcharge to support the pilot recovery from that crash we had earlier.

Marek offered to pay the bill. He is truly a Breakfast Scholar. Ph.D. of the Morning Meal.

Especially when the lad brings back the change. That’s the part I’m going to miss when he gets older.

At the end of the breakfast day, we had a pretty good morning chow. Folks were nice. Food was good. Price was high. We’re happy to give Sub World a Tampa Bay Breakfasts rating of three and a half pancakes.

After breakfast, Marek said, hey old man, let’s get that pretty girl of ours some flowers. So we pointed the Pancake Pontiac (it’s actually a Toyota) to Tampa’s Florist, our favorite flower shop.

Marek picked out the perfect flowers for mom. Part of what made them perfect was that he could reach them.

And he even delivers. For a nominal fee, of course.

For any readers who are intrepid enough to read to the very end, I want to assure you that Marek is a highly trained and qualified pilot. None of the stunts we perform for Tampa Bay Breakfasts are ever accomplished without a lot of preparation, training, and certification of skills.

Marek is pictured here with his actual SR-71 and his ground support team from the Kyrgyzstan mission. Note that the intake baffles are NOT chromed, thank you very much.

We got in the car to go have some breakfast. I figured we might have pancakes. Marek consulted the official Tampa Bay Breakfast to-do roster.

Based on Marek’s recommendation, we revisited The Three Coins on 4 July 2010. We’ve been to the Three Coins bunches of times and always love it. Our last official visit was 30 May 2009. It’s a busy life, being Tampa Bay’s Premier Pancake Posse. It takes a while for us to get back to some of our favorite places.

First thing you see when you walk up to the door is a memorial to the Tampa Police Department. We’ve had some tragedy at the TPD this week; the whole town, Tampa Bay Breakfasts included, is with the TPD. The Three Coins is always full of Tampa’s Finest. If the chow’s good enough for the cops, it’s good enough for us!

Inside is warm and cozy. This is a 24-hour operation, so you know they’ve got round-the-clock skills for making people comfortable. You find all types in the Three Coins, a healthy group of regulars and a crew of really friendly staff. It’s been over a year since we’ve been here, and it feels like just last week. That’s a good vibe for a breakfast joint.

The menu has everything you’d expect out of a quality diner. No real surprises here, like catfish or pig brains, just good, old-fashioned breakfast.

The following fact will no doubt shock and amaze our regular readers, but we had coffee. And it was Just Right, not too cold and not too hot, and it kept on comin’. Marek’s three now and a little hyper, so I’m considering switching him to decaf.

Today’s guest reviewer was Marsha. She’s the race marshal at Silverhatch Racetrack. This morning she’s helping up set up a race between a BMW 5 series, an old-timer firetruck, and a wicked 69 Impala. My money’s on the Hebby Chebby.

Watch out, Marsha! An enormous GodzillaMarek is behind you!

Marsha was saved by the bell. In this case, the Breakfast Bell. Lookit them pancakes, bubba!

Marek had all kinds of pancakes and bacon. The eggs were fabulous. The pancakes were better than I remember. The bacon was Marek-munchable, but Steve wouldn’t have liked it.

When the bill came, Marek jumped right up to the task.

He got the change, but no pop. Last year when we reviewed the Three Coins there were lollipops. Probably a sign of the economy and everyone cutting back.

So we spent about 11 dollars, which is the new standard price for breakfast if you look back through the last few months.

The food was really, really good. The people are very friendly. The coffee is hot, black, and always full. 24-hour mom-n-pop pancake shack full of cops and all sorts of interesting people. There’s nothing not to love about the Three Coins. It’s one of our favorite places in Tampa. Savvy Levy County readers may appreciate my “Our Pub” t-shirt. Our Pub doesn’t have breakfast, but it does have the distinction of being the only place I’ve ever seen a “screwdriver” made with Tang. And it’s burned down more than once over the years.

We’re pleased to confirm The Three Coins as a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

Marek had just spent some time at his aunt BB’s house.

I figured after the dog cage experience, he deserved some pancakes. We went driving down Busch Blvd and came across three of our favorite words, all in one place. “Tampa” and “Diner” and “pancakes.” That’s right. A diner in Tampa that has pancakes. Uh huh. We visited The Tampa Diner at 2901 E Busch Blvd on 26 June 2010.

OK, so it’s in a motel. But it’s not “The Day’s In Corporate Breakfast Buffet,” so maybe it’s just a mom-n-pop partnership. Maybe.

Can’t beat the parking here. Reminds me of back home.

Marek asked why there was a lawn mower parked out front. I didn’t have a really plausible answer, so I made up some story about aliens with long grass who eat pancakes. We went in and played race cars.

OK, so obviously those are more like dump trucks than race cars. But the coffee was OK. Though I’m going to have to admit that this is the only place in all of Tampa Bay Breakfasts’ territory where getting more coffee entailed the waitress coming with a tray, taking your cup away, and then coming back with it filled up. I don’t think I was getting a fresh cup each time, just a two-trip-top-off.

We had a single breakfast and split it. And that’s a good thing. This is a lot of chow.

The Tampa Diner is right across the street from Busch Gardens. So I’m figuring that 2 out of 5 breakfasts served at this diner see the light of day a second time. Probably on Skeikra. Note the tourists’ feet in the background.

The pancakes were OK. The eggs seemed to have little bits of onion and peppers in them. Nice, though I hadn’t asked for that and found it pretty odd. Toast and home fries were included. Bacon was average issue. A lotta food, came in at around 11 bucks.

Marek had a good idea for something fun after breakfast, so he was in a hurry. Let’s pay the bill and get out of here, dad!

And he even brought back change. We’ll put that to good use later!

The Tampa Diner seems to be a new venture in need of some fine tuning. Staff members were friendly but the location was very much motel restaurant. Food was OK, but with all that Tampa has to offer for breakfast, it could be aspiring to more. There was a lawnmower out front, which is actually a plus in my book. We give this Tampa Bay Breakfast a three pancake rating.

We ran back to the car and got ready to go play …

At the AIRPORT! (There’s free parking for the first hour!)

We rode the escalators…

We watched planes take off…

We drove round and round and round…

And then we went home to tell mom all about it. What a fun time the airport can be!

It’s a long drive to Lutz. But it’s in Hillsborough County, at the outer limits of our TBB territory, so we’re obligated to check it out. We take our jobs as Tampa Bay’s only true Pancake Professionals …. very, very seriously. Lutz is such a far drive, we had to bring our favorite travel guide with us.

We visited Nancy’s Home Cookin’ restaurant at 17420 US Highway 41 in Lutz on 12 June 2010. This was our first visit to Nancy’s. If you’re going to Nancy’s and you don’t know Lutz, drive slow … it’s tucked away where it’s easy to miss (coming from the south, anyway). I’d tell you to just look for our little blue car as seen in this picture, but as much as we liked the place, we don’t live there.

Walk inside Nancy’s and you find a tiny, cozy, warm little space. The kind of place you’d describe to a visitor from another country, say, from Paraguay or Estonia, when they asked a question like, “what’s a great ‘mom-n-pop pancake shop’ look like?”

We immediately noticed that everyone in Nancy’s knew each other. I think Marek and I were the only ones who needed to see a menu. Or get asked what we wanted, now that we think of it. Nancy’s gets top marks for the “full of regulars” measure.

Nancy’s menu is short and sweet, just like Nancy’s dining room. We thought long and hard, and settled on pancakes, bacon, and eggs. And coffee. I know, I know. We’re full of surprises today.

Oh man, that’s good motor oil, and we never saw the bottom of the cup! Just the way it’s supposed to be.

Check out the locally made hot sauces in the corner. That’s pretty neat.

Stop everything! Here’s breakfast! Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and an empty plate for Marek.

A bacon heist in progress. Marek’s plate is now full.

Somehow it all ended up on Marek’s plate. I bet you didn’t see that coming! The only thing this bacon is missing, apparently, is pepper. But hey, we’ve seen Marek put pepper on pancakes, grapes, ice cream, so don’t assume that he’s on to a good idea here.

Our loyal readers will remember when Marek was all about the pancakes. We still get up in the morning and say, “I want pancakes, dad!” But, obviously, he says “pancakes” and means “bacon.”

Marek was finished way before I was and he was just a bit fidgety. So our lovely hostess brought him this fun train to play with. She is shown here giving him the instructions. “This button turns on the Flux Capacitor.”

When we were all done, Marek paid the bill. About 11 bones for a pretty filling spread, including enough bacon to satisfy Marek.

He made himself at home behind the counter. Even took a few orders. Answered the phone. Bussed some tables. He knows how to run a good pancake shop.

He even helped make change. Change for a twenty, not social or political change. He’s only three, after all.

And I think he tried to get this pretty girl’s phone number, using his tried-and-true line of “I still live with my parents, but I can count to ten and I’ve got breakfast money, baby.”

When we were done, Marek decided he was driving home. After that big breakfast, I agreed. I slept in the back seat while he took us home. Really. There’s a whole queen-sized fold-out bed in the back of the car. Very cozy. And I’ve owned that caulk gun for over 20 years. I have no idea how I came to be in the position where I could say something like “I’ve owned that caulk gun for over 20 years.”

On the drive home we had to stop and take a picture of this fire truck. Because Marek saw it and started hollering, “take a picture dad take a picture take a picture take a picture take a picture!”

So here’s the real scoop on Nancy’s. Add some blueberry pancakes (*) to the menu and this would be perilously close to a perfect breakfast. Oh, and get our cheerful hostess featured in Full Throttle Magazine. Great pancakes, great eggs, best bacon we’ve had in Hillsborough County, wonderful, friendly people, and a reasonable price. We’re pleased give Nancy’s Home Cookin’ a Tampa Bay Breakfast four and a half pancake rating.

(*) GOOD blueberry pancakes, I feel obligated to mention, not just blueberry compote poured on the top. That’s not the way to treat pancakes, or blueberries.