We visited Darrell and Sharon’s Park Street Diner at 4131 Park Street North in St. Pete on 7 January 2012. This was our fist visit to Darrell and Sharon’s and our first breakfast of the new year.

I bet you’re wondering how we get started for a Tampa Bay Breakfast. The very first thing we do is pack the Pancake Celica like it’s a clown car in a Shriner’s parade.

It’s a gloomy day in Tampa Bay. For our shivering friends north of the 45th parallel, this is what the Dead-o-Winter looks like for us. We’re wearing jackets. Not to rub it in or anything.

Folks who don’t live around here have to pay good money at a zoo to see a white ibis. We just wait until they show up in our front yards.

Today we’re way on the other side of the bay visiting Darrell and Sharon’s Park Street Diner and along the way we found our old friend Aleshea, Poet of Breakfast, in town for a quick visit.

Marek brought every character from Cars. Aleshea was so impressed she pulled out her camera.

Yes, that’s Dyneco Lightning, The King, Normal Lightning, Some Unnamed Car from the big race, and Doc Hudson.

By this time, thank goodness, we had coffee for me, tea for Aleshea, and hot chocolate for Marek. The folks working at Darrell and Sharon’s were really nice and offered us high chairs and booster seats. We politely declined: Marek’s big enough and Ivo’s got to learn some time.

Darrell and Sharon’s is small and cozy inside.

I just take these pictures with my mobile phone. Nothing fancy. Sometimes they turn out good. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes a mistake is worth sharing. Like this one of Aleshea’s hand morphing into an enormous claw. In case you’re wondering, that didn’t actually happen. But cool picture.

Us coffee and tea drinkers all had a good “cheers” and a lovely start to a great morning. Breakfast is always better with friends.

The menu has some classics. We love places that serve “Artery Cloggers” and “Eggs Bubba-Dict.” That’s a sign of character, fun, and good cooking, in our opinion.

Here’s little Ivo with a coffee creamer. He managed to gnaw right through it.

Just like he did back in May 2011 when we last had breakfast with Aleshea.

This is a posed shot. I asked Aleshea to re-do for the camera. Because she thought this was honey and poured into her tea, and then says, “I wonder if that’s actually syrup.” Aleshea: Poet, singer, playwright, actress, teacher … and now, goofball.

Breakfast came like a freight train. This is Marek, arguing with me about how he doesn’t want those potatoes on his plate. His cred is shot, though, because he’s wearing his shirt backwards. What can I say, on dad-mornings he gets to dress himself completely unsupervised.

Some nice blueberry pancakes here. Powdered sugar is a nice touch.

No problem at all working the shovel over here. Marek approves of the eggs.

We actually did let Ivo have more than just creamers. He also ate his way through several pats of butter before I caught him doing it. Then he moved on to my pancakes.

Man-sized boy right there. He doesn’t even know he’s small.

Marek’s all done with his eggs and bacon and he is NOT touching those potatoes, so now, apparently, he’s just sitting here telling jokes and then laughing at them. He’s four, so the jokes are pretty much, “look! It’s a blueberry daddy! Hahahahhahahahahahahahaaa!”

Gratuitous cute shot with little actual breakfast merit.

The check weighed in at around $22 for the four of us. Not bad for a morning’s breakfast.

Will Ivo pay the bill? He’s interested.

But Marek’s ready.

And off we go to perform the transaction. So far, he hasn’t figured out to add a Marek Tax to this part. I figure by the end of the year he’ll be doing that.

While we were there the place filled up. Marek’s an old pro and can always find the register. Not shown here is Ivo, who is wandering table to table, asking, “am I cute?”

After breakfast we sat and chatted for a while. Here’s Aleshea talking about can you believe I put this ketchup in my tea thinking it was honey?

Heading out. Marek dragging his bag of cars. Notice his awesome fireman boots! Also, we’re overdue for the shout out to Aleshea’s play being run at freeFall Theater this year. Check out http://freefalltheatre.com/show_pages/riptied.html and see why we’re such big fans of Aleshea!

On the way home we stopped at the park. We actually went to the playground, though it would be interesting to just take pictures at park signs and never get to go in and play.

Another great breakfast day in Florida. Thanks, Aleshea, for joining us! Good chow, friendly people, lots of locals getting “the usual.” Clearly a good, local, mom-n-pop place, just like we like ’em. We’re pleased to give Darrell and Sharon’s Park Street Diner a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Four Pancake Rating.

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.

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.

It’s 0800 on 3 July. We’re on Breakfast Patrol. Marek’s got our flank.

Ivo brought his appetite.

Marek took this picture. The focus is the fault of the phone camera, but the composition isn’t bad. He’s capturing the palm trees and the blue skies conjure up carefree good times, while the underexposed seat backs of the car imply the constrained world view of a child. The moon roof and car theme convey motion, transition, while the trees and sky feel like an unchanging endless summer. He’s a real artiste, this boy.

I’m just the wheel-man. I turned right, then left, and ended up downtown Safety Harbor. We’ve been here for three other breakfasts, and today will round out the last breakfast we know of in the town.

Here we are at the Safety Harbor Grill at 970 Main Street in, you guessed it, Safety Harbor. They have a web page at safetyharborgrill-bar.com.

Marek found us a cozy spot outside and got set up. He’s all about the knife these days. Should I be worried?

Turns out there’s actually another menu. When we took this picture we thought this was it. But they have all sorts of breakfast stuff on the other menu. But look at the advertisements on this place mat. Pain, dentistry, insurance, gout, kidney pain, plumbing. If you add them all up, it’s a little freaky. Did you notice the car changed between these two pictures?

“Hmmmmmm. I think I might have bacon and eggs today.”

“Hmmmmmm. I think I might eat my brother’s bacon and eggs, and then my father’s pancakes.”

That’s what YOU think, kid! Eat baby goop! Ha-HA!

Did that look so delicious that you wanted to try it? Maybe with some lovely black coffee, poured hot and fresh? Me too.

Our very nice waitress tallied our order and suggested we just do “the special” with added blueberries. An extra plate was free. So we did that. And here’s what it looks like.

I swear, there was a deadly silence. Tick, went the clock on the wall.

Tick.

Marek stared at Ivo.

Tick.

Ivo stared at Marek.

Tick.

And my breakfast got caught in the crossfire.

We settled this just the way they do at breakfast at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Seriously, they all divide up their breakfasts this way.

No, I did not allow Ivo to pick up that syrup bottle and glug it like formula. Though he was saddened that he couldn’t.

If you, my fellow fathers, were ever wondering how to win “Father of the Year,” here’s how. Try to take a bite of your own breakfast, which takes 0.034 seconds. In half that time, your less than one year old will stand up in his high chair and try to get the syrup bottle. Pop quiz! Do you:

A. Hand him the syrup in the hope that he sits down quietly
B. Hand him the syrup because he’ll just overpower you for it if you don’t
C. Hand him the syrup because that’s what you have in his regular bottle anyway
D. Get the attention of the lady at the next table over and tell her to control her kid

The bill was around ten bucks for all that. Let’s talk about “all that” for a moment.

The eggs were just right, as if somehow you could tell that the chickens were … happy. I can’t comment on the bacon as it immediately took a ride on the alimentary express, next stop: Marek. The pancakes were top-notch, really fine work. As good as Kissin’ Cuzzins, and just a shade, an 8th of a notch below Skyway Jack’s. The price was right where it needed to be. The coffee was as good as I like. And several of the waitresses had significant tattoo coverage, which is a bonus point to an inky guy like me. This was a good breakfast.

Marek was satisfied enough to pay the bill.

And, because he’s four and not fourteen, he brought back change!

Remember our last breakfast, with the jelly and Marek licking the jelly off the toast? Well, we had to take this jelly home with us. “Just in case, dad.”

The Safety Harbor Grill was simply a great experience. The people were friendly. The chow was great. The price was just right. No animals or children were injured. It’s surely worth a trip across the bay (unless you live in Safety Harbor, then you can just walk or pedal there, I assume).

We’re pleased to give the Safety Harbor Grill a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

If you were driving by the Causeway beach and saw this wicked bike and car duo, you’d stop, too, wouldn’t you?

So we stopped at the little beach on the east side of the causeway. This is a dad-style “let’s go to the beach, we don’t need any bathing suits” beach day. Just get your tiny hiney out there, boy!

Marek went to check out the water (which is, for the fretful reader, about ankle-deep for a good 30 meters out. No danger of sharks.) Me and Ivo, we hung back, cool in the shade. Because dad didn’t bring any baby sunblock, natch.

This gaggle of girls were burying this boy in the sand. I don’t think he realized his sand-body had enormous bosoms and an obviously pregnant belly.

We ended up following Marek down to the water. These are Marek’s footprints. I’m still a new enough parent to get all wistful about silly things like this.

And then Ivo and I started making footprints, too.

With these toes, these ones right here.

Just a normal day.

If you had that little monster staring at you all the time, you’d drive fast too!

Today it’s just me and Ivo. We’re applying lessons learned from our study of asymmetrical conflict and doing our first ever split-ops breakfast. Marek and Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom are over on Clearwater Beach having a simultaneous breakfast. That means, dear TBB Fans, that we get two breakfasts for the time of one.

We’re trying Kissin’ Cousins today. 951 34th St N in St. Pete. We’ve had a few recommendations for this over the years, and finally we made it.

The menu has all the right stuff in all the right places. You can tell Marek’s not with us, it’s all baby toys today. No cars.

Ivo’s so hungry. He’s eating napkins. What I didn’t get was a picture of him eating a knife, which would have surely cinched the Father of the Year award.

Ivo then ate the placemat. Several people started inching away from our table for fear he’d eat them.

We have a special guest today. The best performing artist in all of Tampa Bay, Aleshea! When I took this picture, she asked if she had bug-eyes. Yes, Aleshea, but not so much that anyone will notice. Unless they read this, of course.

Aleshea’s released her third album! She brought a copy for Tampa Bay Breakfasts, and we listened to it all the way home. Also note the nice touch of the graphic on the coffee cup.

Ivo promptly yoinked the CD. Of course, it went right in the mouth.

I traded Ivo a coffee creamer for the CD. I says to Aleshea, watch this. It’s gonna pop. She’s like, huh? What you talkin’ about? I say, just wait for it. Wait for it. Pop! Bwahahahahahaha. I’m such a great parent, if the disdaining looks from the next table over were any indication.

And then real breakfast came. Pancakes, bacon, eggs across the table, tall stack of blueberry pancakes on my side, and toast for Ivo.

Seriously, those are some very fine blueberry pancakes. Blueberries inside, outside, and also an emergency phone number to call in case you need more blueberries to be airlifted in.

Ivo and just a piece of dry toast. Ivo of the future is going to read this 20 years from now and feel very ripped off. I’ll get a phone call (or whatever it will be in 2031), and Ivo will be there demanding his blueberry pancakes that he got cheated on when he was 9 months old.

When we were done, me and Ivo made cute poses. This is my bug-eyed picture, so Aleshea doesn’t have to feel bad.

Then Aleshea and Ivo made cute poses. For young people without kids, this is the sort of moment that makes them think, hmmmm, maybe I want kids, too.

Which lasted all of 30 seconds before baby-chaos erupted. Aleshea is an intensely gifted artist, but even Alice Tuan would be unable to withstand this baby onslaught. For young people without kids, this is the kind of moment that makes them think, uhhhhhh, maybe not.

Lucky for Aleshea, she was saved by the bell. Or bill, in this case. $18 seems a little on the high side for just two breakfasts, but not grossly high, just a little high.

Ivo promptly fell asleep in the car, listening to Aleshea’s new CD. Note that he has his flip-phone handy, just in case his agent calls.

Which means that he completely missed the 1980s Maserati with the Dead Kennedys bumper sticker. It’s easily as good as a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.

We had a great time at Kissin’ Cousins. This is a great diner. Big and packed, yet there was still a table for us, and, as busy as it was, the staff still seemed to know plenty of folks by name. The chow lives up to other reviews we’ve read. Great coffee. Aleshea gave thumbs-up on her chow. The blueberry pancakes are easily a peer to Skyway Jacks, and that’s saying something. We’re pleased to give Kissin’ Cousins a four and a half pancake rating.

Me and the boys, we’re just cruisin’ along down the road when we come up on this guy. From a distance I thought “73 Mustang!” We got up close and changed our tune. That looks like a ’72 Javelin SST, and if it were any sweeter it’d be made out of honey.

Marek wanted to take some pictures while we were driving. He took this nice shot of Ivo.

Marek wanted me to take a picture of “Cadbury” the bunny. Cadbury arrived on the scene during Easter and quickly, within 24 hours, won an award for “cherished childhood toy mom and dad are most sick of hearing about.”

For breakfast this morning we decided to go to this motorcycle shop. To get actual food, we’ll go next door to Emily’s at 7048 Park Blvd N in Pinellas Park, but the real nourishment will come from those rows of rockets on the left.

We found a seat along the wall where we had a window overlooking the bikes. Marek looked over the menu and decided, “pancakes.” For “Cadbury, dad.”

We made regular spot-checks on the motorcycle shop, just to make sure it was still there and that they hadn’t sold all the bikes yet. I’ve got a big $20 in my pocket, hoping that I can turn it into a new motorcycle!

We had a bit of four-stroke engine lubricant. This’ll keep our engine purring.

Bet you thought we got away without the eating machine. Here he is, hungry and ready for action!

Inside Emily’s you’ll find a very nice, clean, quiet atmosphere. The most distinguishing feature is the round lunch counter you see here. No one was sitting at it this morning. If it’s just Marek and I we’ll sit at the counters, but I’m already in danger of winning “Father of the Year” for my hijinks with Ivo; I’m not about to also balance him on a stool and take pictures of it.

I’m a new parent. There’s a lot of things I don’t know about kids. And here’s one of them. I’m minding my own business, looking at bikes through the window, getting Ivo’s breakfast ready, and I turn around to see Marek’s butt. I have no idea what’s going on here.

Here’s Ivo’s delicious snot meal. Mmmm, mmmm, good. Am I ever glad I’m not a baby, so I don’t have to eat this.

Something I’ve never seen at a breakfast restaurant (and believe me, I’ve seen almost every breakfast shack in the Bay Area) is baby food. It would not cost a lot of overhead for a restaurant to offer jars of Gerbers, baby oatmeal, stuff like that for babies who are just moving away from bottles but not quite advanced enough to cut their own pancakes. Probably wouldn’t sell a lot of it, but then again a jar doesn’t expire for years.

Ivo’s got to eat first, because otherwise he ends up in some other family’s booth, eating their purses and shoes. Note that “chicks dig him,” and I can assure you, they do. Though I’ve noticed that girls are slightly less attracted to two kids. One kid, when Marek was Ivo’s age, was a major aphrodisiac for ladies young and old. Two kids still attracts older ladies, but seems to count as “baggage” to the younger ones.

Here comes breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, and floppy eggs. Ivo sure wants some pancakes. Every weekend it’s like this, his gooey hand in my breakfast. Since Marek and I are splitting this one, I gave Marek the top pancake. He’ll never notice, until 20 years from now when he’s reading this. Hey Marek of the future, sorry about that, but when you have your own little Marek Juniors you’ll do the same thing.

Here’s another case of “I’m glad Mom doesn’t read these reviews.” Marek is very proud of his new ability to use a knife to knead a pancake to a pulpy mush that could then be eaten with a straw.

Marek, waving knife around: “I can DO it, dad!”

Me, ducking and handing over my wallet: “Yes you can, son, yes you can.”

No breakfast is complete without a does of HFCS.

We’ve learned our lesson well. In the Breakfast Battlefield, you always have a DMZ. Note the empty space on the table to the right: That space is exactly the length of Ivo’s left arm.

Marek and I agreed. The chow here at Emily’s is pretty good. Floppy eggs: nicely done. Bacon: a bit of crisp without being burnt. Pancakes: not shabby. Coffee: black and never ran dry.

I don’t need to tell you anything about this picture. It says it all by itself.

Ivo had some toast to go with his bowl of goo.

The bill wasn’t bad. Twelve clams for a breakfast that fed both of us.

Marek jumped up to pay.

While we were discussing the bill and the merits of the breakfast, Ivo had a top-off.

And proved that he’s intensely cute, but also, profoundly lazy.

Marek came back with change and also a pop! Now THAT is a good breakfast restaurant.

All Done!

We had some very nice chow, with reasonable bacon, floppy eggs, and nice pancakes, plus also some good black coffee that never went dry. Emily’s is a solid breakfast experience. We’re pleased to give Emily’s a Tampa Bay Breakfast four pancake rating.

I don’t think there’s any question on what we did next. We looked at motorcycles!

This was Marek’s favorite. He is also a Honda man, like his old man.

This was my favorite. Set up for drag, no kidding.

This is the same bike I used to run back before there were children. You can even find me on http://www.ironbutt.com/ with this bike.

In case you didn’t believe me.

And here’s what one of those looks like when you ride it through the back of a Volkswagen. Walked away from it, I did, but a lot of my money stayed at the bike shop that day.