{"id":3364,"date":"2011-11-06T23:38:33","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T03:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=3364"},"modified":"2011-11-06T23:44:44","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T03:44:44","slug":"nickos-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=3364","title":{"rendered":"Nicko’s Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We re-visited Nicko’s at 4603 N Florida Ave <\/a>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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It’s me and Ivo on this side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another perfect cuppa joe from Nicko’s. It’s all that bold, black, bitter, bottomless we know and love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I might be kidding. How would you know, what with all the tomfoolery we’ve dished out over the years?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marek made the bacon disappear like some sort of magic act. Next up, scrambled eggs. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Watching Ivo use a fork is mesmerizing. It’s like watching pseudo-sumo wrestling<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marek paid the bill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is our outstanding waitress Candice. We were very impressed! She took excellent care of us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And away we go, off to terrorize some other part of Tampa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"one-pancake\"\"one-pancake1\"\"one-pancake2\"\"one-pancake3\"\"one-pancake3\"<\/p>\n

\"Nicko's<\/a><\/p>\n

Hey Ed in Ocala, here’s another one. 1995. $12.5k. Every few months this lot has another one of these.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[3,14,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breakfasts","category-greek","category-hillsborough"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p30Aox-Sg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=76","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":0},"title":"Nicko\u2019s on North Florida","date":"April 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We visited Nicko's restaurant at 4603 N Florida Ave on April 25th. Breakfast is very reasonably priced, especially the weekend special of pancakes, eggs, and bacon for under six bucks. That's what we get when we visit. We've been to Nicko's at least half a dozen times. We had breakfast.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breakfasts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/nickos-marek-pays2a.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4121,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=4121","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":1},"title":"Nicko’s","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We re-visited Nicko's on 27 October 2012. As you may recall, Nicko's was our 2011 Breakfast of the Year. Marek is doing a Bieber pose. Or maybe a Bowie pose. We brought a puzzle to keep little hands occupied. Let this be a lesson to dads everywhere. Don't bring a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/nickos19.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4288,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=4288","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":2},"title":"Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year for 2012","date":"December 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ivo, Marek, and I are pleased to announce the 2012 Tampa Bay Breakfast of the year. This prestigious award has been called \"The Nobel for Breakfasts\" and \"Huh? What are you talking about?\" by international news sources. Restaurants who win this accolade go on to see a spike of about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breakfasts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3552,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=3552","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":3},"title":"2011 Breakfast of the Year","date":"December 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Marek, Ivo, and I are pleased to announce the 2011 Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year. This is a prestigious, highly-competitive, no one ever notices, we should probably tell the restauranteurs about it, exciting award. Recipients of the Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year go on to be exactly as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Administrative"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":834,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=834","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":4},"title":"Revisit to Nicko\u2019s on North Florida","date":"December 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We first officially visited Nicko's back in April 2009. It was good. Shake, rattle, and roll good. Elvis, as we know, ate there in 1956. I wonder. Do you wonder? I wonder, was it as good back then as it is today? Let's find out. Marek, take my hand. We'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breakfasts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/nikos-revisit-professor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":178,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=178","url_meta":{"origin":3364,"position":5},"title":"Three Coins Diner","date":"May 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We visited the Three Coins Diner at 7410 N Nebraska Ave on May 30th. Breakfast is very reasonably priced. The special \"Club Breakfast\" for $5.50 is a really good deal. We've been to the Three Coins a bunch of times and we've always come away happy. The restaurant also has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/three-coins-pancakes1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3364"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}