{"id":576,"date":"2009-10-03T20:55:54","date_gmt":"2009-10-04T00:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=576"},"modified":"2010-12-19T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T00:40:57","slug":"farmer-johns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=576","title":{"rendered":"Farmer John\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we’re going way out of our territory to have breakfast with an old friend. Going to Brooksville is quite a journey from Tampa! We brought a book for the ride.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-long-ride\"<\/p>\n

And we packed provisions.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-apple\"<\/p>\n

And brother let me tell you, the trip was worth it. We visited Farmer John’s in Brooksville <\/a>on 3 October 2009. We have never been to Farmer John’s, nor anyplace in Hernando County ever, for breakfast. Farmer John’s is a “Key West Cafe”, complete with the bright colors and Jimmy Buffet soundtrack. Some folks might find this to be sort of “touristy” or kitschy, but I love it. And this place is in Brooksville, for cryin’ out loud. In Miami it would be a tourist trap, but in Brooksville it’s novel and fun.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-outside\"<\/p>\n

While we were on a road trip to raise awareness of breakfasts in central Florida, Mom was up early to support the Race for the Cure<\/a> in St. Pete (notice our cool “I’m a Breast Man” t-shirts! They work on so many levels.). Mom, you kick butt! <\/p>\n

\"farmer-andy-marek\"<\/p>\n

This was a special Tampa Bay Breakfast as we were joined by our old friend Dave. Dave lives in Brooksville and had recommended Farmer John’s to us several times since the start of Tampa Bay Breakfasts. Today we finally took him up on it.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-dave-marek2\"<\/p>\n

Let’s start with a serious discussion about coffee. This coffee was serious. End of discussion. Gosh-darn it to heck, Beaver, we could have drank a 55 gallon drum of this brew. And it kept coming. We never saw the bottom of that cup (and obviously, Marek was helping me drink it).<\/p>\n

\"farmer-coffee\"<\/p>\n

We discovered that Dave has the razor-sharp reflexes of a Tampa Bay Lightning goalie. Well, a Lightning goalie from 2004, anyway. Marek kept winging this little dump truck at Dave, but that puck never hit the net. Based on the last few games we’ve been to, I’m thinking the Bolts <\/a>could really use Dave’s skills. Oren and Len, hook us up with an official Lightning breakfast and we’ll introduce you.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-dave-marek\"<\/p>\n

Then there was breakfast. And this breakfast came down from on high. You can only say “wow” and “holy moley” and “mmmmm, mouf full, cann falk now” so much. But before I get too far down that road, we’ll check in with Dave, our official TBB Guest Reviewer. Dave comes here all the time, so he already knew he’d be happy.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-breakfast-dave\"<\/p>\n

The menu has fresh rainbow trout with eggs, potatoes, and pancakes as a whopper of a breakfast special. Our kind waitress strongly suggested I get this, and pretty much called me a pansy for not trying it. But I stuck to my guns, because on the other side of the menu I saw something very important … blueberry pancakes. While I don’t have any particular prejudice against fish for breakfast, given the chance for a phat stack of blueberry cakes I don’t even have to say which way I’m going to roll. Blueberry pancakes all the way. Oh, and scrambled eggs and bacon.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-breakfast\"<\/p>\n

Marek wants to tell Steve from Yankeetown that he thinks the bacon could be considered Steve-Standard for crisp.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-bacon\"<\/p>\n

After all this breakfast, it just needs another dose of the JP-4. (I have a confession to make at this point. While Marek was distracted drinking his coffee, I ate that whole pancake of his on his plate. Serves him right for taking his eyes off the prize!)<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-coffee\"<\/p>\n

All through breakfast I was mulling on the final score. Four? Four and a half? Let’s reconsider the things we look at when we give a rating. Quality, uniqueness, friendliness, overall good feeling, price. I’m thinking top marks on everything except maybe price and definitely distance. And then Dave snapped up the check and, in blatant violation of Tampa Bay Breakfast policy, says he’s paying. Let’s just say this pushed our rating right over the top (hey, it’s a subjective rating system, and Dave’s not going to buy breakfast for everyone, so this counts for a lot to us!). Marek asked Dave if he could take the check up to the counter.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-pays0\"<\/p>\n

Dave was happy for the help!<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-pays1\"<\/p>\n

Marek caught our waitress with her hands full. They sorted it out, but for a moment there we were all pretty sure that those pancakes and trout were going to go a-flying to the island sounds of Mr. Buffet. The bill got paid and the change was returned safely.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-pays2\"<\/p>\n

When we were all done we thanked Dave for the great recommendation and for picking up the tab. Marek saw how full I was from such a big breakfast, so he offered to drive while I took a little nap. Now that’s a good son I have. Thoughtful. Considerate. Likes listening to AC\/DC when we ride.<\/p>\n

\"farmer-marek-drives\"<\/p>\n

So here we are. The end of a Tampa Bay Breakfast. Doing the tally in the car (Marek’s driving while I write this. We run a wicked little Celica GTS with the 6-speed transmission. He’s spinning Back In Black<\/a> and hitting the high points at about 125mph as we dodge the tractors on U.S. 41.) We just had blueberry pancakes that were on point with the Gold Standard (should I say, the “blue standard?”) blueberry pancakes of Skyway Jacks in St. Pete. We had Steve-Standard bacon. The menu had something very unique with the fish, like Martha’s in central Tampa. The decor was as fun and unique as what you see at the Pink Flamingo on Davis Island. The people were as friendly as can be and the crowd was full of regulars (Dave was known by name) like at Niko’s or Mamas’. That’s a 4.5 rating, easy. Spending the hour with Dave, and him picking up the tab didn’t hurt, pushes us over the line. We’re very stingy with awarding the 5-pancake rating, but I think we’re going to have to roll it out for this exceptional breakfast experience. <\/p>\n

We’re pleased to give this Tampa Bay Breakfast a five pancake rating.<\/p>\n

\"one-pancake\"\"one-pancake1\"\"one-pancake2\"\"one-pancake3\"\"one-pancake3\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we’re going way out of our territory to have breakfast with an old friend. Going to Brooksville is quite a journey from Tampa! We brought a book for the ride. And we packed provisions. And brother let me tell you, the trip was worth it. We visited Farmer John’s in Brooksville on 3 October […]<\/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":[11,3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american","category-breakfasts","category-exotic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p30Aox-9i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":714,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=714","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":0},"title":"Skyway Jacks","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night my favorite Guest Reviewer and mother of my child says to me in a sweet voice, Andy, I don't think you truly love me. I reply, of course, that I truly do. She then drives her point home with all the subtly of a ball peen hammer: If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/skyway-sows.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":399,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=399","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":1},"title":"Grandma and Grandpa\u2019s House","date":"August 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Marek visited his grandparents in Inglis for the whole weekend of August 8th and 9th. This breakfast is a true classic, one that I've had hundreds and hundreds of times. This breakfast was special because Marek got to help make it! Marek was joined at breakfast by his grandpa, A.K.A.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/dsc05951.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=252","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":2},"title":"Breakfast Fan Mail","date":"June 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you have a great breakfast? Did you take pictures? Did people look at you funny for photographing your pancakes? Did you tell them you're not a nutcase, you're just sending fan mail to Tampa Bay Breakfasts? Send your pictures and experiences to andy@sonador.com! From TBB Fan Pete: 25 degrees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Administrative"","img":{"alt_text":"TBB-Lizzy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/TBB-Lizzy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3546,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=3546","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":3},"title":"2011 Breakfasts in Review","date":"December 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We've tallied up 120 separate breakfast events since we first started in 2009, 91 unique non-repeat, actual breakfasts you can go to yourself in the Bay Area. In 2011 alone we experienced 35 breakfast events, 22 of which were new breakfasts. The year brought us some new Breakfast Friends, like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Administrative"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=239","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":4},"title":"Weekly Breakfast for Tampa\u2019s Homeless","date":"June 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We visited a weekly breakfast provided to Tampa's homeless by several church groups in the area. The breakfast is held in the parking lot at 1312 N Tampa St every Saturday morning at around 0800. Marek jumped right in to help. And off he went to lend a hand. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mission-marek-denise.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1012,"url":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/?p=1012","url_meta":{"origin":576,"position":5},"title":"The Dome Grill","date":"January 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you seen our Tampa Bay Breakfast Map? It's really heavy on Hillsborough County. We didn't give Pinellas County nearly enough pancake love in 2009. Marek says, hey freezer geezer, let's pull one of these breakfast recommendations out of the bucket and head across the bridge. I fired up the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dome-aleshea-recommends.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\/576","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=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2359,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions\/2359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tampabaybreakfasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}