Good Morning Gators!
You are in for an unusual treat. I’m breaking in Junior Gator Diane Anderson this morning. She is going to be adding a new spin to my reviews. I’m not exactly sure on the format yet so bear with me while I iron it out. The plan at first is to get each of our takes on the place ala Siskel and Ebert. So here we go.
Geno:
We arrived at 6:05 (five minutes after opening) Yes, I know I’m never late. There were already 2 cars outside. I hate that. I try to get a photo of the outside of the building without the cars in the way. Oh well. Gator in Training Diane went inside to get a table while I got the pictures.
The restaurant is at the end of a strip. We drove past it once.
Clik here to view.
Exterior
Clik here to view.
Exterior with 2 Cars
Unbeknownst to me Diane was already chatting it up with the owner George. She was already seated at a table, but I made her get up and move to a booth by a window. George met me at the door. Diane had already informed him that we were on a mission. I told him to start a baked apple pancake because I know that they take close to 1/2 an hour to produce. I went over to the booth and stuffed myself in. The booths are the ones where the tables are affixed to the walls so that they don’t adjust for rotund people such as myself.
As per usual Coffee and water was requested and delivered. The Coffee is standard Suburban stuff. A bit weak and not a lot of personality 6 somewhere in the midst of all of this our server Gina came into the picture.
The restaurant is woody and brown. It’s adorned with Apple themed pictures and knick knacks. It’s BIG and bright. It’s super clean and carpet free. There is some kind of music way in the background but I couldn’t tell what genre it was.
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
Clik here to view.
Interior
The menu is a bit big for my taste. Mostly your usual suspects. It’s what I would call an upscale Greek family restaurant. It took awhile to peruse the menu and make a decision. OK ready to go.
Ranchero Benny
Chorizo and poached eggs over corn tortillas, with chipotle Hollandaise sauce
This is an interpretation that I haven’t had before. The substitution of Corn Tortillas for the usual English Muffin was an interesting twist that I thought might be a fail. As it turned out it fit in with this rendition perfectly.
The Hollandaise was on point. It was Spicy Hot, Smokey, Silky Smooth, and not overly Thick. It would have been good on the bumper of a Chevy Cavalier. 9 The poached eggs were just a tad overcooked which is ok with me. I’d rather not have snotty whites. 8 The Chorizo was Super Spicy and salty and had the proper amount of fattiness. 8 The Factory Made Tortillas were tender and fresh 7 The Hash Browns were decent. Crisp Tender but a touch dry 6 Why don’t more places make home fry’s like Mr A’s Restaurant in Roselle? Overall this was a great rendition of a classic Benedict. I give it a High 8 or a low 9 in spite of it’s hap hazard plating. This is a definite re order item.
Diane:
So when I learned that my new pal Geno loved breakfast and was even so bold to BLOG about it, I was pretty jazzed to be invited to join him on an adventure weekday breakfast treat. But as I work a Monday through Friday gig, this was possible because i am recuperating from foot surgery and was able to join him. He explained the basics….get up early to be the first patron, find a seat with lots of natural light, and remind him to check in to Facebook and Instagram. Hmmmm, I thought…easy breezy!! However when my alarm rang at 5:30am, I questioned if I was really hungry and ready to rise to this challenge. However, I decided this was going to be a blast, and got dressed, grumbling under my breath but looking forward to that hot cup of coffee awaiting me. I found a table but it was not acceptable to the Gator, so we moved to a table along the wall with a window. The only other customers in the restaurant were an elderly couple that was discussing homemade soup and were partaking of said soup at 6:00a.m. (Cream of spinach and Beef noodle on this Wednesday) On their way out they shared that they come to the Baked Apple every day for soup. Soup Groupies, I thought. Gina, our server, approached with a warm smile and it was evident she knew the menu inside out.
When Geno ordered a Ranchero Benedict ( this is a Gator MUST), I thought “uh oh, I may have to break my 25 year streak of no poached eggs”. I waited patiently to taste the sauce, chorizo and taters, but only after his encouragement, did I try the egg nestled on the corn tortilla, with a spicy blanket of sauce. Oh, MMMM I was missing out all these years and Geno said the eggs were a tad overdone. But I like my eggs over hard, so it was delicious to me. 7
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Clik here to view.
Ranchero Benny
Geno:
I was about to ask Gina the if I should order the next entree or wait for the Apple Pancake and Viola there it was. I have had these at a dozen places. The premise is pretty simple. sliced apples, sugar, or brown sugar, or both in a deep pan. Heat the pan to get the stuff cooking. Put the batter on top of the aforementioned mixture and bake. Turn the pancake over onto a plate and depending on your preference dust it with powdered sugar. The Baked Apple Breakfast Company’s version of this baby is about a foot across, smells like a hot apple pie and tastes like it too. A ton of Apples a lot of cinnamon nice and sweet but not overly so. A bit crispy outside soft and ooey gooey inside. It could have been cooked a little longer for my taste. This was a lot of chopped Apples held together with a little batter. 8
Diane:
The last Baked Apple pancake I had was when I was a waitress at the Prime Minister Restaurant in Highland, Indiana. I dreaded when a customer ordered one, especially on Sunday morning with the busy after-church crowd. But, being new and compliant (so far) Junior Gator, I looked forward to enjoying the sweet dish. There must have been at least six tart sweet apples in this pancake. I expected a cloyingly sweet aftertaste after my first bite, but I was pleasantly surprised that the tart apple taste was dominant. I liked the fact that it was not overly cooked and the texture of the custard was silky and smooth. This dish can easily feed 4-5, 9
Clik here to view.
Baked Apple Pancake
Clik here to view.
Baked Apple Pancake
Clik here to view.
Baked Apple Pancake
Strawberry Shortcake
French toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese; topped with fresh strawberries
Geno:
We didn’t order this. This was a house specialty that was a gift from the staff. What they didn’t know is that they were serving French Toast to the worst possible person to serve French Toast to. So How was it? Well the Strawberries were fresh and delicious. The Cream Cheese filling was rich creamy and tasty. It would have been good on a Chuck Taylor. The French Toast? Unfortunately it was your usual sub standard restaurant French Toast. See the rant page for the full explanation. Of course they are going to get “THE LINK” Alton Brown Makes French Toast. Anyway overall it still tastes good. 6
Diane:
When Gina stated that there was homemade cream cheese in this dish, my eyes grew round as saucers. Cream cheese, any cream cheese, is good cream cheese. But HOMEMADE, you say?? Well with my fork poised in midair, I waited not so patiently for Gator to take his photos, and when he gave the nod, I dug in happily. The berries were ripe and sweet, the creamy cheesy goodness was delicious but the toast was dry and just…..well, dry. 5
Clik here to view.
Strawberry Shortcake French Toast
Clik here to view.
Strawberry Shortcake French Toast
Clik here to view.
Strawberry Shortcake French Toast
El Mariachi Skillet
Bacon, avocado, jalapeno, and melted jack cheese
Geno:
I mean REALLY. Bacon Avocado and Cheese? How can you possibly miss? I ordered the Eggs SS up as a test and they were actually cooked pretty close to perfect. An unheard of 9. The veggies were tender crisp and the spuds were cooked pretty well. This was another good dish. 9
Diane:
I learned a lot from Gator in regards to how to spot a properly cooked egg. As my style of choice is scrambled beyond recognition, I scowled when he ordered eggs with the yellow so, well….yellow. However, I agree that these SS looked perfect, there was no translucent yuck jelly on them. They tasted quite lovely with the tender crisp veggies, smooth avocado and crispy hash browns.
Note: there is only one hot sauce offering, which is a bit unfortunate since the dishes are very good but a nice choice of hot juice would spice things up nicely. 8 As a side note, this was super yummy the next day, heated up in the foil to-go container with a bit of Tajin seasoning sprinkled on top.
Clik here to view.
El Mariachi Skillet
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
El Mariachi Skillet
Healthy Start Panini
Egg white scrambler with avocado, green peppers, and mushrooms on panini pressed multi-grain bread
Geno:
This was another gratis dish from George. (Thanks George) What he didn’t know was that I’m not a fan of sandwiches for breakfast. I’m also not a fan of healthy for breakfast but that won’t stop me from giving it a fair shot.
This dish was supplied with a fruit cup. The Strawberries were red ripe and delicious but the melon was under ripe and under whelming. 5 Generally veggies and egg whites don’t play nice together. they end up watery and separated. Surprisingly this wasn’t the case. Everything stayed glued together pretty well. The veggies were tender crisp and earthy. The bread was decent and well toasted. Except for the fact that it needed a little salt it was actually a pretty good sandwich for being healthy. A surprising 7
Diane:
It is evident that the owner George is proud of his establishment and the pride shows when he placed this sandwich down in front of us.
At first I thought, after all this carboliciousness, I suppose this healthy dish is a nice offering from him so we can see there is something for everyone on the menu. I loved the avocado which made the omission of cheese not so bad. In my book, everything needs cheese. Strongly concur with Gator 7
Clik here to view.
Healthy Start Panini
Clik here to view.
Healthy Start Panini
Clik here to view.
Healthy Start Panini
Well that’s it Gators. A good visit with George and his staff. This is a good clean suburban stop that you should add to your list.
As for us we’re off to our next adventure!
Why on earth aren’t you following us on the social medias
Facebook Breakfast Gator
Instagram breakfastgator
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.