Tag Archives: french toast

Dishing Up Awesome Plates and Cups at Dish and Port Coffee House in Blackrock

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Dish 

Port Coffee House

2889 Fairfield Ave Bridgeport, CT 

www.dineatdish.com

www.portcoffeehouse.com

LIKE Port Coffee House on facebook 

Sorry we haven’t posted for so long.  I’ve been very busy with school, baseball and even took a vacation to Savannah, Georgia… which we will be blogging about next week but for today we’ll be telling you about one of our new favorite places… Dish!

As you all know, today is Cinco De Mayo, which put me in the mood for a Mexican-inspired breakfast.  We also wanted to try out Dish  – so we were really happy when we could do both!

Dish was started by Janet Habansky, she learned to be a chef by cooking for her family, on her website she calls this learning how to cook at ““School of Mom and Grandma”.  So we knew this was going to be good.

As soon as you walk in, you enter through the Port Coffee House, which is attached to Dish.  Here you are greeted and given a slip of paper which has all of the breakfast choices on it… you check off what you would like, order your drink, then you go through an archway next door to Dish which looks like a big open kitchen in someone’s house.  Then you give your order to the chefs who then make it fresh for you.  The tables are big, because you get to sit on the tables with other families and diners who you don’t even know  - which is fun.  It’s really popular with kids — there were a lot there today.

Now about the food — since it was Cinco de Mayo, I decided to have Huevos Rancheros!  Black Beans, “Fresh Chunky Salsa”, Fresh Guacamole, Eggs, Cheese and Sour Cream served on a Tortilla.  It was excellent.  I told the staff that there is a difference between gourmet and simply just amazing… and this was amazing!  I also had a side of Bacon — which was flavorful… and to drink… I had a Hot Chocolate which was also really good.  I tried my Dad’s French Toast, which is one of their specialties and some of their Homemade Sausage which was superb.

IMG-20130505-01394I spoke with Chef Dave and asked him, where Dish got their ingredients, and his favorite breakfast

He told me, “From a lot of places, we special order things, some things come from the market… some things even from BJ’s!” “I love Egg Whites and  love what you had, The Huevos Rancheros!”

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I also spoke with Jerry, at Port Coffee House and asked what the most popular baked good is.

He told me, “People love the Apricot Scones and our Gluten-Free breads!”

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Thanks to everyone at Port Coffee House and Dish for being so nice and for the delicious breakfast… we’ll definitely be back!

 Sunday Diner Rating 

FOOD * * * * * (Cinco)

SERVICE  * * * * * (Cinco) (Thanks Kate!)

LOOKS * * * * *   (Cinco)

BATHROOM * * * * *  (Cinco)

THE NEW CANAAN DINER IS AS GOOD AS APPLE PIE… AND JUST AS FILLING!

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New Canaan Diner, 18 Forrest Street, New Canaan CT 

Visit The Post Road Family Of Diners Website

Welcome to our first post after a little break… After our trip to Block Island, I’ve been super busy – I visited Lancaster County… was on the news… started 4th Grade… began Fall baseball season… And now I’m even playing in a chamber group with my friends from music class!

So, we really wanted to make today’s post extra special.

Today, we visited The New Canaan Diner and brought my oldest friend Brandon as our special guest – I’ve known Brandon since I was ZERO YEARS OLD!  We first met as babies – and he is one of my best friends. He also likes to eat too!

The New Canaan Diner is one of the three Post Road Family of Diners, and it’s the baby of the family… it’s only two-and-a-half years old, but the food is just as good as the other members of the family… and so is the style of the diner.

The diner is very classic but it is modern and new.  It’s a retro-style diner with lots of cool old signs and 1950′s style things like toy cars, old Coca-Cola stuff and even the ceiling fans look like old airplane propellers – cool!

Today Brandon and I had the Apple Pie French Toast which is French Toast made with Challah bread, topped with Warm Fresh Apple Pie Filling and a little Whipped Cream.  We both gobbled it down… but not all of it… because… IT WAS SO FILLING!  (get it?).  We also had a side of Bacon, and split some Scrambled Eggs – the bacon was not as crispy as I like it, but it tasted good.  We also had Orange Juice – which tasted like the orange in a creamsicle.

I asked Brandon, what he thought about the New Canaan Diner:
He said, “I would definitely come back with my family… the food was really good… and the bathroom was really clean.  The service was fast, which is also good… one time I was in Rhode Island with my family and it took almost 2 hours for the food to come out!… and they didn’t even come out to check on us!… that wouldn’t happen here.”

I also spoke to John Gallo, the manager at the New Canaan Diner who has worked for the Post Road Family of Diners for 11 years and asked him, “Why did you open the diner in New Canaan when you already have a diner in Norwalk and Darien?”

He said, “First off, I wish I could say I owned the place, but I don’t.  I have worked for the family who are really nice for a long time… they decided to open in New Canaan, because a lot of customers told us that there wasn’t a good diner in town, so the owner opened up 2  years ago and business has been great.”

I asked what his favorite breakfast was and told me that he “LOVES the Breakfast Burrito!”

I love Breakfast Burritos too — maybe we can try that next time!

A BIG thanks to Brandon for being my special guest today and to Ruth for being such an excellent server!

The Sunday Diner Rating (Out of Five)

FOOD  * * * * * (FIVE)

SERVICE  * * * * * (FIVE)

LOOKS  * * * * *  (FIVE)

BATHROOM: * * * * * (FIVE) *

* They really had a clean and awesome bathroom!

Wave Hill Breads Bakery & Café – “Rising” To Success in Norwalk!

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Wave Hill Breads Bakery & Cafe, 30 High Street Norwalk, CT www.wavehillbreads.com

Welcome to the second year of Sunday Diners!  We haven’t had a breakfast post in a few weeks, because we were busy with the 2012 Sunny Awards. Since we wanted to get  our new year started off with a bang, today we visited Wave Hill Breads Bakery and Café in Norwalk — so you’re in for a real treat!

Wave Hill Breads was started in Wilton in 2005 by Margaret Sapir and Mitch Rapoport and their bread is famous!  They are even in a book called 500 Things To Eat Before It’s Too Late.  I’ve had their bread before and it’s really great for sandwiches and toast.  But before we talk about the bakery, let’s talk about what I had for breakfast.

Today I had “The Ultimate Egg Sandwich” — which is Soft Scrambled Eggs, Cheddar Cheese, Fire Roasted Poblano Peppers, Applewood Smoked Bacon on Fresh-Baked Rosemary Croissant.  It was a great combination of the sweet and smoky taste of the bacon then suddenly it changes to the sharp taste of the cheese — but the best part was the croissant.  Dad had the Wave Hill Breads French Toast with Applewood Smoked Bacon.  I tried that and it was excellent — because the bread was so good!

Afterwards, we tried their Cinnamon Bun which was freshly baked and was really good  and went really well with a glass of milk.

After breakfast, I got to learn a lot about the bakery and café from Jake Rapoport and his mom Margaret  Sapir.

Jake’s mom and dad own Wave Hill and Jake has been baking bread since he was in the seventh grade!!! I asked Jake what makes the bread so good?

He said “Time.  It takes twelve hours to make a perfect loaf of bread”. 

I also asked him what the most popular thing on the menu for breakfast. He said, “The Ultimate Egg Sandwich is really popular”

Hey I had that this morning!

Jake and his mom gave me a tour of the bakery, it was like being on a field trip!  I got to see the oven which can bake 300 loaves of bread at once and bakes them at 450 degrees.  I figured out that if you had 1,200 people ordering bread — you would only need to run the oven 4 times.  Ms. Margaret also told me all about their spelt bread and all about the bakery.

“We work with local farms to get our supplies.  Our spelt comes from Lightening Tree Farm in Millbrook, New York”.

She showed me the fresh spelt which are called berries and showed me how they mill it into flour.  At Wave Hill they mill their own flour.

Ms. Margaret also told me how she became a baker… it’s a great story that you can read here, but she and her family all learned together from Gerard Rubaud a Master French baker in Vermont.  Who taught them how to make bread the right way.  I also asked her what is the secret to making great bread.

She told me “It’s the Three “Ts” Time, Temperature and Touch – And it has to be made by hand to be good”.

Wave Hill also sells their bread and baked goods at 16 Farmer’s Markets every week, we’ll be sure to check them out at the farmer’s market and will definitely come back soon.

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *  (5)

LOOKS  * * * * * (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * *  (5)


This Breakfast Blue Me Away! The Olde Bluebird Inn In Easton

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The Olde Bluebird Inn, 363 Black Rock Turnpike, Easton, CT

We’ve been wanting to try out the Olde Bluebird Inn for a while, but have never had the chance.  Dad and I thought it was a little too far to drive, but in fact it’s really only about 20 minutes away —  it just looked far away on the map.  The Olde Bluebird Inn, has been around since 1919 — and it has that old-timey country look.  We sat in the front part of the cafe which had lots of geranium plants, so many that I felt like I was in a greenhouse. The Olde Bluebird is very popular with kids, and today there were lots of them there.

One thing about the Olde Bluebird, is even though the breakfasts are big, you don’t leave with your tummy feeling full – probably because everything is made with fresh ingredients.  Today I had Texas French Toast with Fresh Strawberries and Fresh Whipped Cream.  The French toast was really fluffy and the fresh strawberries juicy and sweet.  My dad has an omelet with Tomatoes, Cheese and Sausage — the cool thing about this was that it came with a huge piece of coffee cake — it was warm and tasted like it was just baked.  I also had some of his home fries – which were also very good.  The Chocolate Milk was freshly made and really cold!

Ewa Pogorzelski owner of the Olde Bluebird Inn

I spoke with Ewa Pogorzelski, the owner of The Olde Bluebird and asked her, “Is the inn part of The Olde Bluebird still open”?

She said, “No, just the restaurant part, the Inn has not been open in over 40 years”.

I also asked, “Does the menu change every weekend”?      

She said, “Yes, we have different breakfast specials every Saturday and Sunday”.

Finally, I asked Ms. Pogorzelski what her favorite thing on the menu was.  She loves the Sweet Potato Pancakes that they serve.  She also told me that she sometimes makes Polish food for lunch.

Maybe someday, I can bring my Grandma (who is also Polish and owns an Inn) to try that!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * *  (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *   (5)

LOOKS  * * * * *  (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * *  (5)

Brendan’s 101 – Scores 101% For Great Breakfasts In Rowayton!

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Brendan’s 101: 101 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton CT Brendan’s www.brendans101.com

Brendan’s 101 has been serving customers for over 23 years.  They are well-known for their ice cream and lobster rolls and also their breakfasts.  The restaurant is decorated with beautiful art, because it is also an art gallery and lots of maritime stuff, because it’s right on the river in Rowayton.

Today, we were lucky to have along a special guest who took all of the great pictures in today’s blog.  His name is David Straiton, and he is my dad’s friend from California. Dave is a TV and Film Director, which is why the pictures look extra good today.  Dave loves boats — so he really loved Brendan’s — and he also likes breakfast a lot — today he even went back for seconds!

Today I had French Toast with Honey Butter and Bacon.  The French Toast was outstanding! It was light and fluffy and the butter was sweet!  The bacon was crispy.  Unfortunately, they do not make fresh chocolate milk at Brendan’s – so I had a Nesquick.

I spoke to Lisa and Jeff, customers who were getting their breakfast and asked them “What do they like on the breakfast menu”?

Jeff said, “I love the Egg Sandwiches”  Lisa told me “I like the bagels”.

Even though it was very busy, I  also spoke with Celeste, our server, about Brendan’s Ice Cream.  I asked her, “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?”

She said, “I like the coconut ice cream”.

I also asked her, “Does anyone ever order ice cream for breakfast”?

She said “No”.

Maybe next time, my dad and I can be the first ones to do that!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *   (5)

LOOKS  * * * * *  (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * *  (5)

There’s Lots To “Chews” From The HUGE Menu At The Sherwood Diner…

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Sherwood Diner, 901 Post Road East,  Westport CT

Sherwood Diner on Facebook

The Sherwood Diner is a classic-style diner that serves hungry Westporters and travelers 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week! And so, if you’re going to feed all of these people, you must have a HUGE menu… and… the Sherwood definitely does!

I’ve been going to the Sherwood since I was pretty young and it’s always good for lunch, dinner, and especially breakfast.

With so many choices on the menu, it’s always hard to decide what to have.  But I knew that you can’t go wrong with French Toast — so I had the Challah Bread French Toast.  (I’ve loved Challah bread since I was in preschool — we used to have it every Friday).  But when you make French Toast with it, it comes out crispy on the outside and really fluffy on the inside — YUM!  I also had a side of bacon, which was crispy, but melted in your mouth.  To drink, our server, Liz made me a fresh chocolate milk, which she said was her specialty — and it is — it was super-syrupy!

With our awesome server, Liz!

I spoke with Liz, our server, who told me that the Sherwood has been open for over 35 years.

I also asked her, what her favorite breakfast on the menu was and she said,

“I really love the Eggs Benedict”

With Dimitri one of the Sherwood Diner's Owners

My dad had the Eggs Benedict, I tried it and it was really good — especially the sauce which is called Hollandaise sauce.

I also talked with Mr. Dimitri, one of the Sherwood Diner’s owners.

“The menu here is SO big with so many things to choose from,     What was strangest thing that anyone has ever ordered for breakfast at the Sherwood?”

He said… “Wow, that’s a really hard question, but probably the strangest ever was a Chicken Omelet with Fresh Garlic!”

I’m sure that guy was able to keep the vampires away!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * * *  (6)

LOOKS  * * * *  (4)

BATHROOM: * * * * *  (5)

Nicholas Roberts Gourmet Bistro — Great for Parties & Breakfast!

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Nicholas Roberts Gourmet Bistro, 75 Main Street, Norwalk CT

www.nicholasrobertsbistro.com

When we got to Nicholas Roberts today, the door was locked, but inside, you could see the chefs were hard at work in the open kitchen.  They were so busy, they didn’t notice that it was time to open the door because they were getting ready for the day.

Nicholas Roberts, is named after the father and son who both own it. The dad’s name is Nicholas and the son is Chef Robert.  But today, only Chef Robert was there.

Nicholas Roberts is not only a restaurant, but also a caterer — so they are very busy not only making great breakfasts, lunch and dinners –  and serving customers, but also cooking for big parties.  Today, they were getting ready for a big 1st birthday party.

I thought, that if they are so busy they must be really good — and they are!

For starters,  I had a Hot Chocolate, which Chef Robert made for me himself from scratch with milk, cocoa, sugar and even fresh whipped cream – it was creamy, light and tasty.  For breakfast I had the Apple Brioche French Toast which came with Maple Smoked Bacon and Fresh Fruit.  It was so good and big, that I could not finish it all.  Chef Robert thought that I didn’t like it, but I loved, it was just BIG!

I asked Chef Robert, “What is your favorite thing on the menu?”

He said “I love the NRG Eggs Benedict, which is Eggs Benedict served on a Crab Cake”

I also asked, “What is it like working with your dad?”

He said, “It’s a great pleasure working with my dad, because I learn a lot from him, I also like the way he talks with people, he deals with the clients very well”.

Thanks Chef Robert!!!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *   (5)

LOOKS  * * * * *  (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * * *  (6)

A Super Sweet Breakfast In SoNo @ SoNo Baking Company & Café

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The SoNo Baking Company & Café

101 Water Street, South Norwalk, CT  203.847.SONO (7666)

www.sonobaking.com

The first thing you notice when you walk intoThe SoNo Baking Company & Café are all of the awards they have won and newspaper and magazine articles that have been written about them — so you know this place is going to be good!  The other thing you will see is the open bakery because SoNo Baking is a real working bakery.

While you order your breakfast you can check out all of the AMAZING baked treats that are made there — Flourless Chocolate Cakes… Boston Cream Pies… and TONS of cupcakes!  They also make their own breads, croissants and all sorts of other tasty things.

Another fun part is you can also sit at the bar with windows that look into the bakery, and watch the bakers who today were all very busy…. WHY? Because they sold almost ALL of their baked goods yesterday and they needed to refill the cases.

Our reason for coming today was to “get down to breakfast business”!  And I can say, breakfast at SoNo Baking is Sweeeeeeeeeet!

I started with Hot Chocolate, which was very thick and rich, and really good.  For breakfast I had the Stuffed French Toast which is made with Brioche, Vanilla Pastry Cream and Mixed Berries.  For those of you who don’t know what Brioche is (I know my friend Alex Marshall who lives in Paris does), Brioche is a French Pastry that is very light and fluffy.  The Brioche makes it even more French-like than other French toasts! It was served with a fruit salad and was delicious!  I also tried their home fries and bacon which were also very good.

Matt Oricchio, The Sono Baking Company & Cafe

I spoke with Matt Oricchio, our server, who even though he was super busy helping customers was really nice.  I asked Matt, about the owner of the bakery, John Barricelli.

Matt told me, “His great-grandfather, Giuseppe Barricelli was a baker in Brooklyn, there’s a picture of him from 1904 on the wall, and his grandfather was also a baker… John was born to be a baker”. 

SoNo Bakery & Cafe also serves lunch… but make sure you save room for some cake!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *   (5)

LOOKS  * * * * * (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * * (5)

NEW TO CHEW — Baked French Toast Casserole at Aunt Michele’s

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Aunt Michele’s House, Exeter New Hampshire

My Cousin Vincent and Me -- Ready To Dig In!

For Thanksgiving, I went up to New Hampshire to spend it with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and my cousins. We stayed with my Uncle Scott, Aunt Michele and my cousins at their house.  My Aunt Michele likes to try new recipes, and for breakfast she made this delicious recipe that she got from the Food Network’s Paula Deen — and it was YUMMY!

It’s called Baked French Toast Casserole With Maple Syrup and Pralines (Pralines are a candied Pecan and they are AWESOME!!!!)

Here’s the recipe:

Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole With Maple Syrup

And a video of Paula Deen making it:

Paula Deen Shows How To Make Baked French Toast Casserole

Definitely try this recipe at Home!

Aunt Michele asked me if I would give her a Sunday Diner’s Review… so here we go!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * * *  (6)

LOOKS  * * * * * (5)

BATHROOM: * * * * * * * * * *  (10)

Thanks Aunt Michele for a REALLY great breakfast and fun stay!!!!

A “Chew Chew” Breakfast At The Springdale Diner!

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Springdale Diner, 901 Hope Street, Stamford CT

My dad’s friend Danny B told him that we should check out the Springdale Diner (wow that’s our second recommendation — so keep your ideas coming!), so we did and it was cool, great, awesome and deeeelicious!

The diner is located practically on the train tracks at Springdale Station!  This is cool for checking out the trains up close and makes it great for kids – and yes, today there were lots of kids there!

I had the amazing French Toast, Bacon and a freshly made Chocolate Milk. The French Toast was EXCELLENT – it was light and fluffy! It could have had a little more cinnamon on it, but it was still great!

Because it is near a train station, they are very good at making your food quickly!  They also have a TV screen that tells you what time the next train is arriving at the station so you don’t miss it.  This must be a very good tool, for commuters.

Today, I have a surpirse, I got to visit the kitchen and speak to the chef and owner of the Springdale Diner, who’s named Chris “The Greek”, he told me that the diner has been open for 15 years.

I also asked Chris:

What is your favorite breakfast on the menu?

He said “I really like the Chocolate Chip-Banana Pancakes!”

Two other cool things about the Springdale Diner… I met a really nice lady who is new to Connecticut, loves diners and was once on Iron Chef!!!

AND…

The have a REAL autographed picture of Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra!

The Sunday Diner Rating (out of 5)

FOOD  * * * * * (5)

SERVICE  * * * * *  (5)

LOOKS  * * * * (4)

BATHROOM: * * *  (3)