Pub Fair Gratitude

No, there weren't any egg sandwiches to be had at the second annual VSW Pub Fair (well, except for the ones that Christine made for Tate and I - Thank you!!) but there were scones at the EAT table, hot beef sandwiches and beer at the front desk, amazing food from The Bento Box, and lots and lots of books. And Writers And Books had a poet on hand to craft you a poem after a brief conversation; Charlie and I talked about egg sandwiches, how grateful I am when someone makes me one, and how I like my eggs. I payed $3 and he started typing. This is damn near perfect (the only exception being coffee instead of tea).

I'd like to thank everyone who gave their time to help make Pub Fair possible: the sponsors and vendors who filled the auditorium and made it worthwhile, the students and volunteers who kept it running, the hundreds of attendees who showed their support for independent publishing, and to Charlie for the poem. For these people I am grateful.

Village Bakery - At The Armory

Back in February Karen schlepped a couple of sandwiches from the original Pittsford Village Bakery and they were great, even with the delivery time downtown. Last week I thought I'd return the favor and deliver breakfast before work seeing as how there's a Village Bakery in the city now, just blocks from Karen's house.

I was surprised to see the place empty on a work day (maybe I beat the rush?) but was thrilled as I was anxious to deliver these before she had to leave for work. I ordered two of The Alex (for location comparison from the first Village Bakery review). A few minutes passed and I ordered a drink and a scone to go. A few people trickled in. I sipped my tea while looking around at the white tile. I waited a few more minutes. I looked out the window to see if it had cleared up yet, then I looked through the little kitchen window to see if there was actual movement back there. I did see someone prepping some food. "Soon," I thought. I waited a couple more minutes.

After my morning meditation wait I headed over to Karen's to surprise her with breakfast. Oh, did I mention it was her birthday? It was. And I did surprise her, especially when she didn't hear me come in over the water running. Heeeelarious. Anyway, we sat down to eat and even though her house is mere blocks and minutes away from The Armory, the toast was already kind of soggy. We dug in. No pesto in this bite. Next bite had no chevre. Then I remembered that there was a mound of Arugula on the first Alex I tried. This had about five limp leaves. This sandwich was not very well assembled and a bit of a dud. It didn't inspire as much hostility as this burrito disaster, but was disappointing given the price and the amount of time spent making the damn thing. Everybody has an off day, and I'm guessing this was one of them.

Long story short, I had to wait a long time and they came up short.

Village Bakery
Sandwich cost: $6.95
Rating: Below average breakfast sandwich at an above average price

Hart's Local Grocers

There's a new store in town and it's loooooking good
Got an egg, got a roll, in the neighborhood
They've just opened up but if things work out
it's gonna stayyyyyy ahhhhh whiiiiiiiile.
Bup bup bup bupbaaaaaa.

Hart's Local Grocers just opened up in the East End of town (behind the Little, across the Parking lot from Two Vine) and has a coffee/grill station in the southwest corner with a breakfast menu. Karen saw them post it and we headed on over.

They have two breakfast sandwiches on their five item breakfast menu and anything with avocado is is a shoo-in for me; I ordered the Signature (two Happy Hen eggs, sliced avocado, arugala, pancetta and Sriracha mayo) though I wasn't feeling porky so I passed on the pancetta (Easy enough to do but as Karen noted - why no egg options without meat to begin with in a store that offers vegan cheesecake?). It was nice to see the grill adjacent to the coffee counter and know that the sandwich was being made to order. A couple minutes later it was ready and after some counter confusion I grabbed it and we went to sit by the big windows that look out over Winthrop Street. I unwrapped the sandwich and the roll looked delicious. I was excited to dig in.

Good news! The roll was delicious! Crusty top, firm insides that didn't collapse under jaw pressure or get soggy next to lettuce and mayo. The Hart's website lists their bread suppliers as Baker Street Bread Co. and Small World Food so I don't know who gets the credit. Egg (menu said two but I only recall one) was fried hard, but was good, Sriracha mayo is a no brainer though a little mayo goes a long way and half of what I had would've been fine. Arugula and avocado kind of got lost in the mayo which got me thinking that the pancetta probably helps even the whole thing out. Don't be mislead, I am nitpicking here, this was a very good sandwich. I especially appreciate that Hart's offers an egg sandwich for under $5 that doesn't consist of lowest common denominator ingredients.

I got this sandwich on their second day open and I'm hoping as they hone the place this could go from a very good sandwich to a favorite. No pressure, Hart's. No pressure.

Hart's Local Grocers
Sandwich cost: $4.95
Rating: It's a pretty good sandwich

Maria's Luncheonette - Road Trip Entry

It has become a family tradition to head to Atlantic City for a few days each August to jump in the waves, marvel at all the crap the boardwalk has to offer, and take in some of the best people watching there is. The boardwalk can get a bit pricey for food, so we ventured into the streets behind the casinos and glitz to find some regular ol' eats.

Around the corner from the hotel was the Lenox Cafe but as it was a Tuesday they were not open (thanks for nothing, yelp!) so we headed a few blocks over to Maria's where we had good luck last summer. A pretty standard diner in a narrow older building, we grabbed a few tables in the back and looked over the menu. "Breakfast All The Time" beamed up at me in Curlz MT and I knew all was well in the world. After a quick scan at the sandwich options I figured I'd go for the egg and cheese with sausage pork roll since I wasn't sure what that was. I asked our waitress who went into a lengthy description with hand motions but as it turned out she was thinking of scrapple. She backpedalled a little and said "It's good, you should try it." Hoping that New Jersey's proximity to Manhattan might mean a better bagel I asked her what she thought. Turns out she is from NYC and waitressing in AC for the summer: "Well, it's certainly not the best bagel, but it's not terrible." A ringing endorsement! I went with it anyway.

Our food came quickly and I took a look at the sausage pork roll. Kinda looked like ham. Took a bite. Kinda tasted like ham/Spam/Canadian bacon, but the mention of Spam is not meant to be disparaging. It was grilled but not too greasy, sweet and salty as well. I would get it again and wondered what the pork roll story was. God bless the internet for introducing me to this delightful mail order company: Jersey Boy Pork Roll.

So, the egg, white American (just look at the gooeyness!), and pork roll were all well suited to each other and the bagel...well, it was certainly far from being the best but also not the worst. It had the shiny, boiled exterior on top but not on bottom. Sort of half bagel/half breadel, but it didn't collapse when I bit into it so a step above the usual diner bagel.

Maria's Luncheonette
2319 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Sandwich cost: $4.50
Rating: I'm writing home about it, but it's a short letter.

Pat's Coffee Mug

It's a beautiful Saturday morning and there's plenty to do today; Better eat a solid breakfast. Karen picked me up and we headed to the South Wedge to investigate Pat's Coffee Mug after hearing many colorful reviews of it.

There's not much to look at or notice from the street so I was surprised to see the sprawling diner that was inside. A counter with stools in the front section, a middle section with some big tables, and an adjoining dining room with lots of booths and tables. And wood panelling. And a fireplace with snow globes on top. And hockey sticks on the wall. This is just some of the decor, you really should go and check it out yourself. Karen summed it up as Elks' Lodge basement circa 1975. But in a charming way. This is a real-deal, genuine neighborhood joint.

Menu was straightforward and cheap! They listed the fried egg sandwich on a grilled roll and I didn't have the energy to inquire what kind of roll. I ordered it with bacon and figured I'd steal some of Karen's home fries. Our food came out quickly and it was nice to see that the roll was toasty and buttered, but the real pleasure came when I put the sandwich together to reveal sesame seeds. Oooh! Aaah! Ohhhh! It may have been from a supermarket, but not having that smushy Rochester hard roll is a victory in itself. I dug in: fried egg cooked but not crispy, cheese melty and salty, bacon with alternating crisp and chewy salty goodness. And the roll did not collapse after a few bites. This makes for a pretty darn good $3 breakfast sandwich! Beverages were refilled without asking and everyone is happy! I did steal some home fries from Karen's plate and did not regret not getting my own. These are the home fries my grandmother Yetta would try to get the greasiest spoons to serve with fail: dry as a bone and unseasoned, but I like a little more going on with my potatoes.

Pat's Coffee Mug
627 Clinton Avenue South, 14620
Sandwich cost: $3
Rating: A breakfast sandwich if ever there was one

Highland Park Diner

Man, the egg sandwiches are piling up on my phone - Time to spread the breakfast sandwich gospel! Can I get a witness!? No? How 'bout a decent roll then? No? How about a pita stuffed with scrambled eggs, gyro meat, onion, tomatoes, and feta? Hell yes!

Sunday brunch with out of town friends at the Highland Park Diner after working four back to back twelve hour days; It was time for a substantial meal. Highland Park Diner has several sandwich options but the Gyro one sounded best, with the added bonus of a pita instead of a roll (and it was a damn fine pita). I was not disappointed, it was friggin' great. Like an omelet in a pita, but still manageable to eat in your hands like a sandwich. Potatoes were good, too - flavorful with crunchy grilled edges.

Highland Park Diner
Sandwich cost: $7.49 (includes home fries, grits, or fresh fruit)
Rating: Wholly worthwhile

Eddie's Restaurant - Road Trip Entry

If you're looking for some low-key adventure and want to do a little bit of time travel, head on over to Sylvan Beach on the shore of beautiful Oneida Lake. A tiny town with an aging amusement park, beach for swimming, lots of rental cottages, cute Main street, and Eddie's Restaurant - a mainstay for 80 years.

Eddie's looks as though it got a major remodel in the 70s but is still in great shape: large dining room with a faint fried fish smell from their famous fish fry, vinyl upholstered chairs and booths, and brass metalwork dividers. Our party of six was seated at the end of a long row of tables near the back and we looked over our menus. The kids already knew they were getting the hot ham sandwich but I headed over to the breakfast side of the menu. Hot damn! Hot ham on a breakfast sandwich! Done!

We had to wait a bit for our food but when it came I was treated to an American flag toothpick in mine. It was then that I realized that this sandwich was not just for me, but for all of America.

As for the actual sandwich, it was pretty good. The roll was a firmer version of a hard roll with some corn meal sprinkled on top for texture, egg was a perfectly round circle of hard scramble, American cheese (obbbviously) was melty, and the hot ham, well, you can see the hot ham was plentiful. I grabbed my fork and ate some the ham to start just to get the sandwich to a bite-able height and the capicola was good - very spicy, not too fatty, reminded me more of corned beef than ham. On to the sandwich, unfortunately with that mound of ham and the giant disk of egg the proportions were a little off but when you got the cheese mixing in with the ham it was fantastic. I didn't get potatoes with mine though I did try some of the homemade chips that Karen got and they were pretty fabulous.

Eddie's Restaurant
Sandwich cost: $6.99
Rating: That's a big pile of hot....ham.