Hash House a Go Go ~ Orlando Florida

  With an four hour tour ahead of us on a Sunday at Full Sail University, we needed a full breakfast. I will admit that we were warned. Large portions were noted by other bloggers as the norm at Hash House A Go Go. However, the "twisted farm food" theme enticed me. 

  My keen eye noticed that the building was a refurbished Ryan's Family Steakhouse (I am good like that). They have done a mighty fine job, I might add. Anytime someone remodels a Ryan's and adds a full alcohol bar (to replace the food bars) they get extra brownie points. 

Farmers and such are the theme here , you know... "Americana". 

  There are images everywhere reminding  us, and all of the international visitors, what Americana is all about.

  Well, nice try. I do love what they have done to the building, but what I found out while dining here was what Americana used to be, and what it has become.

  There is a big difference between a old fashion country breakfast and a calorie and carbohydrate overload. I was looking for the nurse's station with the defibrillator, but unfortunately I did not find it . They really should have one. I am being dead serious - no pun intended.

  Check out my pancake. 

No, I do not have midget circus hands.

  The above is biscuits and gravy. I also was looking for the calorie chart for this food. I did not find that either.

  The pancake was loaded with blueberries and pecans which in and of themselves are healthy. It was served with butter (real I believe) and a disappointing syrup. Why destroy a pancake with a HFCS bombshell? I have a $5.00 bill on the bet that the pancake was made with a mix. 

  I did not taste, nor did I have a desire to taste the biscuits and hash/gravy/egg plate.

  So, on International Drive the internationals (and Americans) can see the morphing of Americans. On the walls they can see the pictures of our hard working ancestors. But what is truly disturbing is the Americans that are actually devouring whole plates of this fat fare. These are today's real Americans. 

There is no glory in gluttony. gf

  What a waste. It is such a nice building. If they would cut the portion sizes in half they would have a real nice place. I know that breakfast fare has a low food cost, but this was just ridiculous.

  Our server was off point and infrequent with his service. The food came out sporadically, but, hey, those things happen from time to time. Overall, for me, it is "Hash House a No No".

That is all I have to say about that.

Thanks for reading,

gf  

  

Big City Bread Cafe, Athens GA

  I got on the road about 6:30 to make the breakfast date with my daughter Ashley at 9:00 sharp. She was not pleased about the early start, but rising early is good for her I think. I plodded though the Atlanta traffic driving west on I-20 into the brake lit early dawn. It actually was a pleasant drive with very few issues. To those not from Atlanta that last sentence is a rarity. I turned left at Conyers and passed about twenty country stores, some offering "homemade biscuits", and soon passed through Monroe, and then onto Hwy 78, and then Atlanta Hwy.

   My heater, which was recently fixed by the experts at Firestone, was not working at maximum efficiency; this will require taking it back to have them fix it again. New should work better than that. This coolness would linger with me though out most of the day unfortunately. Finding a warm place to hang out was an issue all morning. The Big City Bread Cafe was not our first choice for dining as Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods Automatic For The People was unfortunately closed. Yeah, I don't know what the hell is up with that name either, but we will just have to find out that information later. My feet were now at the lowest temperature all morning; I needed coffee ASAP.

  Ashley had an excellent Plan B. I was amazed that a Plan B could be as good as a Plan A, but euphoria soon dimmed as her lack of specific directions about the locations of these restaurants enveloped the breakfast event. Thank goodness for Google Latitude. Love you Ashley, mean it. She redeemed herself from Plan A by directing me (generally) to the Big City Bread Cafe. Parking was almost an issue but we squeezed in behind another SUV, and I pretended not to see the faded stripped lines that seemed to call out "No Parking Here". That was going to be my defense for a obvious parking violation, and I was going to stick with it.

  This was an odd red bricked square building with multiple doors and a cool ramp thing toward the back of the building. I felt as though there were secret doors leading into a mysterious inner realm of food production. When we were leaving, a nice smiling lady disappeared into one of these doors that was covered with hand cut out arrows, that was draped with burlap, and looked real artsy. She smiled at us with a "I know something you don't know" smile as she scuttled into the back of the building. We walked onto the patio that had Rosemary bushes surrounding odd birch looking trees that had Christmas lights on them. Nice patio furniture was placed throughout the patio. As we passed by yet another door which had "use other door" sign on it we saw the chalk boards.

  Chalk boards are an important sign of goodness. I think that if there are chalk boards being used in a restaurant or cafe everything is right as rain. I really did not read the chalk board, but that is besides the point. Chalk boards mean fresh food, usually. Sometimes it means food that is about to go out of date, but it mostly means that whoever is in charge is involved with the food and menu on a daily basis. It also means that someone is really good at writing on a chalk board, which is an art.

We entered, and I smelled the coffee. I was instantly happier. Somewhat distracted by the blue and white Christmas tree ornaments hanging from the ceiling, I smiled as I looked over this cafe. This was not somewhere where I had been before, and it did not remind me of anywhere I had been before. What a great feeling of originality, well, more or less. There was a red espresso machine which was nice as I don't really think I have seen such a bright red espresso machine before. The young lady that was running the counter was not annoyed by my overall annoying personality. She was very nice answering and smiling to all my questions. There was a helper running food who reminded me of a kind elf. Not the Santa type but rather the Lord of the Rings type. She was also smiling and obviously enjoying her job.

Being located in Athens GA there were the poster things posted everywhere under the counter. This is a standard operating procedure here. If you eat in Athens or in any college town and to not see these poster things, leave immediately. We were greeted by two nasty calorie filled display cases. I was going into a sugar high already. Cakes, cookies, and chocolate covered mice, and coconut polar bear cup cakes. We grabbed up a menu and started looking for breakfast. We both ordered french toast which was going to be allegedly dredged in a batter and grilled. Then we went about drooling over the goodies in the display cases. I bought a mouse and took him to our table which was marked with a tall skinny chrome marker with a number 7 attached to the top.

We settled into a booth and started enjoying our hot beverages. I glanced at the thermostat; it was set at a disappointing 65 degrees. Still trying to get warm I sipped my coffee and took great pleasure in the black painted heat and air ducts (not so much heat, mostly air), and the black burlap squares dotting the ceiling to reduce the noise echo in this old building. Simple light fixtures and simple tables made this dining room actually pleasurable. I ate my mouse.

Soon our breakfast arrived delivered by the Elvin Princess. We were both shocked at the French Toast as it did not seem as dredged as the description. I was pleased that it looked so simple. It came with two ounces of Maple syrup which was portioned out into a souffle cup. Decorated with one lone strawberry this was a perfect breakfast. The bread was cut on a long bias, and stacked on top of each other, with a slight dusting of powdered sugar. Not too sweet, not over sugared. That in and of it self was amazing to me. There are a lot  places that muck up French Toast. These folks have it figured out. Even though it was a bit pricey ($7), I did not care one iota.

Well, I was nosy and snapped a few pictures of my neighbors breakfast when it was delivered. They were quite pleased that I took a picture of their eggs and biscuits. It looked delicious as well. I did think about asking for a bite, but I restrained myself. On the way out I had to purchase another mouse, a mini cheese cake, and a coconut Polar Bear for my wife. The mouse was the best.






You should check out this place when in Athens.  gf

Five Star Day Cafe

Athens Georgia can be an odd place to visit. There is obvious creativity abounding around every corner; however you can also see that there is also plenty of failure as well. This town is littered with the remnants of creative entrepreneurism. "Throw enough "crap" against the wall to find out what will stick." is the quote that comes to mind. But, that is what makes this town successful. As I walked around downtown geocaching, after eating breakfast with my kids at the Five Star Day Café, I found haunting examples of this, in the empty buildings that we passed. Some were empty because they were closed, and some were empty because they were open. Some of the coolest looking spots were closed, along with two corner spots, which were perfect for making money. I think that some of the issues have been either over thinking, or under thinking the business. I think that the problem most of the time is not the ideas, but rather the execution. It is not enough to envision what the end product should be like. Looking around I am sure that some of these businesses had a good idea what they were going to do, but then just forgot what they were doing. The journey on how to get there is the real test of intellect, perseverance, and patience. But hey, that is just my opinion. This is why college towns are intriguing though. 

Let me get back to our breakfast. You know that it is the most important meal of the day, right? Who came up with that nonsense? Why is it more important that lunch, dinner, or snacks even? How do think that makes those other meals feel? It is important, I agree, but more…not so sure about that. So, anyway, we all hooked up at the Five Star Day Café for the most important meal of our day. Most of the stores in downtown Athens are narrow shotgun style buildings. Most have big picture windows perfect for stray rocks or bb's to lodge themselves into. Five Star was no exception to this general rule. The four of us piled into the store all at once. This action was not too well prepared for by the owners. People entering your establishment should not be this challenging. There was not much room to stand and we were all close together like cows in a feedlot. I was handed a menu, which was a challenge, as I was trying to negotiate between my reading glasses and my to-go cup of coffee that I was still working on from the ride over from Atlanta. Reading the menu while fumbling around was not working out so well for me, even with assistance from my daughter. I went to plan "B" which was reading the chalk board with the Specials. Done. This should have been the deal from the beginning. Scrap the menu, write it on the board. The cashier was friendly and helpful, she took our order and then morphed into our waitress moments later. This may have been intentional, or it may have been a staffing issue. I never did figure that out. She kept my coffee cup full so we got along just fine.

The food came along rather quickly, which was a surprise. I don't know, I figured the dish boy and the cook were sharing jobs just like the cashier and waitress were. Big portions, with little star shaped biscuits as a garnish. Very nice touch. I saw a spark of intellect in that move. My thoughts were that they had found a star shaped biscuit cutter, and then named the place. Not sure about that. Anyway, I ordered the special scramble plate that had veggies tossed into the eggs. This was very good and filling. I donated my star biscuit to my son as I did not want to eat any poison on this fine morning. The general consensus was that the five star biscuits were tough and rather hard, but cute. The larger biscuits that came with the meals were lighter and were perfect. The signature dishes at our table and at other tables (yes, I went around and bugged other people while they were eating) were the biscuits and sausage gravy and the potato cakes. The sausage gravy was reported as a bit on the thin and runny side, but made up for that weakness with exceptional flavor. The potato cakes were described like unto a salmon patty texture with plenty of texture and flavor. I believe this was a potato and bread blend with seasonings most likely prepared just like a salmon patty. The eggs were light and fluffy, not overcooked like I cook them. The coffee was average, which was disappointing I admit. I always feel that if you call yourself a café you need to have exceptional beverages.

 
What makes visiting a place like Five Star Day Café fun is the small details that no one really pays attention to. There are so many quirky cool things that happen in places like these. I think it is the fact that they are not a cookie cutter operation, and that free thinking still has the upper hand. This can be a negative as well, but I think as long as owners to not have too many sacred cows themselves they will be just fine. Advertisements and stickers on the door is a key ingredient to any real establishment. Lots of beggars and promoters sticking crap on your door may indicate that you are a place where people will frequent often. Really cool signs and logos are a key ingredient as well. Five Star Day Café with those five star biscuits is real unique. Or maybe the goal is to get five stars on a review? Chalk boards are a another sign that point to creativity and uniqueness. I think that Five Star needs to go straight to a chalk board set up as they have limited foyer space. They could also hire servers and take the orders at the tables. This would solve the foyer issues as well. The cashier could be the host as well, but they would have to change the configuration of the cashier stand. This may not be a bad change for this store as they entry is somewhat of a cluster anyway. I was curious about the drink/tea bucket cooler in the foyer as well. It was sucking up space, and it was not really adding to the experience save some cool Nehi drinks that no one was really paying any attention to. There was art work for sale on the walls; this is always a clever way to decorate cheaply, especially in a college town. Five Star sported a semi open kitchen, where you could see flipping and stirring going on. I like an open kitchen view to a degree, and they did it very well. Cooks with crazy bandana hats and mix matched uniforms were featured.

The real star of the show was the food. Great food at the Five Star Day Café. They have not forgotten why they are there, or why you came there. People go out to eat to eat. Great job. Over all score ~ Four and a Half Stars. The Four and a Half Star Day Café. Athens Georgia. Go there when you are in town and you should not be disappointed.




 
gf