There just can't be a more perfect setting for a New
England breakfast place. A small, historic Rhode Island village. On the town square. Across the street from
the three hundred year old United Congregational Church.
An
admission, I screwed up. We drove all the way from
Providence to try their Johnny Cakes. I got
distracted by the corned beef hash - home made, maybe my
favorite breakfast when done well, and hard to find back
in Philadelphia. I ordered a single Johnny Cake, cut it in
thirds to share with my table mates, and, in a single bite
knew I had under ordered. This was a great Johnny cake -
thin, light, with stone ground corn meal grittiness. Best
I've had. Of course I compounded my screw up by
forgetting to take a pic of the Johnny Cake - only found
an out-of-focus pic in the background of a corned beef
hash pic. Guess I need to get back for a full order
of five Johnnycakes and a decent pic.
The corned beef has was great.
Nice crispness to the hash, perfectly poached eggs. The
waitress asked if I wanted my English muffin grilled or
toasted. First time for that question. I opted for
grilled.
OK, I'm being a bit
judgemental. But one of my friends went the IHOP route and
ordered a belgium waffle with strawberries and whipped
cream. I'm shifting the blame to him for not
ordering the Johnny cakes or something else New Englandy.
He's on probation for a few future meals. I will probably
have to order for him.
He did order a side of bacon
and egg. I really liked the simplicity of the
presentation.
I was heading from The Commons
Lunch to Amtrak and back to Philadelphia. As tempting as
the Amtrak club car menu may be, I worked my charm on our
waitress to convince her to work her charm on the kitchen
to fix me a sandwich to go during the middle of the
breakfast rush. The kitchen came through with a classic
chicken salad sandwich on white with lettuce and just the
right amount of mayonnaise.
One bit of advice - on Sunday
make sure to get to The Commons Lunch before United
Congregational Church's minister wraps up the service.
December 2012
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