Hank's Creekside Restaurant, Santa Rosa

I'm not a brunch person. I don't like eating breakfast or lunch at 10 or 11 am, or whatever time brunch begins. But eating a hearty breakfast at AM, I'm all over that. Hank's Creekside in Santa Rosa serves breakfast, really good breakfast.

The Cured Ham loves eggs, bacon (naturally), hash browns, biscuits, pancakes, a fluffy omelet, juice and coffee. But I usually have to eat at the hotel when I'm traveling for business. The scrambled egg destruction that usually arrives in a chaffing dish is inedible and don't think about asking for eggs over-easy.

If I'm eating at home, one thing I've never really perfected is hash browns. I can do all the other stuff, biscuits from scratch and all, but those damn hash browns just don't come out right.Well, I was in for a real treat at Hank's. As you can see from the picture above, every element was done exactly right. It's exciting to have a great breakfast.

At breakfast certain protocols are observed:

"Good Morning, juice or coffee?" and the server usually has both in hand.

If you're a regular, "Your usual?" How often would that question come up at dinner, except in reference to a cocktail. Otherwise, "Do you need a minute to decide?"

If you are not a regular or have deviated from normal procedure, your next decision could decide whether it's a great day or just so-so.

Deciding your Egg preparation could be the most important of the day. It's a difficult item to order, as there are the following options: scrambled wet or dry, over easy, over medium, over well, sunny-side up, poached, and finally omelet. At dinner, you see four, five, and six minute eggs these days. A piece of prime aged beef only has rare, medium rare, medium, and heaven forbid well done. And eggs are way more fussy than a piece of beef and cost pennies compared to prime aged rib-eye.

Generally, I like my eggs over easy. I can tell you that without a doubt, everything I received that morning at Hank's Creekside was cooked perfectly. The service was crisp and done with a smile. One other thing I noticed, the crew working both the front and back of the house were young. I didn't see grizzled veterans with poor attitudes. I saw vibrant, excited staff serving a very local crowd with pride. Great job Hank's Creekside.

Let the Reading of the Morning Paper commence.