Dona Tomas, Oakland

Dona Tomas Chilaquiles Verde were Damn Good! It was just before closing time for Sunday brunch at Dona Tomas’ in Oakland and I was hungry. I ate breakfast a little later than normal that morning with my brother, then had some errands to run in the East Bay, all while I was managing my dehydration syndrome (a.k.a. hangover) from a limited diet the night before of truffle cheese, olive bread, red wine, bourbon and cigars. I keep reminding myself, that stress will kill me, not food.

I rank Chilaquiles as one of my Top 5 breakfast meals. I rarely miss an opportunity to order this simple dish of leftover corn chips with either salsa verde or rojo, some queso fresco, and some eggs. Dona Tomas’ adds a fresh avocado on top for added richness.

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks and I could have eaten another plate of this stuff. 

Huckleberry's, Fresno

I’ve thought of a few great reasons to come to Huckleberry’s in Fresno for breakfast:

1. If you need to gain weight quickly for a chance to play the roll of The King Pin in the next Spiderman movie or Penguin in the next Batman movie.

2. If you only have $7 to eat that day and don't want to eat again for 24 hours.

3. If you have the mutant ability to regurgitate food like a raptor and have young mutants at home eagerly awaiting their vomitus meal.

4. If you like Man vs. Food and want to pretend you’re “that guy” while you fill your pie hole full of outrageously large portions of industrially prepared food.

5. Training for the Ever-So-American Hot Dog eating contest? I’ve found the gym, I've found the trough for you.

Here’s the pile of food I was given in the attached picture. No, the biscuits and gravy did not taste good. The potatoes were actually ok and I did eat those. I had a couple bites of biscuit for polite reasons. The fruit pictured on the right tasted like they were cut on the same board as the onions and garlic. Horrible.

The service staff did hustle like crazy and were very polite.

Cafe Des Amis, Cow Hollow, San Francisco

Luckily, I was able to stay out in Cow Hollow recently and walked down to breakfast at Café Des Amis on Union St. A quick review of the menu and I spotted a standout, Duck confit hash. 

Since they also serve liquor, I ordered up a Bloody Mary as well.

 

I don’t know if I was just hungry or what, but I actually had to consciously stop myself from eating this meal too quickly. I’m a huge fan of duck confit and I’ve never thought to use leftover (probably because there never is any) confit for my breakfast. The potatoes were fried nicely and the eggs poached wonderfully. This was food to feed the soul and would tide me over till dinner.

Oh yes, the Bloody was very good too.

The Cured Ham eats McDonald's Breakfast

Yet another guilty pleasure of mine is McDonald's Hash Browns and an Egg McMuffin. Call it nostalgia or just being a kid again, there is something satisfying about this breakfast sandwich.

Searsucker, San Diego

I started with the spinach salad topped with bacon, bacon, bacon and coddled egg. Did I mention spinach salad with my bacon? Freshly assembled and brought to the pass, my spinach didn’t sit, it still had texture when it reached me. Thoroughly tossed, well seasoned, and very well garnished , I truly loved my salad. Not traditional spinach salad, this version has a creamy dressing and a cold coddled egg, rather than a hard-boiled and chopped one. I mentioned bacon right? Large pieces of bacon were everywhere, no tiny bacon bits or bacon sweepings anywhere to be found. Just large slices of crispy delicious bacon. Critically speaking, the amount of bacon was probably too much, but there wasn’t anything left on my plate either.

Second up, tuna tartare with a bit too much sirachia and taro chips. The cuts of tuna were consistent and precise and the tuna was fresh, no gummy texture. The taro chips were actually crisp and seasoned with salt. Chips can be an afterthought, but these actually were good. What I have issue with was the level of heat in the dish. I like spice and heat, but when it becomes a race to eat the next bite just to speed through the ongoing heat, it’s no longer relaxing. I did mention this heat issue to the server and she agreed that there has been some inconsistencies in the heat of this dish based upon who’s putting it together. Interesting, so she knew it and didn’t tell me until after I ordered it an complained. If I’d known about the heat or inconsistency, I would have ordered the beef tartare. 

Bacon, eggs, and toast with gravy. Talk about managing expectations. This wasn’t some simple country breakfast. This was Brioche toast, topped with crispy pork belly, poached egg, and country gravy. Sick, off-the-charts good is what this dish was. As near perfect as one could construct a dish. Each element was exactly right. The pork belly fat was both caramelized and only slightly gelatinous, with the pig meat moist and delicious. The brioche was toasted and not a bit soggy. The egg on top was just runny enough. All wonderful. Finally, the country gravy was treated like a French sauce, not some afterthought. There was color and richness to the gravy that brought out all the flavors and incorporated them together rather than smothered them.

I was impressed with the food. As a note, I ordered off of the starter menu only, not a single main entree. Seriously, I was tempted to order a second bacon, eggs and brioche. It was that good.