Sunday, November 15, 2009
Breakfast Links
Posted by Susan Ellis on Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 7:16 AM
- thomameat.com
And in other breakfast news, former Memphian and Flyer contributor Paul Gerald has a new online radio show based on his book Breakfast in Bridgetown, covering the most important meal of the day in Portland, Oregon. Get more info on the show here.
Paul is considering doing breakfast books for other cities. Perhaps a Breakfast in M-Town?
Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
Thanks for the link!
I guarantee "Breakfast in M-Town" would start with Brother Juniper's.
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Gaaaaacccckkkk!!
It is no wonder that the annual Best of Memphis so often has chain restaurants with their microwaved entrees voted in as the best food in Memphis.
2 times at BJs was enough to convince me that stale, greasy, tepid, and rude was the order of the day.
Weird Powergamz, I've always had fresh, delicious food there: best in town I'd say. But weekends are tough, they get so full. I try to avoid it on Saturday unless I can get there just at opening.
Haven't been in a long tome though, maybe things have changed. Tried to go a couple of weeks ago but there was a 45-minute wait. That usually doesn't happen at places serving up stale, greasy, tepid food with a side of rudeness.
While it is possible Brother Junipers was just sub par the 2 times I went, I haven't been back, and that's going on several years.
And I don't doubt they are popular, but the lines wrap around the building on the weekends at Shoney's et al. too.
When I go out to a 'special' eatery, be it hole in the wall or 5 star, I expect something way above average to be the norm, and I really believe a lot of folks have been conditioned by fast food to accept barely mediocre as good, and slightly better as great.
But I freely admit that I'm a bit of a food snob, as well as a militant cynic.
Brother Juniper's is an honest place that serves a great breakfast and is run by two of the nicest, hardest working people in town.
Just a few weeks ago I had an excellent black-bean breakfast burrito at Brother Juniper's.
It was so massive I took half of it home. It was just as tasty at dinner.
I can assure you PG, I'm not "conditioned by fast food" or inclined toward the "mediocre." I've trained under extraordinary chefs, talked my way into kitchens all over Europe. I'm very close to being outright food snob. BJs is a local treasure, and as far from fast food as you can get.
The coffee is always fresh and excellent. The spanakopita omelets are scrumptious. There are mornings when I'd trade my birthright (such as it is) for a slice of the homemade straun toast. They have changed the biscuit recipe, which makes me sad. Those giant doughy whole wheat monsters the size of a baby's head nourished me in grad school.
I've chowed down from coast to coast and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. To get a better first meal (daily) you've at least got to drive to Chicago or New Orleans where you will find dream diners and breakfast artists. Nothing on BJ's menu can compare to the Beauty Shop's "hash" and if you're expecting a Peabody brunch, you'll be let down. But for a daily diner, it's a pretty special place.
@Chris
No need to get defensive just because someone *else* got an omelet that was sliding off the plate, stale bread, lukewarm coffee and Dublin caliber service.
Apparently they weren't at their best when I was there... it happens.
And I was talking about the people who vote year after year for chains like IHOP, Lenny's Subs, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks's in the Best of Memphis.
Popular and great may be synonymous for some folks, but MMMV.
Power, your views of the "Best of" are dated.
There are still chains that wind up in the list, to be sure, but they are in the far minority.
My point-- Memphis has progressed greatly foodwise. A good thing for everybody.
Not defensive, only saying It is absurd to say those who like BJ have tastes informed by fast food. Point being, my tastes are snooty, educated, and well traveled. I've sent friends from all over the world to the College Inn for breakfast and so far yours is the only complaint I've heard. That doesn't mean you didn't have bad experiences. It does suggest that Memphis' love of Brother J's isn't, as you suggest, a proof of our unsophisticated taste in breakfast foods.
Susan, those were from the most recent poll and the ones going back a few years... how is that 'outdated'?
And they aren't 'my views', they are the Flyer's assessment of local tastes.
Notice that I left out chains that won in a category relevant to their chain strengths, like Best Happy Hour, Best for Kids, Best Delivery, and Best Fried Chicken, and only pointed out the ones voted as best food compared to good local places. That is a pretty telling slice of the demographic.
Memphis has some wonderful food, and some good food, and entirely too much 'just OK' food to be had, but again, popularity and excellence are not always synonymous, and no place is perfect every visit, every dish.
What Memphis does *not* have is a surfeit of places with wonderful food, so quit trying to shoot the messenger and pretend that negative comments about a favorite place are heresy.
Maybe they were having a bad day, maybe it was someone who no longer works there, maybe I didn't have the same experience as the 'regulars', or any number of things, but how can anyone fix problems if no one speaks up and mentions them?
Okay, Power, we're not going to agree here.
The chains you've mentioned haven't dominated "Best of" for years now. I see that as a good thing and something to build on. ...
In any case, I think everyone here is trying to tell you to give Brother Junipers another chance. If it's horrible on the third time, then that's that.
Susan, I never said dominated, the fact that they even show up in the top 3 is something I would be amazed to find in other cities this size.
If there were dozens of local places in each category serving food that was head and shoulders above the chains, I would expect the polls to reflect that. It isn't reflected here, for whatever reason... local tastes, or shortage of competition.
@Chris I agree that the whole 'you only get so many chances to make a first impression' concept can go against being fair to those who make a place popular.
Nonetheless, that's the best explanation I can come up with for the extremely popular local places that I've found lacking.
Food is somewhat subjective anyway, and I'll stand by my assessment that the popular chains I listed as indicative of local tastes are a far cry from what I call great food.
So the question is more, are the Flyer polls compared to my personal experiences a valid measure of local tastes?
BTW, I do like a lot of the places that have won over the yeas, a few places I really like barely rate a mention (La Trenga), and some places I've been forced by business or other circumstances to eat at repeatedly and they just aren't going to get any better ever, no matter how many years they win (unnamed Italian place at Appling and Stage springs unpleasantly to mind).
Based on the comments here, I'm quite willing to revisit BJs and see what I find.
(But I draw the line at Lenny's).
@powergamz re "And they aren't 'my views', they are the Flyer's assessment of local tastes."
the best of memphis is a reader's poll, not a staff poll. although we usually include some type of "staff picks" editorial, the winners of the nearly 125 ballot categories are chosen by readers. we just tally the ballots.
While I enjoy going to Brother Junipers, I do not think it is the best place in Memphis to get breakfast. Now this may be because aside from traveling around the world much like Chris, I have never lost my desire for a good ol' southern home cooked breakfast. You know the plate full of all of the stuff that is bad for you. I just can't help it, it's a weakness of mine. Call it genetic.
Having said all of that I do love what they're doing there and wish that we had more restaurants stepping out there and creating new and exciting dishes, as well as spinning traditional ideas upside down. I do agree that the food scene here is getting better everyday, but PG is right that we have way too many mediocre (at best) places that people think are just great for some reason.
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