Lumpy's Diner of Pittsburg CA

Look at that thick gooey Hollandaise sauce!  Most places I've visited don't make the sauce this thick.

Lumpy's is located on Harbor Street in Pittsburg.  If you're on the California Delta Highway, take the Harbor Street exit and head west toward the harbor.  Lumpy's will be on the right.  It opens for breakfast at 7 a.m.


Biscuits & Sausage Gravy:

Twice cooked biscuits: first baked and then grilled.  These biscuits are covered with a sausage cream gravy.  Ummm good.





Full Breakfast:

Eggs your way with either hashbrowns or country potatoes.  Lumpy's has an array of meats to choose from: sausage paddy, sausage links, hot links, bacon, jalapeno bacon, ham, and I'm sure I'm missing something.  I chose hot links and they gave me four humongous links!  On the side you see an order of jalapeno bacon as an extra.  Next to it are the grilled biscuits.  Why get toast?



Kitchen Sink Benedict:

All those meats that were mentioned in the previous post are in this Benedict.  See the country potatoes.  Yes that's bell pepper and onions in them.



The Waffle:

My grandson, Oran, ordered this.  If it would have been me, I would have ordered the caramel pecan waffle.  CaRaMel and not CarmMel.  PahCahn and not PeeCan.





Kitchen Sink Scramble:

Kitchen sink scramble has all of the meats in Lumpy's world with country potatoes and scrambled eggs.  I had them add the cream gravy.  See: more biscuits.



Corned Beef Hash & Eggs:

My daughter Michelle ordered this dish and that's why the toast.  The corned beef hash is on the right side under the eggs and toast.  The hashbrowns, the other side.  Hash and eggs make a great dish.



Traditional Benedict:

You know the routine: ham, poached eggs, English muffin, but with Lumpy's awesome Hollandaise sauce.



Their Coffee:

I always show the coffee when I like it.  Thick and smooth.  And look at the size of that mug.  The wait staff is really good about keeping it full.



Locations in California: Pittsburg & Antioch

Food Court at Farmer's Market of Astoria OR

Crab rangoon made from real Dungeness crab ... more crabmeat than cream cheese.  You know if I post lunch are dinner, then it's great.  And that is the mobile food court at the Astoria Sunday Market. Yes, regrettably, it's only on a Sunday.

On my first trip to the farmer's market, I had pigged out on cookies before arriving with my friends Eric and Bert.  So I did not have room to try any of these local goodies.  On the next trip about 18 months later, I planned my meals to be here hungry at the Astoria Market.

Yes they have their Summer Market every Sunday from 10-3 starting in mid May and going through the first week in October.  It's in downtown Astoria, OR.  Come hungry for coastal seafood.  What follows is a photo essay of the seafood they serve:

Smoked Salmon Chowder:

Here is a local favorite: Smoked Salmon Chowder.  This one's a bye until next time.  I pigged out on crab and oyster dishes instead.

Oyster Tacos!

Oregon oysters!  Love them.  Here is an oyster taco.  Oh, was that good.  Made with deep fried oysters.  This place had smoked oysters, which by the way is the only way I don't like oysters but many others do, and had oyster shooters.

Crab Cakes:

Excused the wind-blown sign.  This place has grilled crab cakes: greasy but good.  And made from Dungeness crabs.

 I saved this dish for our trip back to the cabin.  Had too much other great seafood at the market.

Crab Chowder:

This may have been the most awesome dish of all.  Chunks of Dungeness crab meat in this great chowder.  The crab chowder is the main reason I returned this year.

Fish & Chips:

This is another bye until my next visit.  My guess is that they are serving fresh cod which is one of my favorite west coast fishes.  Yeah, I know it's supposed to be "fish", but I like "fishes" instead.

Crepes:

The crepes booth was here this year, but here are photos from last year.  My guess is that you can get a seafood crepe as well.  Why is this place only on Sunday?  It takes two days to try all of the great seafood here!

MUSIC --------------------------------------------------

And they do have music!  This was last year's band.  This year's was on break when we were there.

Andy's Kitchen of Corpus Christi TX

Behold the blueberry muffin!  That's Andy's welcome gratis when you visit his place.  All customers receive a blueberry muffin on the house.  On my first visit, the waitress gave me two!

Andy's kitchen is on Staples off the main north-south freeway that runs to North Padre Island.  Just head east (away from the gulf) on Staples and Andy's will be on the right.  By the way, Andy's Kitchen has been in business for 35 years.  Not too many restaurants last that long.  And come early, there's a crowd.

Bet you didn't believe me when I said two muffins.

Steak & Eggs:

Breakfast steak is just thick enough for them to prepare it your way.  Mine is medium-rare.  Look at the hash browns, they're brown.  Below are Andy's good biscuits.

Cowboy Country-Fried Steak:

Not just a country fried steak, though Andy has that as well.  This is a country fried steak covered with onions, chili, and cheese!  Put that on your plate, vegans.  Oh, and this comes with eggs, hash browns, and biscuits.  You can swap biscuits for toast, but why?

Chorizo & Bean Chalupa:

There is only one other restaurant (Lisa's Taco of SA) where the menu offered a chorizo and bean combination.  It's a deep secret of best Tex-Mex flavor that I have discovered in my travels.  Add cheese and I'm in heaven.  I ordered two chalupas and elected to have an egg on one.  Love them both ways.


Custom Scramble with Custom Hash Browns!

Let me start with the hash browns:  bacon and onions with cheese.  And now for the omelet: sausage, onions, mushrooms, and don't forget the cheese.  Now with a side order of biscuits, that was a fun breakfast.




Fried Pork Chops:

Note that this plate comes with two fried pork chops, but you can get them grilled as well.  The plate comes with eggs, hashbrowns, and bread (I got the biscuits).  What a great taste!



Andy's Sampler Platter:

Large, but not too large.  This platter comes with eggs any style, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, two sausage paddies, two bacon slices, and a stack of silver dollar pancakes.  Note the bacon is perfectly cooked.  The scrambled eggs are a Tex-Mex scramble where the eggs are lightly beaten.  If you prefer French scramble, then get the eggs fried.  I saved the leftover pancakes for dessert (see below).

Vida Cafe of Vida, Oregon

Biscuit at Vida's.  Vida's Cafe serves up a hearty breakfast seven days a week.  Country cooking at it's best in a bonafide country restaurant.

Vida's is located about 20 miles on OR-126 east of Springfield.  Yes, out in the country.  It's about a 30 minute drive from the center of Springfield and a 45 minute drive from Eugene.  The food is great and well worth the trip.

Chili-Cheese Omelet:

This was my first dish after a day of hiking in the woods with my son Adam.  A huge breakfast, but I was hungry enough to handle most of it.  Left some of those crispy hash browns.  The chili was with red beans similar to how my mother made it, lite on the tomato.  And there was chili inside as well as on top!



Standard Egg Plate:

The egg plate is standard in Oregon ... lots of crispy slab bacon with eggs over easy and hash browns.   This plate comes with a choice of bread.  I'll show you that later.  Remember, bacon is better in Oregon.



The Logger:

Case you don't know it, Oregon is logging country, and this pancake looks like it was sliced from a log.  Count the rings to see how old it is.  The logger must be a tough one to grill up.  Not only is it large, but it's not thick.  And someone has to flip this thing without breaking it.  Now that's a first class cook.  I loaded it down with butter and ate it with sausage until the sausage ran out.  Then came the syrup.

See the sausages below.  They have a slight red pepper kick.  And they're thicker than the usual links.

Mushroom-Sausage Omelet:

If my son hadn't ordered this one, I would have.  Pan sausage broken up and cooked crispy before being added into the middle of the omelet.  Must have been good.  Adam didn't share.



Vida's Biscuit:

Vida's biscuit can come naked with butter or with country gravy added.  Vida's doesn't tell you, but the country gravy has sausage in it.  Not a lot, but just enough for flavoring.

Coffee:

Not a thick coffee, but it has a robust flavor.  And the decaf is as good as the regular.



Monster Burger:

This is there ten-ounce burger.  They have a smaller one, but why?  Adam ordered it and didn't share again.  My guess is that it was good.  He turned back an empty plate.

Betsy's Pancake of New Orleans

Pancakes are what Betsy's known for.  Not too thick, and not to thin.  Just right for most people.

Betsy's Pancake is located on Canal Street almost to the business district, just a few blocks past Broad Street on the right when heading into town.

By the way, you need to learn some basic NOLA jargon to get around this city: Canal Street is called Canal.  West on Canal is to the cemeteries, not west.  East on Canal is to the river (Mississippi), not east.  Downtown is to the right of Canal and uptown is to the left.  And that grassy area in the middle of the cemetary-bound and river-bound lanes of Canal is called the neutral ground.   (Neutral ground apparently goes back to a physical separation between feuding ethnicities in the old days of NOLA.)



Blueberry Pancakes:

The only problem with the blueberry pancakes is that they don't give you enough sauce.  There should be a dipping bowl of this awesome sauce on the side.  My girlfriend Jewell ordered this one and shared one taste with me.



Shrimp & Grits:

This is Betsy's NOLA specialty: shrimp and grits.  It's buried on the menu.  Don't look for it, just ask for it.  This was my first dish there, and since I'm a blogger, I don't get to go back to that dish until this restaurant is posted.


Eggs & Bacon:

My friend Eric ordered this dish.  Glad he did since I don't usually order scrambled eggs.  Look at the grits, thick and creamy.  Their grits pass the pepper test.



French Toast:

French toast and bacon or sausage is always a favorite of mine.  Since I had already had both their pan and link sausages, I ordered bacon with the French toast.



Sausage Paddies & Eggs:

Here's another variation of the egg breakfast, this time with sausage paddies.



Pancakes & Link Sausage:

I just love their pancakes, but two sausage links weren't enough, so I ordered a side of sausage links and it came with four.  So I had to suffer through six links with my pancakes.  Don't you just feel sorry for me.



Pecan Waffle:

If you like crunchy with soft, this is the dish for you.  Afterthought: I should have had the syrup with the pecans.  But I did order a side of sausage and it was so good.


Coffee:

Nice thick New Orleans coffee here at Betsy's.  Great food and great coffee.