Buddy's Diner of Eugene OR

Inside the meat lover's omelet at Buddy's Diner.  It's great to find a mom-n-pop diner in the land of many chain restaurants -- Eugene Oregon.

Buddy's Diner is located on Coburg Road.  Just take the Coburg exit off the Beltway and turn left.  Look for the diner on the left.

Standard Egg Plate:

This dish comes with eggs your way, sausage or ham or bacon, hashbrowns or homestyle potatoes, toast or English muffin, or there huge biscuit.  Look at those large sausage paddies!



Breakfast Burrito:

Your choice of meat and I chose sausage with eggs, cheese, (it gets better) green chilis, tomatoes, onions.  It also has potatoes in the mix, but I chose to pass.  Now just spread the sour cream and salsa, and you're full till late afternoon.



South-of-the-Boarder Omelet:

My son Adam ordered this omelet: tomatoes, green pepper, onions.  He had them add bacon to the mix.  This place is so accommodating that it's like eating at Mom's.



Chicken-Fried Steak:

Adam rested his steak on top of his eggs.  He finished it in a jiffy.  Lucky for me that he saved a taste and it was good.  This is one of the best chicken-fried steaks that I have ever eaten.



Meat Lovers' Omelet:

There's substantially more meat than eggs in this dish.  I have never had this much meat on an omelet.    My suggestion if anyone orders this dish, double up on the cheese.  There was so much link sausage, bacon, and ham, that the ratio of cheese to meat was not right.  Yes, double up on the cheese!



Pancakes:

My request was for thin pancakes and that's what I got.  They're so accommodating.  The cook thought I was being shortchanged so she made me two more slightly thicker, but still thin see below.  When I was getting ready to waive the white flag, I was this squeeze container of marionberry (suped-up Oregon blackberries) jam.  Yes, had to have some!

Eggs Benedict:

Neither Adam nor I ordered this dish, but wanted to show it to you.  They make a Cali Beni with bacon, tomato, avocado, and spinach.  I think I would want either bacon and spinach or bacon-tomato-avocado.


Humongous Biscuit:

Here is their humongous biscuit.  You can get that with or without sausage gravy.  Check the photo evidence of what I ordered.

Bye from Buddy's Diner

Note: there's no wait if you sit at the counter, and you get to see all the food come out.

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).