Eight (or so) of My Favorite Breakfasts

August 17, 2018September 19, 2021 - Scott Leave a comment

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’m not sure who “they” are, but they sure say a lot of things, don’t they?

In any case, here at LRF Headquarters, breakfast is usually two cups of coffee.

Low-Rent Foodie Headquarters — Having kids in the food service industry does wonders for your decor.

Lately, I have been favoring Blonde Espresso or Guatemala Huehuetanango from Redbud Coffee.

Now this liquid breakfast may be enough to jump start a workday, or get me through third service at church, but at some point, some actual food needs to enter the equation. For this reason, I am a big fan of Sunday brunch.

So when exactly does breakfast end and brunch begin? I don’t know that it matters, really. I’ve seen brunch start as early as 10AM and breakfast served all day. I’m not as concerned with when it’s served as much as who’s serving it.

via GIPHY

A favorite here in Springfield, IL is D’Arcy’s Pint. They are known far and wide for their specialty horseshoes, and their long lines if you don’t time your arrival just right. For the longest time, they weren’t open on Sunday either, but then they started serving brunch.

Combine brunch with specialty horseshoes, and you get the Irish Breakfast Shoe.

This non-menu item was most noteworthy to me for having two kinds of bacon—American and Irish Rashers (which taste a lot like Canadian bacon, if you’ve never had them).

Canadian bacon is an ingredient in one of my favorite breakfast/brunch items, Eggs Benedict. A traditional Benedict is two poached eggs and Canadian bacon served on an English muffin topped with Hollandaise Sauce. This is tasty enough, but why stop at traditional?

The Yankee Clipper Diner in Beacon, New York, serves up five different kinds of Benedicts. My favorite there is the Copenhagen Benedict.

Yankee Clipper Beacon New York — The Copenhagen Benedict substitutes corned beef hash for the Canadian bacon.

My daughter’s favorite at the Yankee Clipper is the Nutella Banana French Toast.

I would say, though, that my favorite variation of Eggs Benedict is the Crab Cake Benedict. Crab cakes are awesome on their own, but get that poached egg yolk running through them with the lemony tang of a good hollandaise, and that’s some next-level breakfast right there. The first time I ever had this was at Ann Sather’s in Chicago. A Crab Cake Benedict plus a cinnamon roll the size of your face makes for great fuel before a day game at Wrigley Field.

Another great variation of Crab Cake Benedict is served up at Kitty’s Kafe in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Kitty's Kafe Gulf Shores Alabama — $8.99 for 1 egg, $11.99 for 2. With some cheesy grits on the side, because Alabama.

There are so many awesome places to eat in Gulf Shores, that’s going to have to be its own post.

As it turns out though, I don’t have to go to the beach or Wrigleyville for my Crab Cake Benedict fix. They have them right up the road at the Chatham Cafe, which is getting to be one of my favorite places to go for breakfast. Since it’s easy walking distance from where I drop my car off to get it worked on, I have had occasion to try several of their offerings while I wait. I’ve already mentioned the breakfast horseshoes. My new go-to is the Breakfast Burrito, pictured at the top of this post. Two eggs, chorizo (not too salty or greasy), onions, peppers and cheddar cheese wrapped up and served with hash browns for $8.29.

While we’re on the subject of local diners, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Sunrise Cafe on South 2nd Street in Springfield.

One of my happiest days was when the indoor smoking ban was enacted in Illinois. Before that, you couldn’t walk three steps into the Sunrise without dying from smoke inhalation. I am so grateful that this is no longer the case.

The Sunrise is known for arguably the best cheeseburgers in Springfield, but their breakfast is no slouch either. My favorite is the Sunrise Country Breakfast, which is two eggs, a 6-ounce smoked pork chop, potatoes and biscuit & gravy for $7.25.

Sunrise Cafe Springfield Illinois — $8.50 if you add a chop. I added a chop. Some pretty tasty pancackes too!

Eating out for breakfast is a family tradition for long road trips. We’ll leave stupid early, get down the road a ways, and then find a place to eat. Our one rule is that we never eat anywhere that we have at home. And my personal, unofficial rule is to avoid nasty hotel food whenever possible.

One year ago this week, we moved my middle son down to Florida. We had a great breakfast going down, and another coming back.

A fantastic diner with tasty food, friendly service and great prices as well is the Cozy Table in Benton, Illinois, just off I-57. This is the Country Omelet.

It is FOUR eggs and sausage with hash browns and a half order of B&G for only $6.19!

For an off the charts brunch experience, though, I recommend Oy! In Atlanta, Georgia.

Walk through the front doors and be overcome by a tangible wave of bacon aroma (apparently, despite the Yiddish-sounding name, it’s not a kosher restaurant).

“OY” stands for “Overindulgent Yumminess,” but it’s also what you’ll say as you waddle out after stuffing yourself with their decadent Challah French Toast Casserole, smothered with syrup and caramel sauce. Or the Challah Egg and Cheese Soufflé.

Challah Egg and Cheese Souffle Oy Atlanta — $8.99 for small, or $12.99 for regular, pictured here. Small is enough. Regular is suicide.

Their Monster Pancakes are 14 inches across (the size of a large pizza, if you’re keeping track). They come in six different flavors, plus the Pancake of the Day. For $10.99, you can even get one of these stuffed with bacon.

via GIPHY

Going out for breakfast is great, but sometimes, I just want to sit at my own dining room table with my family and have breakfast for dinner.

Hungry now? I hope so. So go GETCHA SOME!

LRF Rocks the Rockies: Part 1–Green Chile

July 6, 2018July 15, 2018 - Scott Leave a comment

So I mentioned a couple of months ago that my wife and I vacationed in the Colorado Rockies last summer. This was our first road trip in my wife’s new Camry Hybrid.

2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid — The wife’s new ride. What should we name it?

We decided to take the Camry instead of the van, first since it was just the two of us, and second, if you can get all the way across Nebraska without having to stop for gas, this is always a good thing. (We would also find out later how beneficial they can be for mountain driving.)

Our first Colorado meal was just across the border in Sterling at a Colorado chain Mexican restaurant called Santiago’s.

Unfortunately, I had drained the battery on my phone using Trip Advisor for the last 6000 miles of Nebraska trying to find somewhere to eat. As a result, I do not have a picture to share of one of Santiago’s signature items, the Stuffed Sopapilla.

If you’ve been to a Mexican restaurant, you’ve seen sopapillas, usually in a dessert setting. They’re dough folded over and fried, coated in cinnamon and drizzled with honey. They are frequently served with ice cream.

This is a different animal though. It’s shaped roughly the same, but about twice the size. Then they stuff it with any two items from the burrito menu (except steak). I had chicken and rice with carnitas in mine. Then they smother it in their signature green chile, and THEN they deluxe it (yes, they use “deluxe” as a verb) with cheese, lettuce and tomato. I had been working up a hungry from driving literally all day, and it was still all I could eat. For only $6.75.

Let me go back a minute to that signature green chile. The official name at Santiago’s is “Authentic Green Chile Sauce with Pork,” but if you just say Colorado Green Chile, everybody knows what you’re talking about. Whenever I’m away from home, I always like to try regional specialties. On this trip, it was the green chile.

Green Chile is to Colorado as the horseshoe is to Springfield. Just about every restaurant has it in one form or another, sometimes as a soup you can order a bowl of, sometimes as a condiment. Of course, each establishment has its own recipe, but here are the basics:

Simmer two bone-in pork chops in a stockpot for 2-3 hours. Then remove what’s left of the chops.
Add the following:
- 26 ounces roasted chopped green chiles (This region favors chiles from the Hatch Valley in New Mexico)
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 5 ounces tomato puree
- 2 tablespoons bacon grease
- 2 teaspoons salt
Simmer for 2 hours.
If you want it thicker, blend in some cornstarch.

(For cooking your bacon!)

A word of caution. If you’re not from Colorado, your digestive system isn’t used to this. It seems harmless at first, but later . . . well let’s just say if you’re not traveling alone, you might want to take one for the team and sleep on the couch that night. Your spouse will thank you.

Slow-Cooker Mac & Cheese

April 13, 2018June 13, 2018 - Scott Leave a comment

INGREDIENTS

1 pound elbow macaroni, UNCOOKED
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
6 ounces whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
24 ounces evaporated milk
2 cups milk (we usually drink 1%, but if you’re already making a WHOLE CROCK POT FULL OF MAC & CHEESE, you might as well shoot the works and use whole milk.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of the slow cooker, combine macaroni, butter, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, parmesan, evaporated milk, whole milk (you’re using skim, aren’t you? Wuss.), garlic powder and paprika. Stir in salt and pepper.
Cook on high until the pasta is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Check it at 2 hours, then every 20 minutes thereafter. Maximum 3 hours.

Pro tip #1

If you have a pepper grinder, use fresh ground pepper. That pungence combines with the sharpness of the cheddar to really make the flavor pop.

Pro tip #2

You may have noticed that the recipe says elbow macaroni, but the picture shows a box of radiatore. Don’t use radiatore for this recipe. Raditore is awesome if you’re making mac & cheese on the stovetop, but in a slow cooker, it comes out like this:

Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese — Delicious, but clumpy and a bit mushy. Stick with the elbows.

Pro tip #3

That nasty-looking burned cheese along the inside of the crock pot? That’s actually the best part. It’s worth the scrapin’! If I don’t fight you for it, my wife will.

Pro tip #4

When reheating, add some milk to restore the creaminess. I also like to spike mine with some hot sauce. My favorite one with this recipe is Parrot Head, which I found at the Pepper Palace. I haven’t seen it anywhere else, so I may have to grab another bottle when I get back down to the Gulf later this month.

Parrot Head hot sauce from the Pepper Palace — This is made primarily with red habanero chiles, and is therefore not for the timid.

Getcha some!

Horseshoes–They’re Not Just for Springfield Anymore!

March 23, 2018December 3, 2022 - Scott Leave a comment

It seems like everywhere I go, there’s some regional specialty that I always need to try. That’s actually one of my favorite parts of traveling–connecting with people through their local foods. Springfield, IL has several of these, but we are best known for one in particular–the horseshoe.

The horseshoe was invented at the Leland Hotel in Springfield in 1928 by Chefs Joe Schweska and Steve Tomko. A classic horseshoe is constructed by placing two pieces of toast on a pre-heated platter (the anvil) a cut of ham shaped like a horseshoe on the toast, cover the whole thing with cheese sauce and add french fries for the “nails” in the horseshoe. OK, the visual is a bit of a stretch, but what are you going to do?

Down through the decades…

Chefs across Springfield have come up with a multitude of variations on this classic. Just about every restaurant in the county has some variation of a horseshoe on their menu. Some have hand-cut fries, like Ruby’s in Auburn (which unfortunately, has closed). Some have battered fries, like Abe’s Hideout.

Grilled chicken Horseshoe Abe's Hideout Springfield, IL — Grilled chicken horseshoe at Abe’s Hideout. Excellent grill flavor, perfectly crispy fries, and delicious homemade cheese sauce.

Some do crinkly fries like tourist favorite D’arcy’s Pint.

OMG Burger Horseshoe Patsy's on the Square Divernon, IL — OMG Burger Horseshoe at Patsy’s on the Square in Divernon, which has also, unfortunately, closed. Underneath all that is a fresh-made hamburger, bacon, and a fried egg. (I feel like I’m forgetting something.) The grilled onions are my own touch.

We even have a breakfast variation, though I have seen something similar in other parts of the country referred to as “haystacks.”

Breakfast shoe with ham at Chatham Cafe in Chatham (where else?). These are also great with hash browns.The word is starting to spread, too. Horseshoes have been seen on menus as far away as New Hampton, Iowa (check page 5 of the menu), Chicago, even London! (Still trying to find out the name of the pub in London that had them, but one of my daughter’s friends that lived in Manchester knew what they were, so I believe the rumors are credible.)

So you’re probably getting the message loud and clear that a horseshoe is not what you would call “health food.” This is about as comfortable as comfort food gets. Unless, of course, you order a horseshoe when you really should have just gotten a “pony,” the smaller size. Or if you get a truly ridiculous creation like the Stuffed Meatloaf horseshoe at Lake Pointe Grill in Springfield (as of November 2022–ALSO closed.) It starts with their meatloaf, a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage, that is stuffed with white cheddar and gouda cheeses. Then they wrap bacon around it. Then they make a horseshoe out of that. At $13.99, it’s pricey for a horseshoe, but oh my lanta, I don’t know how I’m still alive after finishing it.

Everybody has their favorite shoe, and most of them are good. My vote goes to the Poorboy horseshoe at Bernie & Bettys in Springfield. Start with the best Italian beef this side of New Orleans and match it up with some of the best cheese sauce in town–that’s a winner every time!

So now I’ve got you all hungry, and some of you that aren’t close to Central Illinois are cursing my name. Hey, the Low-Rent Foodie’s got your back. If you can’t get to Springfield, try making one yourself with the. . .

Official Leland Hotel Horseshoe Recipe!

This isn’t exactly a closely guarded secret around here, but you have to know whom to ask. About 20 years ago, I worked briefly for the Illinois Commerce Commission, which is now housed in the former Leland Hotel. While the potato and meat variations are endless on a horseshoe, pretty much everyone agrees that what makes or breaks it is the sauce. What follows is the best there is:

2 egg yolks
1/2 cup beer
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups of grated sharp Old English Cheddar or Colby Longhorn cheese
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of cayenne pepper

Beat the egg yolks and beer together. (Pause for a moment to appreciate what an awesome sentence that is.) Melt the butter and cheese over boiling water, stirring in one direction only with a wooden spoon. Add the seasonings. Stirring constantly, add the beer and egg mixture a little at a time. Keep the mixture piping hot as you stir, but don’t let it bubble. Constant stirring and the very best cheese will yield a smooth, uncurdled mixture. Serves four normal humans, or two Low-Rent Foodies.

GETCHA SOME!

Let’s Make Dinner

March 7, 2018May 19, 2019 - Scott Leave a comment

I love to cook. My wife, though she is very good at it, does not. Between her job, my job and my writing, there is not a lot of time left over in our schedules for cooking. Actually, there’s plenty of time for cooking; it’s the planning and prepping that we are frequently too tired to do when dinner time rolls around. Fortunately, in Springfield, IL there is a middle ground between going out for a meal and cooking at home, known as Let’s Make Dinner.

Each month, Let’s Make Dinner has a menu of 14 or so entrees and desserts, along with assorted optional sides. How it works is that you make a reservation and pre-select at least four meals (we usually do four at a time). You get six servings (good-sized servings) of each meal for $26 apiece. Not too many places you can feed a hungry family of four for $26. The ones that I am thinking of would not be able to offer you this level of nutrition either. These recipes are delicious, and pretty much all of them are reasonably healthy.

If you’re REALLY pressed for time, you can order off their menu and stop in to pick up frozen, pre-assembled meals. But where’s the fun in that? The most enjoyable part of the experience for me has been getting my kids into the kitchen. This is definitely a family-friendly affair.

Preparing your own meals

When you arrive at your appointed time, you will find various stations set up with your mise en place, that is, all the ingredients for your pre-chosen meal prepped and ready to go, from left to right, as you follow the recipe.

Let's Make Dinner Springfield IL — Diana and Greg checking the place out.

The recipes are very easy to follow, and there is some wiggle room if you are not a fan of certain ingredients, or if you like your spicy food REALLY spicy.

Bring a cooler to transport your assembled and packaged meals home. You can either make one fresh right away, or pop them in the freezer for that day you know is going to come when you’re just…too…tired…to…cook. Most entrees do require thawing before cooking (the calzones don’t, really), so this does actually work better if you know in advance that you’re GOING to be too tired to cook. Just take it out of the freezer, and pop it in the oven.

Apple Stuffing Tenderloin from Let's Make Dinner, Springfield, IL — Piggy. It’s what’s for dinner.

Pro tip: with an entree, such as the Apple Stuffing Pork Tenderloin above, that is packaged and cooked in a foil pan, transfer it to some sort of platter before carving. Otherwise, you’ll cut through the bottom of the pan and make a heck of a mess. Not that I’ve ever done that. More than once.

Give Let’s Make Dinner a try, and let me know what your favorites are! Here’s one of ours. . .

Italian Breakfast Casserole from Let's Make Dinner Springfield IL — Paying homage to both my Italian and Baptist backgrounds with this Italian Breakfast Casserole. My wife prefers it with half the Italian seasoning and substituting onion powder for the green onions.

Getcha some!