Hy-Vee Archives — Low-Rent Foodie

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.

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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.

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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!

Sunday Brunch

It is a long-standing tradition with my family that we will go out for one big meal after church. Then we won’t eat for the rest of the day. A good brunch buffet accomplishes this goal quite nicely. Hy-Vee Market Grille has a brunch buffet that will make your jaw drop. It cost $17.99 a person last I checked (add $1.99 for drink), so it’s not cheap. (Pro tip–look for coupons in the Sunday newspaper). But when you realize what you’re getting for your money, you don’t mind so much.

In the main restaurant area, you see what you would expect to see at a decent brunch buffet. Breakfast foods, a carving station, smoked salmon and cocktail shrimp, a lunch entree or two with some interesting variation on potatoes, a dessert table, and a sampling of cheese and/or sushi. Not bad. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Walk out through the sliding glass doors into the main store area and prepare to be amazed. There is a good-sized salad bar out there and a deli with several stations where shoppers frequently get meals to go. Most of that stuff is included in the buffet as well! You can get asian entrees, pizza, BBQ, all kinds of sides, even the huge desserts that you’ll need help finishing. All included. The “outside” part of the buffet is also available during the week, I believe for $14.99.

Monday Night Specials

Now on Monday night, the draw for me is trivia. I have a lint trap for a brain. What I mean is that I frequently forget important things, but the most useless information just gets stuck in my head and won’t leave. I greatly enjoy putting this otherwise impractical skill to good use in an environment of friendly competition.

Trivia Workshop, a local organization that runs various trivia events, has a traveling show called Pub Quiz, whereby they do a trivia contest on Monday through Thursday evening in a weekly rotating location. Since these are typically slower nights for these establishments, the trivia is a draw for a certain segment of the population, to which I happen to belong. Hy-Vee’s starts at 7:30 on Mondays. The place gets packed though, so you need to be there at least an hour early to get a seat. Of course, while you’re there and waiting, you’ll probably get something to eat and/or drink. That’s kind of the point.

Hy-Vee Market Grille sweetens the deal on Monday night with a burger and tap special. It is a point of some contention who has the best burgers in Springfield, but these folks are definitely near the top of the list. They switch up the menu a fair amount, but a perennial favorite is the Mac-n-Cheese Burger. Served open-faced on sourdough bread (because there’s no way you could pick this thing up without wearing it), this half-pound burger is covered in white cheddar mac and cheese, then finished with some bacon bits and toasted panko bread crumbs. It sells for $12, but on Monday night, the second one is half price!

Need something to wash it down? (That’s not really a question.) Hy-vee Market Grille has an ever-changing array of craft beers on tap. They’re half price on Monday night too.

As good as the burgers are, and as good as the deal on them is on Monday night, sometimes I’m craving something else. My favorite dish at Hy-Vee Market Grille is the BBQ Bacon Fried Rice (pictured above with an Old Bakery Porter, brewed in Alton, IL). It’s exactly what it sounds like. Although one does not normally think of either BBQ or bacon when thinking of a Thai-inspired fried rice dish, after you try this, you won’t be able to unthink it. This dish sells for $13, the beer for $6 (but only $3 on Monday night!).

Now as I said before, I don’t do my normal shopping at Hy-Vee because of the location, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t ever. Do any of you shop there? If so, what’s the main draw for you?