A regional quest for a great way to start the day

08:20 PM EDT on Thursday, August 19, 2004

BY KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal Staff Writer

Are there four sweeter words in the English language than "Breakfast Served All Day"?

Not if you're like me -- which is to say, a person for whom the search for a good breakfast is like the quest for the Holy Grail: something perpetually sought, yet all too seldom found.

Why this should be is a mystery. How hard is it to cook eggs that are neither too runny nor too hard, bacon that is crisp but not burned and home fries that actually taste like potatoes?

And pancakes! I could write a book on the many ways not to make this breakfast favorite. Indeed, I've had very few that were worth the trip back out to the parking lot for the bottle of 100-percent real maple syrup I keep stashed in my car, just in case I come across the Perfect Pancake.

The best pancakes I've ever eaten are served at the farmhouse-simple Old Cutter Inn in the remote ski hamlet of East Burke, Vt. The Cutter is owned by a Swiss chef/skier, Fritz Walther, who has cooked all the food at his inn, including the pancakes, for nearly 30 years.

Just thinking about Fritz's pancakes prompted me to telephone him the other day to find out his secret.

With Swiss discretion, he declined to share the complete recipe, but he did reveal that he makes the batter with yeast (to give the pancakes that slightly chewy texture), then lightens it with beaten egg whites and cooks the pancakes on a hot commercial-grade iron griddle -- the only way to achieve that ineffable crispiness, top and bottom, with a little lacy frill of brown all around the edges.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy The Patriot Waffle, with strawberries, bluberries and whipped creme, is from The Barn in Adamsville.

Good eating back home

But Vermont doesn't have the lock on excellent breakfasts. Here in Rhode Island, I carry a road map of good spots around in my head.

In Narragansett, I head for Crazy Burger on Boon Street, a place that's wildly popular with both locals and tourists: Funky-casual atmosphere, with daily specials of inventive combinations with South of the Border flair such as Mexi-Eggs (eggs, avocado, black beans, salsa, cheddar, and sour cream in a tortilla) and the "Just in Quesadilla" (steamed spinach, tomato goat cheese, artichoke hearts and scambled eggs in a tomato tortilla).

In East Greenwich, there's Jigger's Diner is a no-frills place, but one that does the basics well. You won't find Bananas Foster waffles or a prosciutto-brie omelet on the menu, but you will find good red-skin potato home fries, crisp meaty bacon, carefully cooked eggs and fresh-ground coffee. (Some customers rave about Jigger's gingerbread pancakes, but I found their flavor overpowering.)

Jigger's is a restored Worcester-style diner car that dates to 1950 on Main Street, where it replaced a restaurant that had been there since 1917. Rescued in 1992 by then-owner Carol Shriner, the 36-seat diner is a time-capsule of gleaming stainless steel and varnished wood, complete with its original tilework and classic '50s boomerang-pattern Formica.

On Block Island, Ernie's serves breakfast daily from 6:30 a.m. on a porch overlooking Old Harbor. It's a great spot to watch the ferries pull into the dock. All the basics -- eggs, bacon, pancakes, home fries -- are done well, and the place is a favorite of locals as well as the tourists who are lucky enough to discover it.

In the Little Compton village of Adamsville, The Barn is a longtime favorite breakfast place -- not to mention one of few places to get anything to eat in this determinedly quiet corner of Rhode Island.

The Barn has a wide-ranging and creative menu of specials every day of the week, 6:30 to noon, all year round except for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Pumpkin-walnut pancakes or waffles are personal favorites -- and The Barn offers real maple syrup for a small extra charge.

Egg dishes are generally well done, too, including Eggs Sardou (a benedict with artichoke hearts), a Lobster Benedict, and classic East Bay Rhode Island cornmeal jonnycakes. If you're lucky, you'll get Terri Ryan for your waitress: The Barn veteran has been known to carry platters of steaming plates to the tables on her head.

Newport

Little Compton excepted, summer resort areas tend to be fertile ground for good breakfast spots. Instead of just looking for a quick meal on route to the office, people are in relaxed mode, looking to linger over an omelet, French toast, or frittata.

The resort city of Newport is loaded with options for breakfast, but beware: some are tourist-trap disappointments.

My favorite Newport breakfast places include Norey's, a chic little upscale diner on Broadway that serves a great breakfast every day, using fresh local ingredients when possible and showing an inventive way with them, both for breakfast and dinner; and the Atlantic Grille, a better-than-average diner on Aquidneck Avenue at the Middletown end of First Beach.

Also, just over the Newport town line in Middletown, is Rhode Island's last remaining representative of the International House of Pancakes chain.

The blue-roofed chalet-style IHOP is a retro breakfast experience to be sure, but one that is justifiably popular not only for the consistently high quality of its food and service, but also for its low prices. Four people can easily have a full breakfast at the IHOP, at any time of day, for about $25. IHOP is open to midnight on weekdays, to 3 a.m. on weekends.

When a group of friends and I had breakfast there recently, we all were immediately and happily transported back to high school and college high times by an apparently unchanged menu of such IHOP classics as Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity and Vive La French Toast.

Real maple syrup at IHOP? Don't even think about it: The flap-top syrup bottles on the table are filled with artificial flavors in the psychedelic hues of the '60s. If you're a purist, bring your own. Lots of people do, our waitress confided.

Providence used to have its own IHOP, a Thayer Street landmark of ersatz Tyrolian architecture that stood where The Gap is now.

That was long before any of the current crop of Renaissance restaurants was even a gleam in a Johnson & Wales graduate's eye. Now, of course, Providence is awash in good restaurants of all kinds, including a few that serve well-above-average breakfasts.

Among my favorites are Nicks on Broadway and Julian's, both on Broadway west of Route 95 and both serving breakfast weekdays as well as weekends, and Downcity downtown, serving on weekends only. (See Dining Out for reviews of all three.)

Another favorite of long standing in the Providence area is the Modern Diner, just over the Pawtucket line at the northern end of Hope Street/East Avenue.

The diner-classic Modern has a perfectly fine breakfast weekdays, but the weekends are truly off the charts, with so many mouthwatering specials chalked onto the blackboard that people standing in a line that frequently stretches out the door have plenty of reading material to occupy them during what can be a better than 30-minute wait.

The Perfect Pancake, the well-cooked egg, the just-right bacon or ham: The Holy Grail of breakfasts is out there waiting. What better way to start the day?

If you're headed to Cape Cod for a vacation or daytrip, consider these excellent breakfast options:

Homey Margaret's restaurant is just off Route 195 in the pretty seaside town of Fairhaven. A fine spot for dinner, too, Margaret's serves simple breakfasts (daily except Tuesdays) that include a few out-of-the-ordinary treats, notably folded circles of eggy Norwegian pancakes topped with lingonberries. (The restaurant's owners are Norwegian.)

In Harwichport, Bonatt's Bakery and Restaurant has a legendary daily breakfast menu highlighted by warm-from-the-oven yeast-raised sweet rolls called Meltaways. (On a busy summer morning, they'll serve 2,000 of them, the owner once told me.) The Morning Glory waffle covered with fresh fruit is a beyond-category treat, too.

Way out in Provincetown, Cafe Edwige has the edge on style (and offers a meltingly good poppyseed Danish), and Michael Shay's serves a daily breakfast of consistently high quality to the hungry morning-after hordes. (Tip the Egg Man a dollar for making your omelet just as you like it while you watch.)

*****

Here is information on the places mentioned in the story:

RHODE ISLAND

Atlantic Grille, 91 Aquidneck Ave., Middletown. (401) 849-4440; www.atlanticgrille.net.

The Barn, Main Road, Adamsville. (401) 635-2985.

Crazy Burger, 144 Boon St., Narragansett. (401) 783-1810; www.crazyburger.com.

Downcity, 151 Weybosset St., Providence. (401) 331-9217; www.downcityfood.com. Saturday and Sunday only.

Ernie's, Water Street, Old Harbor, Block Island. No phone.

IHOP, 159 West Main Rd. (Route 114), Middletown. (401) 847-9818; www.ihop.com.

Jigger's, 145 Main St., East Greenwich. (401) 884-5388.

Julian's, 318 Broadway, Providence. (401) 861-1770; www.juliansprovidence.com.

Modern Diner, 364 East Ave., Pawtucket. (401) 726-8390.

Nicks, 259 Broadway, Providence. (401) 421-0286; www.nicksonbroadway.com.

Norey's, 156 Broadway, Newport. (401) 847-4971.

MASSACHUSETTS

Bonatt's, 537 Route 28 at Sea Street, Harwichport. (508) 432-7199.

Cafe Edwige, 333 Commercial St., Provincetown. (508) 487-4020.

Margaret's, 16 Main St., Fairhaven. (508) 992-9942.

Michael Shay's, 350 Bradford St., Provincetown. (508) 487-3368.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly referenced the owner of Jigger's Diner.