Breakfast Pizza on National Eat Outdoors Day

 

Sunday was National Eat Outdoors Day so we ventured down to that "hellhole" known as Baltimore where thousands of people were bravely shopping for fresh fruits and veggies, organic dog treats, and booze. 

We decided on a wood fired breakfast pizza ($14) featuring eggs, chorizo, red peppers, and red onions. Crust was thin and slightly crispy, making it easy to eat as we sat on the curb and people watched. Chris added a nice hot honey drizzle to it, but we both agreed it could have used some fresh herbs at the end to give it a bit more flavor. — Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor/publisher of The Hungover Gourmet. He is putting the finishing touches on lucky issue number 13, which will be available later this year. In the meantime, please visit the website for back issues and the latest on the new issue as it becomes available.

All I Wanna Do is Drink Beer for Breakfast...

The Replacements are my all-time favorite band.

Beer is my favorite beverage.

Scrapple is my favorite breakfast "meat".

Leave  it to the folks at Dogfish Head – who already make what we call at THG HQ "The Precious" – to combine all those things in the awesomely named "Beer for Breakfast".

No videos of The Mats performing it that I can find but here's The Get Up Kids doing a very faithful rendition...

Foodie Bracket-tonomy

It has come to my attention that some people don't enjoy March Madness, college basketball, brackets, bracket-tology and all things associated with it.

If you are one of these Commies people there are other options for you to be a bracket-head.

For instance, Thrillist is running their Cereal Mascots Bracket featuring such tough first-round matchups as Lucky the Leprechaun vs Captain Crunch (which is a regional final if ever I heard one!) or Count Chocula vs The Trix Rabbit. Seriously? That's like making Duke and Louisville play each other in the first round this year!

Care as little about cereal mascots as you do college hoops? Prefer to wax nostalgic about long-forgotten foodstuffs? Well, you're in luck food nerd. SoGood blog is doing their annual food bracket and this year features a Discontinued Food & Beverages tourney.

While I'm happy to see Zima make the list (as any mention of Zima makes me chuckle and recall the note a friend left in our kitchen one year after too much of the crisp, hurl-inducing malt beverage) I found myself lamenting the absence of Pepsi Light (a 70s blend of Pepsi with lemon whose disappearance from the shelves turned me toward Mt. Dew) and Pepsi Holiday Spice.

Sorry, no, that's not a tear... I think I have something in my eye.

Don't like debating cereal mascots or discontinued food? How about TV Moms?

What's Your Favorite Breakfast? Tell Us and Win!

What's your favorite breakfast?

If you dropped by THG HQ most mornings you'd probably find me chowing down on a ho-hum bowl of Special K, raisins and 2% organic milk. But when I do think outside the (cereal) box you'll often find me making a pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich served on a bagel or roll.

Oh sure, I'm not opposed to breakfast sausages or other meats like pancetta or bacon, but nothing conjures up memories of years spent in the Delaware Valley like a tangy hunk of pork roll topped with an over easy egg whose yolk is oozing out the sides and onto my hands.

Tell us what your favorite breakfast is and you can win breakfast on our good friends at Hardee's. To celebrate their new Loaded Biscuit 'N' Gravy with Sausage and Eggs they've given us coupons to award to lucky THG readers.

Simply e-mail editor@hungovergourmet.com by midnight EST on Monday, May 31, 2010 with your favorite breakfast. We'll share selected entries on the blog and randomly select eight (8) entries to receive a coupon for a free Loaded Biscuit 'N' Gravy with Sausage and Eggs featuring made from scratch buttermilk biscuits, eggs, sausage patties and a heaping helping of sausage gravy.

FOOD COURT: Never Bring a Waffle to a Gun Fight

All Crystal Samuels wanted was an All-Star, the popular Waffle House menu offering featuring grits, sausage, toast, eggs and a waffle. Instead she got shot by a waitress after throwing a waffle at her.

An altercation inside a Waffle House resulted in waitress Yakeisha Ward assaulting the customer and threatening her with a gun pulled from her car trunk. (How a dispute over eating from carryout trays inside a restaurant ends with someone brandishing a gun is beyond me.)

Amazingly, Samuels' only comment about the Waffle House according to the news report was "bad customer service".

Raise Your Hand if You Wanted a Healthy Dunkin' Donuts Menu

Okay, not everybody at once!

Remember earlier this year when Starbucks made the announcement that they were pulling the ill-advised breakfast sandwiches from their menu because: a) nobody wanted them; b) it screwed with the brand; and, c) it interfered with the smell of coffee, the main reason people visit a Starbucks?

I guess nobody was paying attention because here comes news that Dunkin' Donuts will be introducing a "healthy menu" later this month featuring such delicious sounding options as an Eggwhite Veggie Flatbread Sandwich.

While DD chief executive Stan Frankenphaler insists that the company is "staying very true to our brand and very true to our heritage" my feeling is that people want two things when they go to a Dunkin' Donuts. Coffee. And donuts.

Looking in my crystal ball I anticipate linking to a news piece in the summer of 2010 announcing that the healthy menu has been a disaster and the company is returning to its core business. Of coffee. And donuts.

The Terrace Stacker... The Ultimate Jersey Burger?

As a kid growing up in South Jersey, I became intimately acquainted with both Scrapple and Pork Roll. And while Scrapple is largely consumed as a breakfast side (or occasional late night diner dish), Pork Roll (aka Taylor Ham, though I've never used or heard that term) is far more versatile.

It's a tasty breakfast treat or when topped with an egg and some cheese a vital part of a delicious "start your day" sandwich. Fry it up and add some cheese and you've got a great quickie lunch in a pinch.

But I'd never given much thought to using it as a burger topping, until I spied it in the description of The Terrace Stacker on the menu at The Terrace Tavern on Long Beach Island. I'm always suspicious of "off the wall" burger toppings and with my recent encounter with the Loaded Steakhouse Burger still lingering in my head (and gut) I was a bit gun shy. But the remainder of the menu wasn't inspiring me and I kept coming back to The Stacker. I decided to pull the trigger and see if this uniquely South Jersey burger could live up to my hopes.

Mission accomplished. The burger featured a thick slab of ground beef cooked to order topped with melted cheese, two thin slices of marbled pork roll, sauteed onions and mushrooms. A totally top notch offering that immediately makes my list of "go to" menu items whenever I'm on the island.

Disappointment, Thy Name is Crust & Crumb

Drove down to Crust & Crumb Bakery at 7:45 AM to get my first vanilla cream donuts of the season. Stood in line 10 deep and ordered a dozen. Got home only to discover that they are not the sugary "vanilla cream" I dream of but some sort of custard. Why are you calling custard "white cream"? My disappointment knows no bounds. Not how I wanted to start my day.

Today is National Doughnut Day... Did You Get Your Cards Out?

You might still have time to get to your local Krispy Kreme. (I honestly don't know where one is around here. The only one that was nearby was turned into a bank.) Today is National Doughnut Day and they're giving away a free doughnut (or is it donut?) of your choice.

How to Spot the Freshest Eggs

Don't know about you but I'm an egg lover. In fact, I'm thinking about making one of my favorite breakfasts from my childhood, Scrambled Eggs with Hot Dogs.

I must admit that while I know what to look for when shopping for veggies, meat, fish, etc. I wouldn't know the first thing about spotting the difference between and not-so-fresh eggs. Check out this article from Yahoo about what to look for and how to best store your eggs (at least I'm doing that right).

Japanese McDonald's Go Mega!

I reported last summer that when it came to fast food of gargantuan proportions, the Japanese were leaving their American counterparts in the dust.

I wish that I was here to report that we were closing the artery-clogging gap on our friends in Japan, but that's simply not the case. While US fast food eateries continue to go back to the "meat as condiment" well (witness the recent return of the Philly Cheesesteak Burger), Japanese sandwich scientists are going bigger and taller.

In a word, they've gone Mega.

Check out the latest sandwich creations from McDonald's Japan including the Mega Mac (four patties!) and the 900+ calorie Mega Teriyaki (two pork patties topped with teriyaki sauce and sweet lemon mayo).

And they're not just limiting this mega madness to lunch, dinner and late-night snacking (because nothing sits in your stomach better at 3 AM like pork, teriyaki and mayo). Mega mania has even crossed into the breakfast realm with the Mega Muffin, an extreme take on the Egg McMuffin, GOJIRA-style complete with an egg, two pork sausage patties, cheese and bacon!

What, no country gravy?

Celebrate Leap Day with Free McSkillet Burrito

Despite being a longtime fan of such Golden Arches breakfast offerings as the Egg McMuffin, McGriddle Sandwich, pancakes and sausage, and (especially) their coffee, I have yet to try the McSkillet Burrito. I'm not sure why, as I'm usually good for at least one shot at almost any new menu offering that pops up at your local fast food joint.

But that drought might end tomorrow as McDonald's is celebrating Leap Day (really? we're celebrating Leap Day now?) by giving away free McSkillet Burritos with any medium or large drink purchase during regular breakfast hours.

Though this sort of thing flies in the face of my current training for this May's 10-mile Broad Street Run I have to admit that I'm intrigued.

Denver Trip Report: Part 2

After touching down in Denver, looking at the spooky mural, and hooking up with John and Nancy (see Part 1) it was now time to move on to the important task at hand. Finding breakfast. Especially considering it was now around 11 AM, I'd been up since 2 AM, and my stomach was full of nothing but coffee, Fig Newtons and stale airplane air.

Over the years John and I have had some great eating experiences together, whether we're talking cheap grub at Don's House of Polish Sausage in Tulsa (sadly, no more), a truly great steak at The Rusty Barrell (sic) in their hometown of Ponca City (OK), the heaping Farmhouse Omelet at The New Englander Diner in Danbury (CT), or the award-winning BBQ from Head Country, also in Ponca City. So I knew that despite the unfamiliar setting and his recent surgery, they'd already have the lay of the land and know a place or two for some good eats.

I was not disappointed by Le Peep, which despite its borderline-too-cutesy Frenchie name serves up a mean breakfast. Forewarned that it was a chain, I was surprised to see how far-reaching Le Peep's coverage was... predominantly located in the midwest they also have establishments in Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey (good to note for future road trips). With a menu that sticks to breakfast, brunch and lunch, Le Peep knows what it does well and stays the course.

After browsing the hefty, multi-page menu featuring a handful of insufferable puns ("Get Benaddicted" screamed one headline, "The Great 'Lite' Way" another suggested as a destination) I was able to narrow my choices down to a handful of colorfully-named dishes: the Drifter (potatoes, veggies, 'shrooms, onions, cheese, eggs); Gypsy (ham, onions, 'shrooms, cheese & eggs); or, Desperado (potatoes, chorizo, green chilies, onions, salsa, combo cheese and something called "basted eggs" which turned out to be like poached eggs).

With names like that and Hobo (a Drifter, hold everything but the onions, presumably because hoboes have less money than drifters) I half expected to see NBC's Chris Hanson picture on the menu touting the all-new Predator featuring Virgin-ia baked ham.

While I pondered those real – and imaginary – choices I also pinpointed something I knew I would not be having: The Philly, a lunch sandwich featuring lean roast beef, sauteed mushrooms, onions and bell peppers, melted mozzarella cheese and grilled Panini flat bread. While the menu proclaimed it to be "A real Philly treat!" I have a long-standing rule about such sandwiches. If you're not within 30 miles of William Penn's hat atop City Hall do not order anything with the words "Philly" or "Steak Sandwich" in it. Especially if it features roast beef.

While that rule would be put to the test later that day (see Part 3 coming tomorrow), I decided on the Desperado (seen above... Ole!), JT went with the ethnically-oriented Blarney Skillet (potatoes, corned beef, bell peppers, onions, rosemary & Hollandaise!), and Nancy stayed true red-white-and-blue by having the Lumberjack, a heaping helping of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and pancakes.

Hungry as I was I'm guessing almost anything would have hit the spot, but I was actually quite pleased with the Desperado, thanks to a nice kick courtesy of the chorizo, chilies and salsa. It was just what I needed to fill me up and snap me out of the air travel-induced haze that had settled in during our ride from the airport to breakfast.

With breakfast in our rearview mirror and a destination dinner in our future, it was the perfect time to head to the condo and take a load off.

TO BE CONTINUED...