The Breakfast Club

Today's food adventure took me to Rick and Ann's, one of my favorite breakfast/brunch spots. It was quite an adventure too.

It started with Mo coming by to pick me up in his car with the not-so-pleasant aroma of mildew (sorry, Mo, I couldn't not mention it). He promised that it wouldn't be as bad as the last time, but I took my Febreeze just in case. And, sure enough, it wasn't as bad as before--now it just had the floral fresh scent of air spray. Mo had never experienced the wonders of Febreeze before, and agreed to allow me to spray his car as we knew we would have to wait for a table.

We had a long wait too. At least an hour. But we were going to stay strong and hungry and wait it out, and wait for the rest of our breakfast crew too. To stave of the hunger and sleepiness of a relatively early Sunday morning, we got coffee at the Peet's next door. My coffee and steamed milk came overly full and I spilled some on the counter. I hoped no one noticed. A bit of sugar and some cocoa topped it off. A sip of the coffee and I was happy, although I unknowingly longed for a Parisian cafe creme. Mmm...cafe creme.

We waited some more, this time with our coffee. We decided to cross the street and journey to the Claremont Spa and see how far we could go before being asked to leave. Little did we know at the bottom of the hill that we would be invited to tour the facilities at the top. How could we pass it up? The possibility of naked bodies abounded. We had to take separate tours though. One for guys and one for gals. I had been eyeing that spa for almost the whole time I had lived in Berkeley, and had grand visions of glory. But, nope. Just some fluffy white robes, lots of steam, and a bathtub just slightly larger than my own. I left with a brochure though. February is Thai massage for two month.

Back at Rick and Ann's we waited some more. And then some more. Our friends came, and we waited some more. Finally, we thought we were next. But, fooled once again, and we waited some more.

After lots of waiting, about 68 minutes of it, our table was ready and I was excited. I almost did a little jig. Just almost. Mo and I decided to share the Californian and the Smoked Glass Menagerie (apparently the specials were Tenessee Williams themed). We couldn't pass up the Smoked Glass Menagerie: a smoked pear and apple omelet with gorgonzola and caramelized onions, with a side of homefries plus sour cream, and a strawberry scone. Where else would that exist and when else would I remember that bad high school performance of a Tenessee Williams play by eating egg? The egg of the omelet was light and creamy with just a little bit of runniness. The smokiness of the pears and apples permeated throughout. Quite a bold flavor for early in the morning, but by that time it was no longer morning.

After polishing off two plates of food, we then headed to the bakery next door, where the world's heaviest bread resides. A piece of seriously dense pumperknickel bread got passed around five pair of hands. We all marveled in disbelief at its heft. Doorstop? Paper weight? A Valentine for an unloved one? We all wondered the myriad possibilities for its use. Strangely enough, none of us ventured to guess eating it.

Before we left, we had to do one last olfactory test on our innocent-nosed friends. Mildew or Febreeze? The Febreeze won.