after dinner sneeze

t says:  On a recent trip to Pittsburgh, g, lc, and I decided to get some breakfast.  lc suggested “Eggs N’At”, which is apparently some sort of Pittsburghian saying that translates to “Eggs And That”.  She described it as “like a diner”.  I like diners.  g likes diners.  So off we went!

March 2012, Saturday Brunch, Party of 3.  The place is pretty tiny.  I’d say it’d seat 25 comfortably, maybe 30 uncomfortably.  They were just cleaning off a table so we stood by the register and looked at the t-shirts they were selling with other sayings, like “jeet yet?” (my spelling might be off, but you get the idea).  Cute, very cute.

After taking our seats, we looked over the menus, where I was torn between several options.  It didn’t help that I was starving.  Banana chocolate chip pancakes?  Yummers.  Pancakes with bacon and blueberries?  Yes please.  And then the “special” corned beef hash?  Sign me up for that, too!  There were also sausage gravy and biscuits, huevos rancheros, items with chorizo – it just kept going and going!  Egad!

After much thought and consideration, I knew I just had to get the corned beef hash.  You see, corned beef hash [from a can] was one of the things that I fondly remember eating as a child.  We would eat it on Sundays when gathering with my dad’s side of the family, and although fairly gross-looking, something about it was just so delicious!  It was salty and savory.  Of course, it was probably super-extra-salty by virtue of being a canned meat, but I still liked it.  Naturally, I haven’t had it in years, as we now eat very few canned goods (perhaps the most frequently purchased canned good we use is Tuttoroso brand crushed tomatoes for gravy) … but this was my chance!  And the waitress said it was made with “homemade corned beef”.  So corned beef it was … but right when I ordered, the greedy little piggy in me made one additional request …

t’s pick:  corned beef hash and one “mama’s pancake”

Yea, I just had to have at least one pancake.  Knowing that Cochon and Honey’s have made some ridiculously delicious pancakes featuring chocolate and/or bananas in the past, I went with the “Mama Evans” pancake: bacon and blueberry put in the batter.  I cannot begin to express to you how awesome everything was.  All of it was so homey, but so good; it really hit the spot.  The corned beef and potatoes were perfect.  And that pancake … breath-taking.  As soon as blueberry season gets here (“bluebs”, right k?), I’ll be whipping up a batch of these bad boys fast.

lc’s pick: eggs, homefries, chorizo, marble rye

lc’s had a very diner-y feel, with the exception of some awesome chorizo, which I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t be able to find in any Jersey diner anywhere … but it’d be awesome if I could …  I think she also had an oatmeal raisin pancake, but I never got around to tasting it …

g’s pick:  mixed grill omelet (peppers, onion, potates, cheese)

g opted to go for an omelet, which was surprising because I thought for sure she was going with juevos rancheros.  g took one bite and said, “wow … you can tell that this was made with cheese and butter … in a good way!”  g certainly did a number on her omelet, which was an ooey-gooey concoction of heaven.

All-in-all, this was some wonderful homey food.  On one hand, it reminded me a lot of Jersey diner food, but with a bit more novelty, kind of like Honey’s, but not mobbed with hipsters and without a bajillion hour wait-time.  g said, “I feel like this place should be on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives – it’s just so good!”.  Consequently, if these guys were in Philly, they’d give a lot of brunch hot-spots a run for their money for sure.