breakfast Archives - Hungry Travelers

breakfast

Eating at the omphalos of the breakfast burrito

Posted on September 10, 2024September 10, 2024 by Pat and David

At the temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece, a round stone covers a deep hole that plunges into the earth. According to myth, this well stone is a sacred spot that marks the center of the earth — the bellybutton from which all creation sprang. If you like breakfast as much as we do, Tia Sophia’s (210 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM; 505-983-9880, tiasophias.com) is the omphalos of the breakfast burrito. A breakfast and lunch stalwart just off the plaza in downtown Santa Fe since 1975, Tia Sophia's specializes in New Mexican comidas nativas, or local cooking. Founders Ann and Jim Maryol aspired to create a casual diner serving good food at good prices and catering to local tastes. This was back...Read More

Skyr cheese launched a thousand longboats

Posted on March 4, 2023March 4, 2023 by Pat and David

On our first day in Reykjavik, we wondered if we'd stumbled into some modern version of Gulliver's Brobdingnag. Everyone was … so tall. And fit. And wearing technical gear. They looked like they were about to dash up Iceland's volcanos, dive for lobsters in its fjords, or — at the very least — set sail in a high-prowed boat to discover a new continent or pillage an old one. It was a very Viking moment. The secret behind all this outsized vigor (or so we were told) was skyr. This Nordic cousin of Greek yogurt is so well-drained and thick that it's legally classified as a cheese. What distinguishes it from various other cultured milk products is that heated skimmed milk is inoculated with traditional...Read More

Why not red chile with pancakes?

Posted on February 3, 2023January 21, 2023 by Pat

As a New Englander, I thought I knew everything that anyone would need to know about pancakes. They are pretty simple, really. Just pour on plenty of Vermont maple syrup, add a little pat of butter for good measure. And dig in. But Cafe Pascual's (121 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) in Santa Fe taught me a thing or two. For more than four decades, Cafe Pascual's has been serving three meals a day in a historic adobe building just a block off the main plaza. The colorful wall murals and old Mexican tiles make it a particularly cheery place to start the day. (Late risers can order off the breakfast menu until 3 p.m.) Like Rancho de Chimayó, it's a James Beard...Read More

World on a Plate: Breakfast worthy of Georgia O’Keeffe

Posted on July 3, 2020July 13, 2020 by Pat and David

For us, the first flavor that springs to memory when someone mentions New Mexico is green chile. But to be honest, green chile isn't very picturesque. When it comes to picture-perfect plates from New Mexico, it's hard to beat the breakfast and brunch dishes served at the Abiquiu Inn (21120 U.S. 84, Abiquiu, N.M.; 505-685-4378; abiquiuinn.com). Conveniently located just down the road from Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch (1708 U.S. 84, Abiquiu; 505-685-1000; ghostranch.org), the inn has a nice mix of rooms, suites, and casitas. Some casitas are arranged to share central courtyards. The inn might be one of the pricier lodging options in the area, but it's worth every penny. For more details, see our post from 2018. The Abiquiu Inn's Café Abiquiu serves meals...Read More

Regal Kentucky Castle serves great humble biscuits

Posted on February 4, 2020January 19, 2020 by Pat and David

If we lived in the South, we'd probably eat biscuits warm from the oven and slathered with butter every day. A good biscuit is the transfiguration of simple ingredients. Moreover, no two biscuits are exactly alike. Every home cook seems to cherish a grandmother's special recipe and many restaurant chefs like to add their own spin to this Southern classic. A couple of years ago, we shared the recipe for black pepper biscuits from Gralehaus in Louisville https://hungrytravelers.com/biscuits-unite-louisville-southern-indiana/]. On our recent visit to Kentucky, we discovered another winning variation at the Kentucky Castle (230 Pisgah Pike, Versailles, Kentucky, 859-256-0322, thekentuckycastle.com) just outside Lexington. We expected to see gorgeous estates as we drove through horse country on a rainy morning to have breakfast at the castle....Read More

Getting a well-designed sandwich at Cheapside Cafe

Posted on October 15, 2019September 20, 2019 by Pat and David

Selecting the single best sandwich in every state is a pretty tall order. But when People magazine published its list in May of this year, they made a great selection for the state of Ohio. First of all, Cheapside Cafe (326 East 8th St., Cincinnati; 513-345-6618, cheapsidecafe.com) is not an obvious choice. The stylish little place, with a long counter made of wood from an old paper mill, sits a bit off the beaten path in a design-oriented neighborhood. It's open every day, but for breakfast and lunch only. Jon Mouch and his partner Joseph Creighton opened Cheapside in May 2014. “We've been offering the same menu since day one,” Mouch told us when we stopped in for breakfast. Chief among those menu items is...Read More

Relaxed luxury: lobster hash at Crazy Beans in Greenport

Posted on August 8, 2019 by Pat and David

Unless we're having wine, one of us (David) could eat breakfast for every meal of the day. That penchant led to a fortuitous discovery. We based our sojourn to Long Island's North Shore at the Greenporter Hotel (326 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-0066; greenporterhotel.com), which is a well-maintained motel within walking distance of everything in the village. Years back, we would have eaten breakfast down the street at the Coronet Luncheonette on the corner of Front and Main streets, a village institution since 1949. In 2016, the place became Crazy Beans (2 Front St., Greenport; 631-333-2436, crazybeansrestaurant.com). It's run by Tim and Callie Brennan Martino, who have two other such breakfast-lunch spots in Miller Place and Stony Brook. The Martinos knew a good thing when they...Read More

Long Island’s North Fork is gourmand heaven

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Pat and David

We recently sailed the Cross Sound Ferry (longislandferry.com) from New London, Connecticut, to Orient Point on the North Fork of New York's Long Island to sip and nibble our way through an agricultural region we don't visit often enough. If you look at a map, you'll see that the landmass logically belongs with southern New England instead of New York. It's all part of the glacial moraine—the deposit of sand and gravel that marks the southern extent of the last glaciers about 15,000 years ago. A lot of silt has settled over that gritty base, and the warm currents of Long Island Sound help make the North Fork into prime farm country just 80 miles east of Manhattan. In 1988, the area was designated as...Read More

Abiquiu Inn serves tasty dishes (and serene casitas)

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Pat and David

There aren't a whole lot of reasons to visit Abiquiu, New Mexico, 56 miles northwest of Santa Fe. Most of us come for Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived in this high-country village from 1949 until shortly before her death in 1986. O'Keeffe fans stream here to see her home and studio, visit her isolated studio at Ghost Ranch, and drink in the luminous, surreal landscapes. If they come to do all three, they likely stay overnight at the Abiquiu Inn (21120 U.S. 84, Abiquiu, N.M.; 505-685-4378; abiquiuinn.com). We did—and we were delighted. The rooms are essentially casitas. Several casitas back up on a shared courtyard, but we almost always had it to ourselves—unless you count the hummingbirds sipping nectar from the trumpet vine blossoms or having...Read More

Cafe Pasqual’s in Santa Fe also feeds the spirit

Posted on September 6, 2018September 3, 2018 by Pat and David

There's a tradition in the pantheon of Catholic saints to consider San Pasqual as the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. Paschal Baylón was a late 16th century Spanish lay Franciscan brother who was known for adding vegetables, meat, and pieces of bread to the thin broth given to the poor. Cafe Pasqual's (121 Don Gaspar Ave., 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) has been dishing out three meals a day since 1979. Founder and executive chef Katharine Kagel, originally from Berkeley, California, has kept up the charitable heritage. She helped create Santa Fe's food bank and co-chairs the capital campaign for Kitchen Angels, the group that provides free hot meals delivered to Santa Fe's homebound. In 1999, just the second year of awarding America's Classics awards, the James...Read More