iron gate brunch

 This weekend we finally accomplished one of our long time goals: brunch with Kelly and Matt at one of their favorite breakfast spots: The Iron Gate Cafe.

 This was our first time at the Iron Gate, and we were really impressed with the quirky dining layout and the brunch specials. I wish that they had a little more variety though, most of their options were egg based dishes. A few french toast or waffle options would make this place even better.

I had the Bacado Omelet, which is filled with cheese, salsa, avacado, and bacon. It was delicious!

 

M had the Memphis Scramble, which was also delicious. Look at that cornbread!

And we made sure to take advantage of something the Iron Gate offers that you usually can't get at the diners we frequent: Mimosas. They were a little heavy handed on the champagne, but I'm not complaining!

scotia diner

The Scotia Diner is a place I have driven by many times, but recently made my first visit to. Honestly, I was always a bit turned off by the funky exterior and awkward parking lot.

I thought the floor was so cool and old I couldn't resist snapping a photo.

Upon viewing the menu I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable their breakfast options are, and when M and I spotted two meals titled "The Hungry Man" and "The Hungry Woman" we knew we had to look no further.

Behold M's Hungry Man.

2 eggs over easy
2 pancakes
2 slices of french toast

bacon

sausage

buttered toast

and an extra side of bacon, because really, you can never have too much bacon.

But M thought his bacon was too overcooked...he likened it to jerky, and he found the eggs to be on the slimy side. He was also displeased to find the waitress had neglected to give him butter and syrup for his pancakes/french toast and didn't bring creamers for his coffee. And he had to flag her down for coffee refills. We were pretty much her only table, so that was a little annoying.

My Hungry Woman was a bit easier to handle:

1 scrambled egg

bacon

1/2 slice of ham

1 pancake

1 slice french toast

I had no complaints with my meal. Everything was tasty, the pancakes were fluffy and not dried out, but the best part: powdered sugar AND cinnamon on the french toast! Way to go Scotia Diner, for a cheap dive you do your french toast with class!

Overall, the meal was cheap and pretty tasty, and the outdated decor is just kitschy enough to be charming. I'm glad we gave it a shot!

western diner

M and I were in search of a quick diner breakfast close to our apartment, but it couldn't be at our old standby Metro 20. Unfortunately, the last time we ate at our formerly beloved Metro, there were flies buzzing around our table throughout the whole meal. Probably one of M's biggest pet peeves. So he declared that our last meal at the Metro. Which left us scrambling for some good, quick breakfast. We decided to try the Western Diner which is a few miles further  up the road.

I thought their coffee cups were cute, and since I usually drink my coffee black with 2 sugars, I dove right in. It wasn't as good as Metro's coffee, but it was acceptable.

M, on the other hand, takes his coffee with creamers. Unfortunately the creamers presented to him hadn't been kept refrigerated as the labels directed and when he mixed them into his coffee curdles rose to the top. M was disgusted. He tried fishing the curdles out, but ended up sending the entire cup back. And our waiter never brought him a new one...

And the water is served in mini glasses...another pet peeve of ours.

The counter was empty because there were only 2 or 3 other customers there. All older. I have a feeling their core demographic is geriatric.

Our meals arrived. You can't tell from this photo, but my French Toast was pretty much neon yellow. I have NEVER seen French Toast that looked like this. And they presented my plate like this....with dirty butter and syrup packets LAYING ON TOP OF MY FOOD. No. Unacceptable. Disgusting. The French Toast had no seasoning, no powdered sugar, nothing. I guess if your main clientele is the elderly you don't have to be too concerned over giving your food any flavor?

This was M's breakfast. He was already stewing over the coffee incident, and wasn't impressed with his breakfast to say the least. His homefries were burnt and crusty, he described the bacon as "weak ass," his sausages were "crappy pre-frozen Jimmy Dean," and he said his eggs were slimy. 

M summed up our experience with this zinger: "But only ONE fly in the place...guess they don't like the food either."

The search continues...

Compton's

We were headed for Lake George and wanted to find some good, cheap breakfast on the way. Out came the iPhone to research Saratoga, and up popped Compton's. Several reviewers stated it was great food and very inexpensive, others claimed it was the only place to get a decent "hangover breakfast" in Saratoga. So Compton's it was!

We got a sweet booth right in the window, so we were able to people watch Broadway while we dined.

A delicious cheesy omelet with home fries and bacon.

M's usual.

Cheap as hell and delicious. If we lived in Saratoga, we'd be regulars.

mollie's mason jar

While spending the weekend in a small Adirondack town, we were told that Mollie's Mason Jar was THE place to eat, so off we went for brunch. We walked in the door to see the deserted dining room pictured above, and expected to be seated right away. The hostess took our name and told us the wait was 30 minutes and that we were welcome to sit at one of the empty tables and drink some complimentary coffee while we waited. We looked at each other in disbelief. Did she really tell us to take a seat at an empty table to wait for a table? Ok...

We waited the 30 minutes because, honestly the only other place to get breakfast was the convenience store up the street. I'm glad we waited.

 I ordered the South of the Border omelet. I was so hungry when it came out that I started devouring it before realizing I forgot to take a picture! (oops!) It was really good, but it must have been sitting back in the kitchen for a while because it wasn't hot, and the cheese inside had the melted-then-sat-there-a-while-so-kinda-recongealed consistency.  The homefries were delicious, and the waitress actually asks you if you'd prefer them with or without onions. M liked his eggs, bacon, and sausage. He said they were cooked well and tasted very fresh.

We also ordered french toast, and I was not happy with it at all. There were black specks of god knows what from the griddle all over it, that I originally thought was just some cooked-on cinnamon. But I was wrong, because the french toast was bland as hell. There was definitely no cinnamon or any other spices on these, so what the hell were the black specs? M liked the french toast, but also revealed that he has low french toast standards: "I don't care what the toast tastes like as long as the syrup is good."

Overall, we were pleased with the meal, for four of us the total was about $40, and we had a TON of food. In fact, we liked it so much we went back the next day and had breakfast again!

miss albany

We have an exciting announcement to make: Miss Albany diner is the official Windshield Diaries #1 place in the Capital Region to get breakfast. It was heart wrenching to oust our beloved Metro 20 diner from the number one spot, but there is no denying how amazing Miss Albany is.

Miss Albany is not only in an authentic vintage diner car, but also offers a diverse, gourmet breakfast menu. Every item is made with the best ingredients possible and is undeniably delicious. The staff is friendly and attentive. It truly is a gem of the Capital Region.

While we waited the arrival of our delicious breakfast, M doodled an angry clown on the place mat, which ended up becoming a whole twisted circus scene that really should have been saved a framed.

Miss Albany is full of authentic vintage touches, sassy signage, and they only accept cash, which gives it the perfect diner vibe.

M ordered the Big Breakfast which came with eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage, rye toast, and pecan pancakes. He couldn't stop raving about it. The eggs were perfect, the bacon was real, the sausage was fresh sausage, not that pre-frozen stuff most places offer.  The home fries were perfectly seasoned and had some chopped onions mixed in, and the pancakes were delicious.

I ordered the MAD Irish Toast, because I've been in a french toast kind of mood lately, and after reading about it on All Over Albany a while back, I knew I had to try it. It didn't disappoint. MAD Irish toast is a heavenly mixture of delicious french toast slices sandwiching pecan cream cheese and topped with a butterscotch-irish whiskey sauce. This looks like a little plate, but it was RICH and I couldn't finish it if I wanted to. Delicious!

M was still working on his circus drawing after the food arrived. I think here he is drawing a lion and tiger in an old fashioned circus car...

Does this place look familiar to you? It could, because not only is it the Capital Region's best place to get breakfast, but it was also one of the  locations where the Jack Nicholson movie Ironweed was filmed.

Route 7 Diner

Recently our local breakfast tour brought us to the Route 7 Diner. This was a day for a basic traditional breakfast: 2 eggs over easy, home fries, rye toast, and some french toast. The coffee was good diner coffee, not too burnt, not too strong. M liked the bacon, and said his omelet was good but not blowing his mind. The homefries weren't seasoned but were cooked well, as were the eggs.  The french toast was thick and had the perfect amount of cinnamon, but instead of maple syrup, they serve the sickly sweet Kraft Pancake Syrup which tastes like pure high fructose corn syrup. It kind of overpowers and ruins the good flavors of the french toast.

The verdict: average diner food. Nothing gross, but nothing outstanding either.

76

The 76 Diner is one of the powerhouses of diners in the area. Everyone seems to love it, and it always shows up in local paper's "best of" surveys. We thought it was ok, but nothing spectacular worth crowing about. M ordered an ice water with his coffee, and they delivered it in one of those mini glasses, a pet peeve of his. My orange juice was also delivered in a mini glass, something that annoys me. I'm not a child, when I order a glass of orange juice, please provide me with the "big girl" size, thanks.

 Our breakfast was good, no complaints at all, but there was nothing outstanding about it. Just average.

If you can't tell by the sign out front, this diner is themed around 1776 and US History. The menus feature mini profiles of all the US presidents, but unfortunately, that's as far as they go with the theme. Personally, I would like this place a lot more if you stepped inside and were transported to Revolutionary War themed decor instead of your run of the mill dinner decor.

Yep, those are Revolutionary Soldiers on that roof...

The Point Cafe

Recently M & I were driving around Rotterdam trying to figure out where to eat breakfast. M wanted to take me to a diner he used to go to, but when we got there, they had apparently been closed for years. So he took us to The Point Cafe. I was a little grumpy because on the outside it looks like a Mexican restaurant, and I REALLY wanted breakfast food. But I was pleasantly surprised when we went inside.

The walls are decorated with traditional Mexican art mixed with some American patriotic items. They sat us at a nice window seat, and I cracked the menu to find a wide variety of breakfast foods: waffles, pancakes, french toast, eggs, omelets....and BREAKFAST BURRITOS. It was really hard to decide what to get, but upon reading the words BREAKFAST BURRITOS, I knew I wouldn't be ordering french toast.

We both ordered coffees, which were perfectly brewed. M ordered an omelet and they gave him a choice between homefries or hashbrowns. He chose the latter.  He said his food was very good, but he wished that the hashbrowns had a little more seasoning.

My BREAKFAST BURRITO was amazing! It was the Fiesta Breakfast Burrito, and was served with refried beans instead of homefries (nice touch!) All of the ingredients were SUPER fresh. The burrito was filled with scrambled egg, chicken, cheese, and onions. The sides of salsa and guacamole really made the dish. I can't emphasize how delicious this was!

The staff was super friendly, the service was great, and the bill for our two meals came to LESS THAN $20. Amazing! I can't wait to go back!

blue ribbon diner

I know the past few diner reviews have been pretty harsh, but we've been finding in our journeys that not all diners are created equal. I'd heard many good things about the Blue Ribbon Diner, but I'm gonna be honest here, the Blue Ribbon Diner is a lot like another Blue Ribbon: Pabst. On the outside it has a classic look to it, but inside it's cheap and a little trashy. 

 We went for breakfast on a Sunday morning and the service was friendly and quick, but the food we were presented with was less than visually stunning. Two eggs over easy served with some half burnt homefries and rye toast that could barely be classified as toasted. And the yolk of one of my eggs was broken when they served it to be, a big pet peeve of mine. I want to break the yolk myself so I can eat it before it gets that weird skin on it from being exposed to the air for too long. The french toast was seasoned and cooked well, but was made from slices of white bread as opposed to the thicker breads other local diners use. The coffee was fresh and had a good flavor to it. 

The food wasn't bad, but better presentation and higher quality ingredients would go a long way.

the circle diner

continuing on our breakfast tour of the area, m and i decided to try the circle diner because of how cool it looks on the outside. the inside is pretty impressive too. you step in the front doors and you instantly feel like you are in an authentic vintage 50s diner, not just some diner that's trying to capture that feeling. it's as beautiful inside as it is outside, we had really high hopes because the menu looked decent too. infact, they had several creative omelet choices, and i decided to go with the taco omelet.

the taco omelet was pretty tasty. it had a chili-like taco meat filling along with that tasted like cheddar. the little cups of salsa and sour cream served with it were a nice touch. but this is definitely a menu item that you ge half way through and start to wonder "what was i thinking?!" it's super heavy and probably super bad for you.

 m ordered his old stand by, which he was pretty pleased with. except for one thing: the short stack of french toast he ordered came out looking suspiciously like pancakes....and it gets better. 

they charged us $5.50 for that  short stack. $5.50 for TWO PANCAKES. Absurd. and they were icky pancakes. they were undercooked and squishy on the inside. 

m was happy with the bacon, he said it was "real bacon" as opposed to the papery crap some places around here try to pass off as bacon.

the homefries were really bland. i thought the coffee was weak and so did m. m likes weak coffee...so if he thought it was weak, then you know it was pretty much just hot water in a cup.

this breakfast was definitely a open and shut case of 'looks can be deceiving.'

halfmoon diner

last weekend m and i found ourselves in the clifton park area, and decided that despite it being almost 3:00 in the afternoon, that it was the perfect time to sample one of their local diners. i whipped out my trusty iphone and searched yelp for our diner destination. we chose the halfmoon diner because it seemed to have pretty decent reviews (and it was the closest...)

i ordered the greek omelet (it's becoming my go-to diner breakfast these days), and this was probably the best one i've had at a local place. they put onions, tomato, and feta in their greek omelets, and they do not over cook them.  it was nice and moist, and delicious! they also get an A+ for their homefries. while they are not seasoned, they are cooked with onion which is a rare delight to come across at local diners.

m had his standard 2 eggs overeasy with homefries, bacon, and rye toast. he was pleased with them, and also sang the praises of the homefries. he also ordered the french toast which was really really good. cooked perfectly, seasoned with just the right amount of cinnamon. my mouth is watering just thinking about the bite i had!

...sorry Farmer Boy, but we're thinking the Halfmoon Diner may just oust you from the tentative top five...