On occasion, Mrs. BDB gets a bug in her craw (WTF does that mean?) about breakfast out on the weekends. We usually make an elaborate production of breakfast at home on either Saturday or Sunday, an homage to my family tradition of same.
Saturday breakfast was a meal my family almost always enjoyed together, and usually it was a family production, with my dad leading the effort. This was the only meal he cooked during a given week, with two exceptions: he was in charge of the grill, on the few days a year that Northern Minnesota summers allowed that – and he was in charge of (most) fish, of which there was plenty served in my household.
The exception to his fish manipulation was Friday nite dinner, usually fish sticks or blocks of frozen haddock, which fell under my mother’s normal purview, and one of the 26 or so meals she had in the family rotation.
I digress.
As you probably know, Mrs. BDB has been big on Groupon and Living Social promos lately (in fact our Saturday afternoon socializing was courtesy of her and Living Social – ceramics painting), so we thumbed through our coupons looking for a breakfast deal, and of course, as it usually goes, all of our BOGOs and such for breakfast had expired the previous day.
So we ran down the street to the Golden Touch Family Restaurant, a place we had visited once before for a weekday lunch.
We knew we’d get standard diner breakfast fare, and we’re about to have the patience (or at least she knew I wouldn’t) to hit the popular PDX weekend places, nor would I have the lack of intelligence to once again hit the Original Pancake House, which is also nearby.
We were seated in the back again, and by coincidence, we were waited on by the same veteran server that had taken care of us on our previous visit. We knew service would be above most people’s reports for this establishment. Our waitress has been at Golden Touch forever, and is accomplished and joyful in her work choice.
Mrs. BDB went with Swedish pancakes (another homage to my father? LOL), the Scandinavian version of the crepe, thin cakes, usually served with a dollop of sweet or savory toppings and whipped cream. She opted for blueberries, and passed on the cream.
I went with Chicken Fried Steak, accompanied by two perfectly done over easy eggs, white toast, hash browns of the shredded variety, the steak bathed in sausage gravy. The taters at Golden Touch are served crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, without any special seasoning.
The “steak” is ample in size, maybe 6 oz, with a light breading, and mildly seasoned. The toast comes butter with a couple choices of food service preserves.
It’s an adequate meal, tho the best Chicken Fried Steak in Portland is served up at Slappy Cakes, in my opinion.
I dutifully jabbed and mopped my yolks with my toast (my mother would have had a fit witnessing this), and devoured the steak, barely touched the potatoes (I am trying to watch carbs).
They were trying out a new blend of coffee that day, and we thought it was pretty OK, which is a big deal, considering Mrs. BDB thinks diner coffee belongs in the category of “warm brown water.” She got her jones for fancy caffeine later in the day at Chuck’s in Lake O. (Vanilla latte, if you must know). Chuck’s is a purveyor of our most favoritest brand, Illy, from Trieste, Italy.
Breakfast for two, about $24, including tip. I am sure we will return.
