Mel's Diner

Mel's Diner

118 Powhattan Avenue

Essington, PA 19029

Should you be searching for a cheap place to stay in Illadelphia, allow me to recommend that you head west on 95 and take the exit after the airport, where you will find a cluster of cheap motels (such as Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn). It might not seem as exciting as downtown Philly, but believe you me, there is PLENTY of stuff there to keep the avid adventurer amused. There's a bar! And a strip club! And a Harrah's Casino. Oh yes! A Harrah's! And you know what's most amazing about the Harrah's? IT'S NEXT DOOR TO A PRISON. I'm not even kidding. I don't mean next door, like, down the street. I mean they share a parking lot. I mean there are people in that prison who can't sleep at night because their cell is flooded with glaring neon lights. Absolutely mind-blowing. That alone might warrant the drive out there.

But meanwhile, to the east one will also find Mel's Diner, which is just grand, and a FAR tastier alternative to Denny's or the Philly Diner, both of which are nearby, and neither of which have particularly tasty breakfast offerings. Mel's is one big room, rather curiously purporting to possess both a smoking and non-smoking section (this ostensible divide, however, does not prevent the entire place from smelling like a bar). Me, I was thrilled to be able to smoke indoors, but I can certainly imagine a hypothetical patron who would be less pleased. Anyhow. 

The thing about Mel's is, the people are friendly and the food, no joke, is great, not to mention cheap. I can't speak to everything on the menu, which is basically exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect to see at a place like Mel's, no frills or surprises, but man, what I had was tasty. Phenomenal pancakes. Fluffy, chewy, pillowy pancakes of goodness. Which is rare - generally in diners of this ilk one gets those baking soda aftertaste monstrosities. Marvelously crisp thinly sliced bacon. Bottomless coffee that is avidly refilled by the attentive staff. The scrambled eggs I had were admittedly somewhat lackluster, BUT they do have Louisiana Hot Sauce rather than the usual Tabasco, which earns them some major points. 

Alas, I have no pictures to share with you. But honestly, if anything from that breakfast was going to be photographed, more than likely it would have been the GIGANTIC TRUCK parked outside. We assume it belonged to a table of youths with popped collars who arrived shortly after we did. We might have been tempted to make snide comments about them, had we not seen their massive truck. It was a tank. It was amazing. They are obviously awesome guys. 

All rambling aside (NEXT DOOR TO A PRISON, PEOPLE), Mel's is a really lovely breakfast spot. Should you happen to find yourself in the area, stop by.

Jane's

Jane's
1653-1655 W Cortland St.

Chicago, IL 60622

BreakfasT: M-F, 6:30-3

Brunch: Sa/Sun, 10-2:30

I keep finding myself in really classy breakfast places lately. It's kind of weird.

Jane's, despite being somewhat tricky to get to (or at least, I always get mixed up in the process) rarely has much of a wait, and has an extremely elegant interior. Fresh flowers on every table, nice decor - it's a very pleasant place. The menu is also upscale, chipotle sauces, grilled salmon, etc. I may be wrong about this, but it seems to me that the weekday breakfast menu is not identical to the weekend brunch menu, and I think I actually like the weekday breakfast menu more. But I'm basing this on two brunch visits and one breakfast visit that were separated by a sea of almost a year, so I might be wrong. 

Anyhow. Today, I had the 3 eggs sunny side up with andouille hash. Curiously, this was accompanied by a side of potatoes, which seemed somewhat redundant, given the hash, but ok. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the andouille hash was fairly flavorful, but the potatoes were on the mushy side, which really disappointed me. I had ordered a side of salsa, and this turned out to be a mistake. First off, what I had actually wanted was pico de gallo, it just hadn't occurred to me that this place was so classy as to distinguish between the two. My bad. Anyhow, the salsa was, for starters, warm, which really threw me off. Secondly, it was a smoky kind of sauce that was completely overpowered by a specific herb that for some reason I can't identify, but will probably be tasting for the rest of the day. My companions ordered eggs benedict and the breakfast burrito, and enjoyed them mightily. But their potatoes were mushy too. However! The coffee was fantastic, Intelligentsia brand and bottomless - quite a treat. 

I dunno. I don't wanna be a downer about this place, because it's really quite nice, but I think it suffers from being a little too frou-frou for my taste. If you're going to be frou-frou, I feel, you really need to be delivering some pretty amazing food. And, like so many expensive Chicago dining options, this place doesn't quite live up to itself. The food is good, but not amazing, which makes it seem somewhat pretentious, especially when coupled with the highly elegant, but somewhat formal, interior. It just seems to be taking itself a wee bit too seriously.

Oh, but I should also mention, what with this lovely weather, that they do have outdoor seating options. We were not so fortunate as to secure a space outside, but theoretically, it could be done. Granted, you've got the expressway looming over you, but nonetheless, I'll bet it's pleasant.