Bluebird Cafe – Narragansett Rhode Island

As of late we’ve been riding around looking for sweet new breakfast spots to haunt and today was no different other than the fact we got a very late start and most places don’t serve breakfast in the afternoon. No matter! Google insisted this place did.

It’s weird, Narragansett isn’t far from my RI base in Newport and yet we hadn’t poked around there until today, specifically to find this little Mardi Gras/Southern themed plaza cafe. By now we’d just slipped in half an hour before closing. Most of the chairs were already on the tables. Still they were friendly and welcoming so we sat down.

The art hanging in this place was wild. A poster hung on the wall with several crayfish pinching towards the sky, reading above something about being boiled alive. The menu was no less eyebrow raising. Today’s special was a crunchy blueberry pancake with granola. I almost went for that but was too intrigued by the butter pecan pancakes. Meanwhile the rest of the menu had a bit of creole and Cajun flair. Even some of the breakfast items showed a spicy side. My companion went with the chicken and waffles which came with a side of beans. He said the chicken was fresh (and not pre-made or frozen as some of these establishments use) and that the beans were really good. I did a mandatory tasting of the beans to make sure and he was right! My pancakes were great too. They came out covered in chopped pecans, made with a fluffy and somewhat creamy batter. A short stack was more than I could eat.

A woman came in after us and made the cut 5 minutes before the kitchen closed. Having been told this she tried to leave but the staff insisted it was fine so she came in, ordered one hell of a BLT and enjoyed the music with us, happily singing along to Queen and smiling. I love Queen but to be honest it was hearing the Muppet’s Phenomina song that made me smile ear to ear. Can’t say I’ve ever heard it played in public!

There was enough on the menu here to want to come back and try something else. I think we found a winner.

Moogy’s – Brighton Massachusetts

Sadly, I have fallen WAY behind on writing these entries. This was 15 of 17 I had let pile up and as such I don’t remember why I was here. All I remember is it was a hot day and we’d already done our adventuring and were looking for good grub before driving home. So, I did the usual dance of trying to find parallel parking (BOO!) and then walking half a block to see what we had chosen.

This place… it was a trip. You would not be wrong in thinking it was closed based on the fact there was no light in this place, not via windows or electricity. Did we just walk into a swinger’s club? I couldn’t be certain. The only lights were fairy lights and I…. am not a bat. So, even though the menu was on the wall in huge font I was still having a hard time reading it! Though I admit I was deeply amused that one of the options was a grilled Fluffernutter. How very New England! I was overheating at the time so I knew my stomach was going to reject basically anything I tried putting in it. A Fluffernutter would have ended up painting the walls if I tried it. None the less I got The Tomboy which was loaded grilled cheese with heaps of fried chicken thrown in. Funny, this was the first autistically coded menu I’d come across but I’d bet money based on the fact this choice was named after gender variance and contained a pile of common “safe” foods that whoever it was named after was most likely autistic. We have an obscene amount of gender variance and love of over processed food in the community. It made it an easy decision. We also ordered fries as potatoes are my “safe” food (something I won’t hurl up even when my stomach’s being an ass, like today.)

We wandered into the back room and sat down. It had this delightful 20-watt chandelier which I wanted to bring home with me. And the music? It was wild. Literally anything that had been popular in the last hundred years would play at random. Ella Fitzgerald followed by some random 90’s garage band? Check. Also some Bob Dylan which luckily didn’t trigger me like the last time I’d heard a Bob Dylan song by surprise. Nothing quite like sobbing alone at a Panera! (To be fair it was a BAD point in my life and I think it was triggering because it reminded me of all the parts of myself I’d lost while in long term relationship with a narcissist including listening to 60’s folk all the time like I did in my teens. It’s a story as old as time and I wish so many women [and others] didn’t have to go through it.) This time I found myself singing along to Tangled Up in Blue and thinking to myself, “Jesus Christ, that’s insane, it makes me happy I’m not still 20.” Funny how things hit differently when you age..

This is when the food came out and I ate it quietly in the dark. Actually, the dark was very calming after having spent a few hours being active in the outside world. My autistic ass thrives in the dark, even if my eyes no longer adjust to it. And the grub was good! Perfect stoner food if that’s your thing, the sort of faire that goes straight from your mouth to your arteries. Good times.

Vittles – Pittsfield Maine

Vittles (and the eateries that once predated it) has been somewhere I have eaten breakfast for yeeears. Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I have always adored their tin ceilings which reminded me of my gram’s house. And the staff were always so friendly!

It used to be a pretty standard place but when it became Vittles it got a little fancier. They’re VERY proud of their fries. But we were having breakfast. I got the almond French Toast – the fanciest breakfast item I could find – and ooooo, it was the right decision! That was some primo breakfast right there, and pretty decent pricing to boot. Again, not being a food blogger, I forgot to take a photo until it was mostly eaten but suffice to say this was three whole slices of thick bread and I ate until I wanted to explode. I definitely like this place for breakfast.

Miss Shirley’s Café – Baltimore Maryland

Going to Maryland was no small ordeal. We’d started our travels at 2AM the night before and arrived at the airport to pick up our newest travel companion only after getting into the world’s dumbest car accident only 5 minutes away at the toll booths. Apparently they’d changed the entire system to EZPass which confused cash payers so much they were stopping when they shouldn’t have been…. hence I slammed into a stopped car ahead of me and the gentleman behind me slammed into me. Fun stuff!

So I was already loopy tired, high on adrenaline, and hungry enough to eat a horse when we decided to go in search of food. Miss Shirley’s came up as a suggestion and when we found out it’d been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives we had to check it out. Whether you like the show or not you have to acknowledge it showcases a lot of diners, all of which look food coma amazing, and I had wondered if I’d ever end up at one of these joints seeing as diners are my kinda food.

Even at this weird hour there was a wait but after getting in we were served quickly. I ended up drinking their strawberry lemonade which had such a delightful light flavor – it didn’t taste like pure sugar like lemonade usually does. I ended up getting the coconut stuffed French toast for $17. Never in my life did I expect to pay $17 for what is essentially peasant food but when in Rome… I was not disappointed! When they came out with my meal I couldn’t even tell what it was. It wasn’t a few identifiable slices it was the whole damn loaf of bread! Dipped in egg, settled on a nest of fresh strawberries and slices of banana foster, cut, and glued back together with two inches of coconut filling which came spewing out like lava when I hit it. Clearly I didn’t know how to eat this monstrosity. My companions both laughed at how huge it was knowing I’d never come close to eating it all. That was like four meals worth of toast for me! And it was GOOD. I ate far too much. It was so sweet it didn’t even need maple syrup. I am definitely adding coconut to my future breakfast endeavors.

Meanwhile everyone else was super happy with their choices of chocolate chip pancakes and a mixed egg breakfast of some sort. Their proportions were also very large although maybe not as excessive as my French toast. We all left stuffed silly and I would highly recommend this stop if you happen to be in Baltimore.

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