Nashville Biscuit House

805 Gallatin Ave.
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 228-4504
Website


Nashville is know for a couple things. One being biscuits, another being "meat and three" and the third being hot chicken. More on hot chicken later (I will be writing about it next). For now, let's focus on biscuits. Nashville Biscuit House is a literal box of a diner, with a drive through window and no other windows. There is a line about all open hours, so just suck it up and wait if you want some greasy breakfast.

I was ready to get down, but I HAD just eaten my weight in late night burgers and hot chicken at Dino's about 8 hours prior.

They offer things like the below.

I decided to be healthy and skip the ultimate platter, instead opting for a breakfast platter, featuring only grits, bacon, fried eggs, and toast. To that, I added a whole order of biscuits and gravy, and a country ham biscuit sandwich. Who said I couldn't do moderation?

The country ham biscuit sandwich was great, and featured ribbons of fat through the ham, a flaky, baking powder tinged biscuit, and a folded fried egg. The biscuit itself was a thing of beauty, and the sum of the parts was a nice breakfast sandwich.

A better application of the flaky dough was as a vessel for sausage gravy. This gravy was rich, silky and indulgent. My biggest problem with it was that there was a piece of plastic wrap hiding in my calorie pile. Poor quality control from the kitchen. It may have been from the sausage or the biscuits, but either way, it was not part of the allure.

The bacon was nice and thick, cooked crispy, and helped console me after the gravy incident.

The grits were coarsely ground, and smothered in butter. Not too shabby. This was a good meal, but it was overshadowed by the lack of care in the kitchen. The embarrassed waitress quickly took the gravy off of the tab, but that's the kind of thing that sticks with you. I would go back, but would look carefully in my sausage sauce on the next go-round.

Cake Cafe & Bakery

2440 Chartres Street
New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 943-0010
Website

New Orleans is known for many different foods, but one of the best known pastries among locals and tourists alike is King cake. Synonymous with Mardi Gras, this cinnamon-spiked Danish is one of many stars at the Cake Cafe.

Although it was not Mardi Gras (I would not be eating King cake), I still wanted to get the NOLA bakery experience, and I was not disappointed. They also crush the casual breakfast realm.

The doughnut you see below may seem like an ordinary glazed breakfast treat, but the layers of pastry were so light, flaky, and delectable, that it was almost unbelievable. Even heavenly.

The biscuits and gravy shown below were no slough, with a spicy Andouille side. The biscuits ruled the roost, light and flaky, like I am unable to make them...

Boudin and eggs were also delicious, with a fresh sausage patty fried crispy over grits, and another biscuit PLUS some yolk. Yes please.

The croissant breakfast sandwich below is another of my go-to's and this did not disappoint. Note: if you go here, order ANYTHING that has a baked good with it.

The central American breakfast subbed the grits above with beans and rice, and added some pico and guac. An interesting take, but nothing too special.

Finally the lowly bagel with cream cheese, a barometer of breakfast in my book. This was a very decent bagel for the South. Believe me, I have had some AWFUL bagels all over the Southeastern US. Was it NY worthy? Or even good Philadelphia bagel worthy? No, it wasn't. Was it a great way to pack in the calories before drinking began again? Absolutely.

Anna's Sandwich Shop

303 Sutton Avenue
Folsom, PA 19033
(610) 534-9289

The DelCo hoagie hunt continues, with the venerable old timer known as Anna's (est. 1935) on deck this time.

It's a great little corner spot on MacDade just down the road from a couple of well known local burger joints that I visited back in '09 and '10. Which reminds me, I need to get back to Charlie's very soon... The other one, not so much.

I went on a Saturday for a late breakfast/early lunch, it's definitely not brunch here. And although they're known for their cheesesteaks that come with forks, I was in the mood for the old Delco meat drape.

There was a steady flow of eggs and bacon coming off the grill and the phone was ringing off the hook with take out orders. Popular spot and it's obvious that part of the allure is in their bottom dollar prices.

I couldn't wait to get down on some 10am Italian hoagie.

The breakfast special AKA "morning delight" includes a 6" roll with eggs, cheese and choice of breakfast meat for $4. I chose bacon, knowing that my main-course sandwich was going to be full of other deli hams.

This is the perfect size sandwich to start your day. Well, my day requires more, but you get my point. Right off the bat, Anna's has my heart – they use only the very best rolls around and I am a sucker for falling in love every time I see or hear the name "Liscio's." The perfect roll for all things hoagie, their bread has never failed. My mouth is watering just thinking about the chew on that dough.

The eggs, cheese and bacon were cooked just right and the sandwich was delicious. There wasn't much inside but there's nothing fancy here and I'm glad I asked for a bit of mayo, ketchup and hot sauce to round it out. Without said condiments, it would have been too dry. For $4 though, it's unbeatable.

Now for the main event. The Italian hoagie here is served like all other DelCo hoagies - with veggies on the bottom and the meat on top. My, what a beautiful ham curtain you have.

These Italian hoagies can't be compared to some others of the same name, they're not served on crusty seeded rolls or made with high quality cured meats and crumbled chunks of spicy-sharp prov. They're the working man's version and they're delicious.

Look at this plank of meat and cheese. It had a straighter edge than any ruler I've ever seen. You have to get all up in it - press, fold in and enjoy. This version was tangy, the vinegary hot peppers bursting with flavor in every bite. The meats and cheese played second fiddle to the crunchy veggies, but they held their own in the background.

All in all, Anna's puts love into everything they make and I'll certainly be back to roll up my sleeves and dig in to their cheesesteaks.

Frady's One Stop

3231 Dauphine Street
New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 949-9688

The blessing and the curse with New Orleans is that there is a great place to eat on nearly every block. Frady's is a neighborhood staple of the Bywater (or Bi-wuder for us Philadelphian's) and has been a corner store of some kind since 1871. Its current iteration (as Frady's One Stop) has been in operation since 1968. There is a reason this place has stuck around so long...

It serves as a neighborhood meeting spot, and many people pass through, some for a pack of smokes, some for a chat with Frady himself. and some for the INSANE po' boys that are cranked out.

I had the opportunity to speak with Frady at length while my food was prepared. He was incredibly nice, offering up the history of the building and his store, and we even got to nerd out on the Civil War, a particularly favorite subject of mine (and his). He made this damned Yankee feel right at home.

Frady's son and daughter (twins!) do the cooking here, and my word, do they ever do it right. The kitchen is open to the store, giving you a bird's eye view into where the magic happens.

Frady will offer some critiques, and an off-the-wall question/remark when he feels it's appropriate. I love this place beyond belief.

Although it was (by all accounts) still breakfast, I needed to try the oyster po' boy, the roast beef with debris, and a good old fashioned fried egg sandwich to round it all out. I was originally intending to walk somewhere to eat with a view, but I was so hungry/fat that I made it a block before settling on a picturesque wall outside of a factory, next to a chain link fence.

Fried egg, cheese, bacon, tomato, mayo on wheat toast to begin. This came at the recommendation of Frady's son – I gave him free reign on its construction – and there is no better combination in the history of breakfast than these items. Oh, wait, some hot sauce. Yes indeed.

This was about the best breakfast sandwich I have ever eaten in my life. Perfectly runny yolk, creamy mayo, buttered toast, crunchy salty bacon, and some acidity from the tomato and hot sauce combined for the ultimate breakfast experience.

The fully dressed, fried oyster po' boy was served on a perfect Leidenheimer roll which is synonymous with po' boy, it is literally THE only roll that should carry a po' boy. Airy in the middle, with just enough crispiness on the outside to keep it all together, there is no other way.

My $8.50 half was MORE than enough to feed one person.

I absolutely love that they shred the iceberg here. It makes sense, and adds to a coleslaw-like effect with the mayo and hot sauce mix. The fried oysters were delicious, and had a well seasoned breading, housing a briny jewel underneath.

The heavy hitter of this party, however, was undoubtedly the roast beef. My god, this is an amazing sandwich.

The debris was the stuff dreams are made of. Rich, deep, and velvety, I wish this was served in a fountain. And that I was free to slurp it at will, and little pieces of beef could be picked off of the ledge around the fountain, with bites of roll if you so desired. It's that good.

The thinly sliced beef was a thing of beauty, and I deem this one of the top five things I ate in 2013. Two others were also in New Orleans (details coming soon).

If you happen to find yourself in this neighborhood, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice to not stop here and eat. Just be sure to tell Frady I sent you.