Breakfast in Punta Gorda

As long as I can remember breakfast has been my favorite meal. This leaning I think goes back to the early Sunday mornings of my childhood when after church we headed for the bakery to pick out cinnamon buns oozing with gooey, sugary glaze and cinnamon swirling throughout, luscious buttercakes dripping with yellow gold, and, of course, the soft Sunday-only snowflake rolls dusted with a light covering of soft flour hence their name. Promising smells came beckoning under the bakery door and then hit you with all the goodness of the cakes and cookies lining the glass enclosed shelves -- surely these wonderful things couldn't be bad for you.

Then, of course, after the trip to the bakery and as we were disposing of our Sunday finery, the first whiffs of bacon reached our nostrils. Was it the association of that smell with the greasy delectable taste that made that gust of odor so alluring or was it the essence of the smell itself? Who knows but those mornings when my Dad did the cooking and the fried eggs were made perfectly over, not runny, and not too hard, and the bacon was just slightly crisp, and accompanied by snowflake rolls to be followed by exquisite bakery treats all was right with the world.

Given my obvious passion for the meal and the ability to enjoy a reasonably priced dining out experience, Gene and I frequently head for one of the local eateries for breakfast, each of which has its ups and downs, thankfully mostly up. Our favorites come and go, but generally because of their proximity to where we live and direct path from the Y, we most often frequent the Brenda's at the Masonic Lodge on Taylor Road (as of 2011 closed-- see blog on Dean's) and the Burnt Store Grille, both are very dependable. The decision of which depends on a couple of factors but mostly on something that I was once told was the strongest determinant of why most people chose a particular restaurant for a particular meal ---- the dish they wanted and which establishment made it the way they wanted it. So if we're in the mood for Oatmeal and toast, Brenda wins hands down -- great Oatmeal served with brown sugar and raisins. Brenda also usually wins if we want eggs (though not always). I can rely on the cooks there to turn out eggs the way I like them over, not quite hard, no ooze -- nothing as changed much, you see. But if we want good scrambled eggs and or pancakes or we can't quite make up our minds, we will go the the Grille or sometimes Elena's. While on occasion Elena's has served up the very best pancakes in Punta Gorda, unfortunately, this hasn't been consistent. Elena's menu though is very large --- and is fairly dependable for omelets. Speaking of omelets and pancakes, we got hooked on IHop in California for both. I personally love their "Senior Omelet" which is still too large for me for one meal (so I get 2 meals out of it). The touch of pancake battery in the omelet mixture is their secret.

For the truly great Sunday morning breakfast experience, every other Sunday, the Punta Gorda Elks Lodge serves a breakfast for $6 which includes coffee and juice. For this you can either have the traditional sit down service with eggs and or pancakes, toast and breakfast meat or have an outstanding omelet made for you at the omelet station manned by volunteer Elks. Nothing like having this incredible breakfast on the Peace River for a bargain price. Of course, you have to be an Elk first, but if you live in Punta Gorda or Port Charlotte and aren't taking advantage of this incredible lodge, you are truly missing out.

Another place that serves up a good solid breakfast is the Smoke House on Taylor. Like Brenda's this is the place for good home-cooking especially their sausage and I'm told their biscuits and gravy. For a change of pace, the restaurant at Charlotte County Airport is a winner. Dependable eggs and pancakes, french toast which has been coated with Oatmeal (sounds weird, but believe me this is terrific), and they serve in my opinion the best hash browns with scrambled eggs and toast (real rye toast).

What I would like to see in Punta Gorda is a more upscale full-service breakfast place. I doubt that I would frequent it more than once or twice a month -- but would truly like it there for when we are in the mood for a special treat or when we have out-of-town visitors. Perhaps the new SunLoft center will accommodate us here--I hear rumors that may be the case.

Nonetheless, that would be the cherry on the cake --- because compared to other communities in Southwest Florida we have some of the best dining-out breakfast locations in the area.