Elena's -- Always Reliable ---Closest to a Jersey Diner in Punta Gorda

When we think breakfast in Punta Gorda there are several good choices these days -- but most often the place that rolls to the top of the list is Elena's.  Elena's, which actually was owned and run by a lovely lady named Elena when we first moved to Punta Gorda is probably as close as you are going to get in this part of Florida to a typical Jersey diner.  While Elena herself is gone... she sold the restaurant several years ago to the current owners, her style of serving abundant amounts of good food at a great price is still there.

In the smallish space, decorated with tiled mirrored walls and poster-style pictures of Greece, the restaurant manages to accommodate a large number of hungry Punta Gordans and visitors...probably because the food comes out of the kitchen so fast that you think the cooks must have envisioned your order when you walked in the door.   During season, while patrons line up outside almost every morning, the wait is still relatively short.  Then come late April when it's  quieter and locals like me return, you can get in and served in a flash.

On any weekday, there is a list of breakfast specials (eggs with ham, bacon or sausage with potatoes and toast; waffles and bacon, e.g.) at around $6 that includes the coffee...and you know how add-ons like coffee can run up a bill.  Omelets is one of the reasons I think Elena's in the morning ...with a long list to choose from including Elena's special feta cheese and spinach, my favorite.  And the delicate pancakes -- not the corn-heavy ones --are the best in town.

Lunch at Elena's is as equally dineresque as breakfast with a long menu of potential sandwiches, salads and plstters.  And dinner specials and early birds are not be missed... lots of choose from under $10.

Always with smiles and cheerful faces, the waitress staff is not of the Jersey diner style...the attitude is missing... the efficiency is not.  Not a beat is missed, as your order is taken with moments of your seating, coffee refilled without your having to go on safari for it, and food almost always arrives as ordered with all the accompanying condiments you need without asking.

Probably everything I am saying here you already know.  Because if you haven't been to Elena's...  I suspect you might never have been to Punta Gorda...