Hot Dish Review

Half a bag of cheddar goldfish, Fruit Loops and warm beer were the only edible items left in our room. Sounds more like the breakfast of losers than the breakfast of champions.

Around noon, LC and I checked out of the swanky motor lodge on the outskirts of Athens and hit the road back to Atlanta, still recovering from the Widespread show and its aftermath. An hour into the drive and we were ravenous.

Then, just like a mirage, a Waffle House appeared in the distance. It sat alone, perched on a hill at a traffic light in Dacula.

There are two kinds of Waffle House dining experiences….post clubbing at 3:00am and “the morning after” hangover breakfast. Of all the times I have eaten there, the meal has always fallen into one of those two categories.

Friday was obviously the latter, although neither of us was actually hungover. We chose a booth by the window and ordered coffee. I love their kitschy laminated menus with photos of the food…everything looks so delicious!

My regular Waffle House order is like a broken record; scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, raisin toast, and grits on the side. I rarely eat any of the grits, just don’t want them to contaminate my eggs. If I don’t order this I get a fried egg and cheese sandwich with bacon….good stuff.

LC ordered an omelette with onions, jalapenos, green peppers, bacon, and cheese with hashbrowns, scattered, smothered, and covered. He was very pleased with his omelette. In fact, he was still talking about it days later.

The diner franchise is celebrating 55 years in business, with strikingly consistent food from Hollywood to Dacula. It is always exactly the same….just like the pictures on the menu. My bacon was thick and chewy and the eggs were very cheesy. The toast was full of raisins and slathered with margarine. No real butter here missy!

LC and I added sugar, margarine, and black pepper (indeed!) to the grits making them somewhat edible. Another splash of coffee and we were on our way, fueled by fat and caffeine.

It was a good day.

How do hotel restaurants do it? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, room service…..they constantly crank it out. Getting it done and doing it right, however, are two different things.

It is rare that I get the opportunity to have breakfast at a hotel in Atlanta. More often than not, hotel breakfasts find me in a foreign country like Spain, Mexico, or Brazil. However, after L and P’s wedding, the party continued until the wee hours at AltoRex, the rooftop lounge at the Palomar, after which everyone stumbled to their rooms. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the modern decor since most of my time there was spent asleep, wrapped up in the cloudlike duvet.

But not for long. My lucky ass had to get up early to go to work. But before I took off, LC joined me at Pacci for breakfast. It was 9:00am on a Sunday. Only two other tables were occupied. Handsome young servers greeted us with smiles. The coffee was smooth, and so was the service.

Pacci has a fun “Flip For Your Breakfast” menu. Guests that order off this only slightly abbreviated list get to call a coin toss after their meal by none other than Keira Moritz’ sous chef Aaron Love. Not only that, a portion of the cost of your meal goes to charity, regardless who pays. Classy.

One of my all-time favorite brunch items is eggs benedict. Pacci’s version is made with proscuitto, spinach, tomato slices, with the traditional Hollandaise on top of toasted English muffins. It didn’t come with anything on the side, which is fine with me. I’m not a fan of breakfast potatoes.

LC ordered two fried eggs with wheat toast. His meal did come with potatoes, but no bacon. We ordered a side to split….thick and chewy just the way I like it. If you are not lucky enough to be staying at the Palomar overnight, the bacon alone is worth the short drive for brunch!

My benedict was a solid rendition of the popular classic. I liked the slightly Italian touch with the substitution of prosciutto for the standard Canadian bacon.

It was time to try our luck with the toss of the coin. LC’s a gambler by nature so it was all or nothing. He called heads and our breakfast entrees were free! By this time several other members of the wedding party had made it downstairs to Pacci, just in time to witness LC’s lucky streak continue.

We both cleaned our plates before I sped off in the HotDish mobile. Pacci is in my Top Ten for a reason…..whatever time of day or night, they do it right!

866 W. Peachtree Street NW 678-412-2402