Breakfast

A new neighbor just asked if we could have breakfast this weekend at my favorite breakfast place. I didn’t have the heart to tell her why we couldn’t do so.

We moved here over a year ago. I cook a hot breakfast for my husband every morning. I cook dinner every night, except for perhaps one night a week and we eat lunch/brunch out every weekend to give us both some time off. So we started going there for Sunday brunch and did so nearly every week.

The chef made me poached eggs even though they weren’t on the menu and it was a nice way to wind down the weekend. Why can’t we have breakfast/brunch there? Because a judge told them so. They can’t serve bacon. Their landlord, where they have a 25-year lease, sued them once they brought in a place that serves breakfast, and lunch, and dinner.

These are tough times and people are desperate. The landlord owns an entire strip of shops that are vacant, brand new and vacant. We didn’t have a ghost town but do now.

I am a foodie, proud to be so, and a consumer of breakfast goods. For this landlord to specify what protein, vegetable or beverage the restaurants it leases to is an insult to the people who live here and those who vacation here. I think I know who makes the best poached eggs and opt for that choice. Who are you to say this is Italian, this is what Denny’s would do, this is a sports bar or whatever fits into the box?

We live here, we dine here. We shop here. Do you really think we’re going to go to one restaurant to get bacon and another to get pancetta? Perhaps we could do take-out from both and make up our own meal. Wishing for better zoning and commercial leases I still bid you well today and tomorrow. Dee