Gettin’ huge at Good Golly

/ November 11, 2015
Breakfast to get us hopped up.

Breakfast to get us hopped up.

Our cruise group leaders JoAnn and Brenda got the gang together again last weekend for breakfast.

Put us in one room in a diner in Brewerton, N.Y., and it sure seems like an endless number. Sort of reminds me of a clown car when the bodies keep exiting … Really, though, and not everybody made it to this happy get-together.

Ten months until the Royal Caribbean International ship pulls out of Cape Canaveral down there in Florida.

I’m pretty sure the ship’s folks will not attempt to seat us all at one table in their dining room.

And yes, the service at Good Golly Restaurant in Central Square, N.Y., was friendly and accommodating. They wrote separate checks for all of us who requested them.

I enjoyed my two pancakes, two eggs-over-easy, two slices of bacon and two slices of wheat toast special. I filled up early, leaving about a third of the pancakes behind. The wheat toast tasted particularly good this morning.

My dear wife Karen expected a French Toast cinnamon extravaganza put instead found a rather ordinary serving of that morning staple. Hungry and with that L-shaped table full of friends all receiving plates from the busy kitchen, she dug in. Karen went with a bit of maple to dress it up, and I received the sugar-free syrup I requested.

The conversation hummed, left and right around me, even through the eating. OK, I tried not to talk with my mouth full.

What’s the best-named diner you’ve ever visited? Is a party this big a pain for expecting separate checks? Wheat, rye, white, English muffin or a bagel, and why?

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47 thoughts on “Gettin’ huge at Good Golly”

  3. That place looks like a lot of fun bro Mark. Not sure we have one that can compare, but around here most of the family loves the Moonlite when they come home. It’s a barbecue place that used to be a store front with a couple of booths, but has now grown to huge proportions, with tabs to match. While I used to love the place there are better BBQ joints closer to my apartment with better ribs (my fave) and better service now, but Moonlite has the name and memories for the family. Personally though, Old Hickory is the best.

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  5. great name, great group and lots of excitement in the roomful of clowns ) sorry that karen’s didn’t live up to expectations, but hopefully there was enough of the good stuff to share. i was a waitress for years and know it’s a challenge, but if you tell the server at the beginning it usually works out just fine. as for my carb choice, bagels or english muffins. or anything in the bread family really –

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  6. That is a great picture. I love meal pics. And a great name for a diner. When I waited tables, we could always grat parties of 6 or more, which is easy to do on a large party and makes sense when you look at the total check. But if you auto-grat each separate check, it seems tedious, and you never know if the party would have tipped you more than the 15% (or now 18%) you are adding. It was always a gamble. I’ve noticed lately that when we pay bills, they use those dang tiny phones and then hold it up to you for you to press the 15, 20, or 20% button. That happens to me at the hair salon and massage office as well. It’s like nobody knows how to do math anymore.

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    • The auto tipper machines cost the workers money from the big tippers of the world, I think, Kerbey. When I get great service I want to go higher than any of those buttons. Just saying. And when I get blah service I don’t want to be forced to hit the lowest button “just because,” either.

      Thanks for your enthusiasm about the photo!

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  7. Big gatherings always give me a certain amount of stress, especially when there are individual needs to tend to…but a lot of the time they end up being lots of fun. I always go with wheat…so much better for you!!

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  8. The Red Rooster Diner in Pikes- Creek, PA was memorable. So was the APOLLO in Wildwood New Jersey. Most places that serve scrapple and sausage gravy over biscuits is on my A list!

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  9. My go-to is The Olympic in Tonawanda, NY. It’s open 24 hours and has everything from breakfast to snacks, with heavy emphasis on Greek cuisine. Huge portions and reasonable prices. You can get a table or a booth, and there’s plenty of space so you have some privacy – plus they have a large parking lot so you don’t have to drive around looking for a spot on some side street. They also have take-out of anything on their menu, and we do that at least once a week. A great, friendly place for those times when you need a quick bite or just don’t feel like cooking.

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  11. Hi Mark. It does look like you guys were having a great time. I am very fond of sourdough toast. But I always ask for it dry with butter on the side (and pray they have real butter – not that weird whipped stuff that looks like butter but is really insipid and tasteless), so I can slather the butter on – it has to be kind of crunchy, do not like soggy toast. Then I put preserves on it and it is scrumptious. Of course I use 2 halves of the toast to put my fried eggs upon, I guess that is a British/Australian way to eat your eggs. I hate it when they bring the eggs, and then come back later with the toast, because I have to have my toast to eat my eggs.

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  13. When we go to NJ (to visit Relatives) were always hit a diner in Red Bank Called “Shut up and Eat!” you can go in your PJ.s and slippers-the place is a hoot and quite the novelty. You’d never find that in sunny Florida!
    Yea really Terp…The Gatorette.

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  14. We go there for lunch on occasion and enjoy it….next time go to the R Diner on RT 11. Huge portions and you get abused by the waitresses…kinda reminds me of the old Dino BBQ days.

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  15. I can’t think of a great-named diner. The above comment reminds me of the Paradise Cafe. My in-laws loved to take us there years ago, but then they discovered another closer place they prefer.
    I’ll have wheat toast whenever possible. I think toast is a highly underrated food. Whether I add butter, jams, honey, peanut butter, or cinnamon and sugar — toast is delicious!
    I do love a crisp, buttered English muffin or a bagel with schmear, but not as a staple. And rye is for sandwiches in my book 😉

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  16. We used to go to one called Paradise. There was a Presbyterian church across the street that said they were 100 feet from Paradise.
    They aren’t a pain if they tip well. That is an op for a huge tip

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  17. Looks like fun – and did u say ten months from now u r taking this cruise?
    Anyhow – I will answer the bread question- lately if I have any at all – it is “brown rice” bread – the ol’ gluten free option – but before this – it was while wheat with eggs – or sourdough – mmmm

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      • How exciting. And getting together ahead of time looks like nice fun leading up to it. And not to keep talking about all the bread options – but one more thing that has changed for me is that back in the day I would sometimes have only a bagel for breakfast – and while thinking this was a lightweight energy boost to start the day – my body really needed nutrients – like from eggs or a bit of meat/veggies.
        Anyhow – time to peek at another post of yours – ttys 💙

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