Jay's Diner

We set out for a full 9-5 day of back-to-school shopping and preparatory madness this morning and decided that we'd kick it off with breakfast out.  We knew Jay's Diner would be open because, let's be honest, when is it ever closed, and it was clear from the parking lot and the packed booths that everyone else in ROC had the same thought.

We love Jay's!  It is steeped in an aesthetic that might best be described as Miami Vice meets the Oriental Trading Catalog, and it offers great diner fare at reasonable prices pretty darn close to 24/7/365.

My son announced his intention to order chocolate chip pancakes the minute we hit the door, so that was easy.  He ripped into them with great zeal, leaving only the non-chocochipped border zone on his plate.  My daughter's idea of breakfast is increasingly yellow rice, cold pizza, caesar salad, or soup (no kidding!), so she was harder to pin down.  She first ordered coffee cake (nope), then added bacon (which her father and brother ate), then was convinced to order Canadian bacon.  This, she ate and pronounced her favorite new food.  Success!  Both children also ordered the massively whipped cream topped hot chocolates, which barely made it through the meal.

I am a Jay's Platter Special-girl all the way: always with French toast and eggs over-easy.  This place has fantastic French toast, light yet firm!  I swap out bacon with sausage every once in a while, but this was a bacon morning.  Two pieces of French toast, two eggs, two pieces of bacon, a crazy bargain at $5.29.

My husband had eggs benedict with nicely crisped home fries, yum!  He saved room for the aforementioned bacon left by his daughter, pancake scraps left by his son, and one bite of the piece of French toast left by his wife (I was showing remarkable restraint).

Add in an orange juice and two bottomless cups of Jay's surprisingly good and strong coffee, and we walked out for about $34 plus tip.  If you're not accompanied by an a la carte princess (see above), you can definitely get out a lot more cheaply.