T
ool & D
ie page 29
ago, the main cook worked the grill in a
3-piece suit equipped with a pocket watch
and chain. We would've given anything
to see that.
There are photos on the wall of custom-
ers that were brave enough to face and
conquer the inhuman food eating chal-
lenges. One of which is our friend, and
local rock brother Kenny Dunham (for-
mer Brand New Sin). It seems a young
Kenny D. took on the frittata challenge
- and won. His picture has been on the
wall ever since.
We order our food and pause for a mo-
ment to enjoy the ambiance. There
are 6 fairly large tables, and seating for
another 7 or 8 people at the counter.
The cook is only an arms-length away
from the counter, and is one intense
multi-tasking sumbitch - and I mean that
in a good way. He had to have been
thinking four steps ahead at all times. I
wouldn't want to play him at chess. On
one of his many trips to the freezer (that
was 3 feet behind us), he said "hello"
and asked how we were...very cool.
On his way back to the grill, he turned
up the radio a bit.
Whitesnake.
O.K., I'm starting to see a pattern here
- first Krokus, now Whitesnake. That's al-
right; nothing is going to ruin this meal for
us, not even 80's hair bands.
I like seeing my food prepared before my
eyes, the piece of mind of knowing that
nothing ends up on the floor is worth
every cent - and it's like being
at home. You see your meal
through from start to finish. Our
food arrives in less than ten min-
utes. Heidi ordered the sausage
and gravy over homemade bis-
cuits and a glass of orange juice. I
ordered one pancake and a side
of crisp bacon, and we split a
large order of home fries (at least
2 lbs. worth!!!). I only ordered
one pancake, because if you can
eat two, you get your picture on
the wall - so I had a feeling that
one was plenty...and I was right.
The damned thing was an inch
thick and 12 inches in circumfer-
ence. It covered the whole plate.
Heidi's portions were nothing to
sneeze at either - a dinner sized
plate with 4 large biscuits and
enough sausage gravy to choke
a redneck. We decided to pool
our resources and help each other
out. The constant refills on the
coffee (I never saw the bottom of
my cup), and the ever-improving
music (Kansas, Cheap Trick and
Zeppelin), was the perfect fuel to
see this grand task through to the
end. We killed it all but a pound
of potatoes. Not too bad...
bad for my waste perhaps, but
if you're counting calories, then
stay home.
All together it was $20.69, and
by far the most amount of food
in one meal that we've seen in
years. Mothers Cupboard's hours are 6am-
1:30pm everyday and they do serve lunch/
dinner type fare during the weekdays. It's
so worth the gamble.
Service: 5
No wait, no
empty cof-
fee cups, and a "Thanks hun" on our
way out
Value: 3½
We challenge anyone to find a better
value ANYWHERE in CNY
Atmosphere: 4½
We could've used
more elbow room, but it didn't
take away from our experience
Coffee: 3½
The coffee was ok, but it never ran dry