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April 28, 2006 2:45 PM   Subscribe

eggbaconchipsandbeans (via)
posted by bardic (48 comments total)
 
This guy never met an egg, bacon, chips and beans he didn't like. And that goes double for condiment bottles.
posted by jenovus at 3:01 PM on April 28, 2006


Do you guys have that song that goes "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in England?
posted by booksandlibretti at 3:03 PM on April 28, 2006


Wow, that's some loving documentation of his local greasy spoon joints. The inclusion of photographs adds a lot to it. Thanks!
posted by majick at 3:04 PM on April 28, 2006


I visited a Little Chef somwhere along the Wye river (or possibly the Usk) in Wales in the mid 90's. I'm amazed that it took them this long to become insolvent.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:05 PM on April 28, 2006


What do British people have against food?
posted by Roger Dodger at 3:07 PM on April 28, 2006


Utterly charming. I liked how the theme continued in his sidebar sites. Breakfast in America - with a despairing note that he's accepted that he's simply not going to be able to visit every cafe so please feel free to, er, chip in.
posted by cairnish at 3:19 PM on April 28, 2006


Do you guys have that song that goes "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in England?

I reflexively sang that, too. c'mon, everybody: "eggs, bacon chips and beans...chips and beans"

I think, however, that bardic's a Yank. bardic?
posted by kosem at 3:19 PM on April 28, 2006


"No flummery." Exactly.
posted by sluglicker at 3:28 PM on April 28, 2006


And for dessert -- from Scotland.
posted by ericb at 3:28 PM on April 28, 2006


I was appealing to the collective wisdom of MeFi, not bardic specifically.

Eggs, bacon, chips and beans (chips and beans)! Eggs, bacon, chips and beans (chips and beans)! Formica, ketchup bottles, Little Chefs and blogs -- eggs, bacon, chips and beans (chips and beans)!
posted by booksandlibretti at 3:28 PM on April 28, 2006


*stomach rumbles*
posted by carter at 3:32 PM on April 28, 2006


...the beans are breaking out of their compound like feisty stallions.
Very nice!
posted by zoinks at 3:41 PM on April 28, 2006


I can't help but think of spam, eggs, sausage, and spam.
posted by adamrice at 3:49 PM on April 28, 2006


I'm a USian, but I share Mr. Davies' passion for little diners done right and with care. Simple pleasures and all that.

My questions for the UK contingent: 1) At what time(s) of day is a proper ebbc appropriate? Only breakfast? To me, it looks like the perfect thing for consumption around 3 am after a night drinking. Would this make it a popular dish at uni? 2) Remind me what "Soldiers and something" are, where you slice up toast into four pieces and dip it into warm egg-yolk. This is yet another thing my parents failed to provide me with growing up.
posted by bardic at 3:53 PM on April 28, 2006


Great post , my favourite greasy spoon is the quick 'n' plenty cafe in tollcross , edinburgh ......the whole place is dominated by a daily record poster of former rangers leg-end lorenzo amoruso wearing a kilt.
The cafe maria in gorgie is good too ....but the happy polish staff are really diluting the all pervasive gorgie misery which made it the 'unknown pleasures' of greasy spoon cafes.
I was in the makro cafe in sighthill today ....a burnt 5 item breakfast for one ninety five , terrible service ....absolutely wonderful....all situated in a bulk buying warehouse where the eighties never went away , theres nothing to actually buy (a discount chuck norris dvd was one of the highlights) and the voice of small business is listened to .... i urge all you visitors to edinburgh to forget the castle and sample the delights of these wonderful places.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:06 PM on April 28, 2006


and don't get me started on farmfoods , we'll be here a long time if you do .
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:07 PM on April 28, 2006


There is no better hangover food than a greasy slop of eggs, hash and bacon. Nice find. My stomach is growling as well.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:11 PM on April 28, 2006


Roger Dodger : What do British people have against food?

Please, allow me to explain: Shut up. All clear now?
posted by kcds at 4:37 PM on April 28, 2006


The "British food is bad thing" is kind of like the "British have bad teeth" thing. I made the mistake of joking about the latter once to a Brit, who reminded me that since medical and dental care is far more affordable than in the US, it's Americans today who tend to look snaggletoothish.
posted by bardic at 4:40 PM on April 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


The "British food is bad thing" is kind of like the "British have bad teeth" thing.

Exactly. Britain claimed 14 of the 'Top 50 Best Restaurants in the World' last year -- with The Fat Duck taking top honors.
posted by ericb at 4:58 PM on April 28, 2006


I have no problems with British food. This looks delicious (especially that bacon).

The link to the page makes me think "decksanddrumsandrockandrollandeggsandbeans", though.
posted by wanderingmind at 5:01 PM on April 28, 2006


At what time(s) of day is a proper ebbc appropriate?

When I was at college it was either around 6pm, as you were finishing the afternoon's boozing and getting ready for the night's; or 3am on your way home; or noon to soak up the hangover.
posted by jamesonandwater at 5:15 PM on April 28, 2006


My questions for the UK contingent: 1) At what time(s) of day is a proper ebbc appropriate? Only breakfast? To me, it looks like the perfect thing for consumption around 3 am after a night drinking. Would this make it a popular dish at uni? 2) Remind me what "Soldiers and something" are, where you slice up toast into four pieces and dip it into warm egg-yolk. This is yet another thing my parents failed to provide me with growing up.

1. A visit to the caff (Perdoni's in my case) is appropriate (1) if you are a manual worker, any weekday morning or lunch, (2) if you are an office worker, any weekday lunch, and (3) if you are a human, any time on a saturday. (1) and (2) may be contraversial because caffs are good anytime really.

2. "Soldiers" are toast 'fingers' presumably so called because they line up in a row a la soldiers on parade (stretched analogy but it's true). You dip them in your (soft-) boiled egg.
posted by patricio at 5:23 PM on April 28, 2006


that tile pattern is brilliant! I have spent a productive 30 minutes staring at them, though in a Sears basement bathroom stall and decidedly not eating ridiculously tasty-looking breakfast spreads--uh,..brilliant! great link!
posted by carsonb at 5:26 PM on April 28, 2006


Mmmmmm. There's a pseudo-Irish pub on this side of town that does a breakfast a bit like these...but if I ever get to the UK, I swear I'm eating my way across the island!
posted by pax digita at 5:26 PM on April 28, 2006


Awesome. Everything from the food to the tiles on the floor to the font on the menus makes me long for greasy spoon.
posted by fire&wings at 5:38 PM on April 28, 2006


This is the place I miss. Monster chips, grease, mushrooms, grease, sausages like herby pig penises, grease, beans and grease, bacon, grease, beautifully runny eggs with crisp brown edges, toast and marge, tea you can stand your spoon up in, and grease. The best.
posted by Decani at 6:35 PM on April 28, 2006


(BTW, I think Davies invites write-ups and suggestions for other cafes he doesn't list.)
posted by bardic at 6:37 PM on April 28, 2006


For some reason the idea of this guy being to be so unironically happy with such a simple thing as a nice, greasy breakfast makes me very satisfied. I am however, glad that I no longer smoke reefer as that would push my eggs, bacon, chips and beans lust into a berzerker frenzy where I would just walk through walls and fling people across the street with clumsy sweeps of my arms until I found a quintuple order of eggs, bacon, chips and beans. Jesus Christ, I'm so hungry. Can you die from intense longing for eggs, bacon, chips and beans?
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:00 PM on April 28, 2006


Forgive my American ignorance, but all I can think when seeing those pictures is, "What's wrong with that bacon?" I know that what we call "bacon" the Brits call "streaky bacon," but what's the American word for those frightening-looking pink slabs?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:19 PM on April 28, 2006


I'll visit the page linked in the post the next time I need to induce vomiting.
posted by juiceCake at 10:45 PM on April 28, 2006


frightening-looking pink slabs

True, but as a Brit I've always been scared by the carbonised brittle strips of bacon you get in US diners... although I have been converted to the idea of putting maple syrup on bacon. (This seemed so alien when I first went to the US).

This is my local - fantastic place, probably the most mixed clientele in the world which all adds to its greatness.
posted by greycap at 12:48 AM on April 29, 2006


See also : The London Review of Breakfasts
posted by influx at 3:02 AM on April 29, 2006


booksandlibretti: Do you guys have that song that goes "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in England?

Oh yes, but it's for kids. (warning: flash, scary for those who've not encountered the teletubbies yet)

And Faint of Butt, with regards the big scary pink slabs, it's called back bacon most places, or in the US, Canadian bacon - which is odd, because it's back bacon in Canada, while the Canadian Candian bacon is unsmoked back bacon coated in cornmeal (also known as peameal bacon I think - had some when I visited canada, very tasty). Back bacon comes from the pig loin, and is one of the lower fat varieties, though that's not saying much when it comes to bacon! It also comes in smoked and unsmoked varieties. Interestingly enough, even though the Brits eat lots of bacon, and have a lot of pig farms, most of the British bacon actually comes from Denmark.

Streaky bacon is nowhere near as tasty IMHO, it's all fat - comes from the belly of the pig, and usually ends up fried to such a crisp it's virtually tasteless.

Hmm. I think some nice grilled danish bacon in fresh-made bread is a-callin me. With ketchup.

Oh, I nearly forgot.

1) At what time(s) of day is a proper ebbc appropriate? Only breakfast?

Anytime my friend, any time you like. It's sometimes called the all-day breakfast, though some heretics think it has to include sausages and tomatoes to be called that.
posted by ArkhanJG at 3:44 AM on April 29, 2006


Faint of Butt : Forgive my American ignorance, but all I can think when seeing those pictures is, "What's wrong with that bacon?" I know that what we call "bacon" the Brits call "streaky bacon," but what's the American word for those frightening-looking pink slabs?
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:19 AM EST on April 29 [!]


The Wikipedia entry on bacon is pretty comprehensive on this topic.

Incidentally, and I'm not specifically picking on Faint of Butt here, but I do note with some amusement that it seems to be a uniquely American reaction that when confronted with a unfamiliar variant on a food (eg, streaky vs. back bacon), there must be something "wrong" with it.

I remember overhearing an American complain loudly (who'dathunkit!) that there was something "wrong" with the "raisins" they'd been given in Britain because they were so much smaller and more shrivelled than they were used to, and that this was further proof that the "Brits" could "screw up" any kind of food. I didn't have the heart to point out that what this ignorant buffoon was eating were in fact currants aka Zante currants, which do indeed resemble smaller, more shrivelled raisins.

We never ate streaky bacon when I was growing up in Britain because it was seen in my family at least as a rather poor, very fatty alternative to back, but since I relocated to the US about 15 years ago, I have learned to love these crispy, even-more-artery-hardening strips'o'piggy goodness.
posted by kcds at 3:51 AM on April 29, 2006


Two of my top things I miss since I live in Seoul are Mexican food

and going out for breakfast at noon with a hangover.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:55 AM on April 29, 2006


Eggs, bacon, sausauge and spam...
posted by moonbird at 5:59 AM on April 29, 2006


All I want to know is how come I can't get a normal, kosher deli pickle around here? Is that so much to ask? I can't stand those sweet gherkins.

Also, the British bacon is enjoyable in its own way, but not interchangeable with the American kind I'm used to. And I bought what was labelled as "streaky bacon" at Sainsbury's, but it still wasn't what I thought of as "regular" bacon. I then got the Oscar Meyer bacon, however, and that was the ticket.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:50 AM on April 29, 2006


what's the American word for those frightening-looking pink slabs?

Maybe the wiki entry covers it, but we always called that "Canadian bacon".
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:50 AM on April 29, 2006


Okay, now I'm just going mad. I didn't recognize it as "Canadian bacon," because I've never seen Canadian bacon that wasn't served as round slices. Perhaps the way it appears in the pictures is what it's actually supposed to look like?

And oddly, kcds, when I use the word "wrong," I don't necessarily mean to imply that there's anything bad or unacceptable. I just like the word for some reason. Did you know that in Japanese, "wrong" and "different" are the same word?
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:13 AM on April 29, 2006


The greasy spoon is also the only place where the adage "never trust a place if you can't move your chair from the table" doesn't apply.
posted by patricio at 9:05 AM on April 29, 2006


what's the American word for those frightening-looking pink slabs?

That's proper, decent, meaty back bacon. The rest of the world tends to prefer it over that nasty, fat-stuffed streaky shit you yanks go for.
posted by Decani at 10:07 AM on April 29, 2006


though some heretics think it has to include sausages and tomatoes to be called that.

That's properly known as a "fry-up" or "full English," correct?
posted by bardic at 10:50 AM on April 29, 2006


although I have been converted to the idea of putting maple syrup on bacon

Admit it, this is only because you can't get HP isn't it?
posted by biffa at 10:57 AM on April 29, 2006


1) At what time(s) of day is a proper ebbc appropriate? Only breakfast?

Breakfast is not a time of day, it is a state of mind.
posted by lagavulin at 10:33 PM on April 29, 2006


"state of mind," excellent!
posted by impuls at 1:18 AM on April 30, 2006


Faint of Butt : And oddly, kcds, when I use the word "wrong," I don't necessarily mean to imply that there's anything bad or unacceptable. I just like the word for some reason. Did you know that in Japanese, "wrong" and "different" are the same word?

Did not know that about Japanese. Interesting. Didn't know you used the word because you "just like it", either, but that's interesting too! Duly noted
posted by kcds at 12:44 PM on May 3, 2006


"Did you know that in Japanese, "wrong" and "different" are the same word?"

Did you know that this is a ridiculous oversimplification? Saying "it's different" in Japanese is just the way you say "you're mistaken." The language has unambiguous ways to express "wrong" and "different."

Or to put it more succinctly, 違います。
posted by adamrice at 1:01 PM on May 3, 2006


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