Restaurant: Saul’s Deli and the Hash-brown Change
Many of you probably know that I’m a bit of a foodie. I don’t consider myself a true food snob since I still love things like Rice Krispie treats and jello salads, but I enjoy a diversity of good food. I also enjoy preparing good food, and there’s nothing like a good breakfast. Much to my dismay, one of my frequent food failures has been hash-browns from scratch, which also happens to be one of my favorite breakfast accoutrements. I don’t know if I haven’t been using the right kind of potatoes or crowding the pan, but mine always come out soggy.
Sunday morning, I wanted hash-browns, the yummy, crunchy hash-browns that my Grandmother used to make with peanut oil in her electric skillet. The closest I’ve come is the hash-browns at Saul’s in the Gourmet Ghetto of Berkeley, only a few blocks from our home. Since a pregnant woman usually gets what a pregnant woman wants, we headed there for breakfast (don’t think Matthew went along in protest, he likes the place as much as I). It was still early (by Berkeley standards) so we were seated promptly and our orders were expediently taken by the very nice waiter. I ordered a Swiss-cheese omelet, which comes with toast and hash-browns according the the menu, and Matthew ordered their famous Challah french toast. I was saddened when my plate arrived and I was served not the crunchy hash-browns that I’d had there several times before, but home-fry like chunks of potatoes with onions and peppers. Now don’t get me wrong, the home-fries were pretty tasty, but they weren’t hash-browns, and they weren’t nearly as good as the hash-browns. So I asked the waiter about the change and he said they had used frozen potatoes in the past, but had decided to get away from processed foods. On the weekend the demand for hash-browns was too high to shred the potatoes by hand, but you could still get the other style of hash-browns Monday through Thursday. The waiter seemed generally sorry and said a lot of people had protested the change. I think if I hadn’t come there specifically because I wanted hash-browns, it probably wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but since that had been my goal, I was pretty disappointed. My omelet was only mediocre, a bit bland, but probably my fault for choosing Swiss. The Challah French Toast was phenomenal, as usual. You can’t help but love these huge thick slices of slightly sweet bread and a great batter slathered with maple syrup (though they’re a bit stingy on the syrup).
We’ve only been to Saul’s for dinner once, and though the food was OK, I didn’t think it was worth the price. In the future, I’m sure we’ll go back. It’s so conveniently located that I’m sure on lazy mornings we’ll get our breakfast fix there from time to time. Now we’ll go when we’re in the mood for french toast, which they do better than anyone around. Next time I want hash-browns, I guess I’ll be going to IHOP, or trying my hand at them once again.