| What is it about breakfast in a North American restaurant? Mainly, I think, it's the crowd, which is much less diverse than at dinner. If you're eating three eggs and bacon and slurping weak-tasting but ultra-caffeinated coffee at 6:30 a.m. with 50 other people, you're either a businessperson, hung over, still loaded from the night before or a tourist.
Watching other diners at breakfast is a blood sport. Looking the wrong way at the guy at the next table with the moist hair and the sleepy eyes (i.e., implying that he looks like hell) can elicit all sorts of venom, especially when you ain't looking too good yourself.
Because of its quirky charm and speedy service, the 1886 Buffalo Café is one of my favourite places to have breakfast in the North American, full carb-protein load style (187 Barclay Parade S.W., phone 269-9255; it's open 6 a.m.-3 p.m. every day).
Located in the old Eau Claire Lumber Company office, an island of old Calgary in the middle of the gaudy colours of Eau Claire, 1886 Buffalo Café has a buffalo head on the wall, worn hardwood on the floor, mismatched plates and Springsteen or k.d. lang on the stereo. In other words, it's very homey, in a Heritage Park kind of way.
1886 Buffalo Café has a slate of dedicated regulars, many of whom order items not on the menu, like strawberries and granola, or six hash browns. On Fridays, if you're not there by 7 a.m., you're waiting in line.
The food is good quality diner fare, at prices that reflect its downtown location – you should expect to pay about $10 per breakfast item, plus juice and coffee. If I’m really hungry, I sometimes have the Baxey Sandwich – a build-your-own egg-bacon-mushroom-tomato affair– for a concentrated shot of fat, protein and carbs (it's so good and filling that you may as well go back to sleep afterwards). I also enjoy a light, fluffy omelet, or maybe basted eggs with bacon or strawberries and dry toast.
But more than the food, 1886 is about the ambience. On cold winter days, the last seats left are the ones by the single-pane windows, because that person invariably has to keep a jacket on. The servers know most of the regulars by name, so ordering isn't required, and there's frequent good-natured ribbing flying back and forth amid the clatter of plates. It feels something like a country coffee shop.
The 1886 also has a secret – the little restaurant museum downstairs. The building in was erected in – you guessed it – 1886, and originally housed a lumber company. Numerous framed photos of the building and the surrounding area are on display, serving as a quiet history of downtown Calgary in the most unlikely place. Diners who disappear to the bathroom sometimes have to be sent for because they get caught up looking at all the cool stuff.
The polar opposite to 1886 is Manuel Latruwe Patisserie (at 1333 1 St. S.E., phone 261-1092). Oh sure, it's on a busy street in a strip mall, but inside, you can enjoy the city’s flakiest croissant and a real French café au lait. Is there anything better in the morning than a pastry, a coffee and the paper? |
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