The Salad Days

I visited a local institution for the second time today, and confirmed that it may be the best breakfast I've ever had. Al's Breakfast is almost in the shadow of the 35W bridge, and I had my first real glimpse of the fallen bridge this morning as my father in law and I visited Al's.

As you can see by the picture, it is literally one row of stools at a bar. As Pop and I waited for two seats to open (one seat was open on the end), we noticed Al's in action. As one patron in the middle of the bar departed, the cook behind the bar requested that everybody move down one seat to make room for us.

As I sat, I ordered a cup of coffee. The diner coffee was super. I ordered scrambled eggs with jalapeno cheese, and a pancake short stack with real maple syrup. The eggs were amazing and spicy, and the pancakes (my second try of them) are maybe the best I've ever had.

Vin Scully once spoke this way of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn (where the Dodgers played). "Ebbets Field was not going to make it easy for you. If you wanted to go, it was not going to be easy. But once you got there, the cast of characters was struly remarkable..." The same could be said for Al's. It truly was not easy this morning, as so many roads are closed because of 35W. The spirit of the city was a thing to see this morning. Al's sums it up very well. The chatter at the bar did involve the bridge, but mostly it revolved around the hearty food, a cuisine that sums up Minneapolis so well.