Aug. 28, 2004

Breakfasts for any occasion

Except for the early-hours, workaday crowd and folks bent on Sunday brunch after church, we who live in Northern Michigan don't generally think of breakfast as a "dining out" meal. For a variety of reasons (among them that we really enjoy breakfast fare) we've spent more than a few mornings lately enjoying breakfasts under a variety of circumstances. And we've discovered to our delight that there's a terrific breakfast for almost any occasion.

The cream in Northern Michigan's breakfast coffee is the Cupola Room in Harbor Springs, the only place hereabouts that could be called a "special-occasion breakfast destination." Breakfast, in fact, is all they serve, and like good specialists everywhere they get it more than right.

The Cupola Room, in a building on the State Street hill to the bluff above town, is a tiny place. But it glows with genteel charm. Dale and Nancy Clemons have operated it 14 years, and it's a marked change from the restaurant and bar they once owned downstate in Flushing. Dale is the chef. Nancy, beautifully dressed and wearing a crisp white linen apron, presides with elegance and grace over the front of the house,

Seating is strictly first-come, first-served, and the place is so popular that even on a Monday morning recently we had an hour's wait. No one seemed to mind. Arriving guests, many of them regulars, helped themselves to coffee in the garden. Many read the morning paper at umbrella tables while they waited for Nancy to summon them to breakfast. She greets her guests by name, as she might welcome friends to her home, and escorts them to their tables in her charming breakfast room, decked with fresh flowers.

When she recites the menu, it's obvious it is no eggs-and-bacon cliché breakfast. We gladly would have ordered any of the six entrees. One of us settled on peach pancakes, and the other on a dish called "Napa Valley eggs," and the food was worth the wait. The pancakes were light, delicate, soft and custardy--more like hearty crêpes, really--and topped with sweet, fresh peach slices. Napa Valley eggs turned out to be a sublimely exquisite combination of English muffins, perfectly poached eggs, juicy tomato slices and avocado, topped with delicate hollandaise sauce and garnished with fresh basil.

Like most destination restaurants, the Cupola Room is not budget-priced. "Entrees" are $13.95, and extras like coffee, juice, and meat are à la carte. Our pancakes, Napa eggs, two coffees, two orders of juice, and an order of meaty sausage patties, our bill approached $50. The Cupola Room (231-526-8932) is at 340 State Street, Harbor Springs; it serves breakfast only, 7:30 to 11 a.m. daily except Tuesday until Labor Day, then on weekends only until mid-October.

When you are on a budget, but want something special, try Taqueria Margarita, where desayuno --breakfast -- is available whenever they're open for about five bucks. The place is famous in Traverse City for its authentic Mexican fare. The breakfast menu always offers huevos rancheros and chilaquiles, consisting of tortilla strips sautéed with mild chiles, cheese, and chorizo. At $7.50 it is the Taqueria's most expensive dish, but worth it--and it comes with your choice of meat or eggs. Taqueria Margarita, at 1319 W. South Airport Rd. (231-935-3712), is open daily.

One of our favorite breakfast occasions is as part of a good morning's bike ride, and two of our favorites are the trails from Charlevoix to Petoskey and Frankfort to Beulah. The Charlevoix-Bay Harbor segment of the former is just enough to work up an appetite for the Original Pancake House in Bay Harbor's Marina District, another spot where you often find a waiting line. Yes, it's part of a national chain of 90-odd outlets, but they are very serious about hearty breakfast omelets, crêpes, waffles and pancakes. In Beulah, about a hour's ride from Frankfort, the Phoenix Café has some of the region's finest coffees (from Traverse City's Great Northern Roasting Company), to go with an array of muffins, scones and buttermilk pancakes you can stoke up on before heading back down the trail. The top of the line here is a "Strata Frittata," of baked egg, cheese, herbs and veggies, but whatever you do, don't leave without the house-specialty ginger scone. The Phoenix (231-882-2005) is downtown at 245 S. Benzie.

Once in a while, we like going to breakfast by water. Mornings on extended cruises might find us at Beaver Island, where there is nothing quite like breakfast on the porch at Dalwhinnies, overlooking St. James Harbor. This popular breakfast spot is much favored by boaters and islanders alike for its home-baked bread and pastries, hearty blueberry pancakes and homemade sausage, and glorious, double cappuccinos in oversized coffee cups.

On less adventuresome days, we might launch our little boat at Bingham early in the morning and cruise up Lower Lake Leelanau, through the misty narrows and on to Leland. We can dock along the river and stroll for some coffee and scones at the Stone House Café (407 S. Main Street). They start at 6 o'clock, so we know they'll be open, and with luck we can use the little slip right behind the café.