Review of Breakfast at Becky's Dinner

Only 1 picture and it's from the outside.  Unless you want to label yourself "tourist", you really shouldn't take pictures inside.

I'm embarrassed to admit that at some point during the past few years I have become something I once disdained: one of the beautiful people, at least when it's come to going out for breakfast.  Actually, it happened when I somehow went from simply eating breakfast to making plans with friends to meet for... brunch.  Around the same time, I also gave up on eating a good, old fashioned, stick-to-your-ribs meal in favor of eggs that were poached, pancakes that were rolled with fresh fruit and real maple syrup, pork belly instead of "sausage or bacon?", frittatas instead of cheese omelettes and jalapeno cornbread vs. "...wheat, white or rye?" What the hell happened to me? Well, anyway, I've found myself working the 3rd shift lately - the 3rd shift is the one where you work all night and get off in the early morning, in my case 6:30 AM. At 6:30 AM the beautiful people are still in bed and it's too early for brunch so I recently found myself wondering where to eat at such an hour and then it came to me, why not Becky's!

It's not like I've never been to Becky's, I've been there dozens of times, just not much lately.  My kids used to love it when they were little and I enjoyed it until it became a tourist stop and I started to become something of a food snob. When I looked at the clock the other day, I thought to myself "this is the time of day to go to Becky's. This is when it will be... authentic."  Off I drove to Commercial Street and I have to report it was everything good that I hoped it would be. By "everything good" I don't necessarily mean just the food which happened to be, well, good.  I mean the whole freaking nostalgic scene which I think you can only get before 7:00 AM on a weekday.

First, there's the parking which is classic Becky's.  If you can't find a spot you just park behind someone and block them in.  You then go inside and let someone know what you did so they can have you move your car if the person you blocked gets done eating before you. You used to let the cashier know about the parking but they have apparently moved into the modern age with a point of sale system (no cashier), which they seem to hate, so you have to tell one of the servers, I mean girls, if you blocked someone in.  I say "girls" instead of "servers" because political correctness just doesn't fly at Becky's even if some of the girls are in their 40's or older. This is old school folks.

Soon after sitting at the counter I was greeted with a "coffee hun?" which was welcome and good and strong and did not have any of the characteristics of any of those foo foo coffees we're so fond of in Portland (I actually like those but I'm on a roll here...). Cream was a hand full of those little single shot deals pulled from an apron like some magician with a rabbit.  Looking left and right along the counter I noticed something odd about my fellow solo counter dinners. Unlike the "in" places where individuals and often couples are glued to their smart phones, the Becky's crowd were all sifting through newspapers. That's right, Press Heralds and Forecasters. Not a cell phone in sight. Was I in some parallel universe? This was starting to feel... right.

Time to order and there really was only one possible choice, the Hobson's Wharf Special which comes with a choice of bacon or sausage, 2 pancakes or French toast, 2 eggs (any style), home fries and toast.  I went with the sausage and pancakes.  I thought for a brief second about poached eggs but not only did it just not seem right, you kind of get the feeling that even if they would make it for you, eggs "any style" at Becky's does not include poached.  I went with over easy and rye toast and everything seemed cool.  Everything was pretty good.  The eggs were a perfect over easy.  The pancakes were nice and fluffy and crisp around the edges - I really like that in a pancake - and covered with what appeared to be an ice cream sized scoop of butter melting on top.  Two big sausage links and I was in cardiac heaven.  The home fries could have been perfect - nice and well done with a great crunch but unfortunately they were lukewarm.

So, what's the verdict?  Becky's is a little more than a breakfast joint/dinner.  It's a waterfront institution, more so in the early morning or in the winter.  The food doesn't change depending on time of day or season but there's something palpably different when the tourists are in short supply.  Watching the "girls" serving their regulars or just eavesdropping on their conversations is what makes Becky's a special place. Go late morning in the summer and it's not the same. Tourists talking on their cell phone or worse, taking pictures. For food, your basic breakfast is as good as any basic breakfast in town, better than many.  The menu contains all the essentials - eggs, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit, etc. and not one word on the page is in French. I'm sure many respected foodies might now question my foodie bona fides but I'm gonna just throw it out there: it's 6:30AM and I'm hungry, I'm going to Becky's.