Al's Breakfast

Rating:

As griddlemaster Doug Grina's gravelly bark barreled down the length of the counter at Al's Breakfast -- and when I say length, I mean about 20 feet -- my mind wandered to the linguistics department at the nearby University of Minnesota. I wondered: Is a scholar devoting his or her career to preserving this rapid-fire shorthand -- an evaporating diner syntax in the Perkins-ization of America -- for the benefit of future generations?

Someone should be.

"Short stack, two smoky mush with ham on a round and short-short whole-wheat Wally blues," was Grina's exact cry (translation: Two buttermilk pancakes, two scrambled eggs with cheese, mushrooms and ham on a round plate and a whole-wheat blueberry walnut pancake). There was a brief pause, and Grina, who unfortunately missed a career in vaudeville by about 100 years, repeated his spiel, this time with an impatient edge to his voice. "I got it," shrieked a disembodied voice from the restaurant's back kitchen.

The unscripted theatrics are an off-the-menu side dish that's usually served up at Al's. And the main course? Pancakes. You can't find better ones anywhere. Honest. Personal preference here, but I tend to favor the slightly tangy buttermilks over the more earnest whole-wheats. They fry up hazelnut brown, thin but not delicate.

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