Foothill Flavors

Starting the Day Off Right at the Sierra Cafe

By Antoinette May Herndon

Nutritionists are always coming out with articles about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They lace their opinions with statistics, citing studies about the adverse effects of doing without it.

If you don’t literally break the fast. bad things can happen to your concentration, metabolism and weight. Maybe so. Or maybe they all own stock in cereal factories and hog ranches. Life, science and culture being what they are, perhaps one day conflicting studies will come out claiming that breakfast is actually bad for you. But probably not in my life time.

So, here am I—a perennial breakfast skipper—married to a guy who’s thoroughly hooked on pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, juice, etc. We compromise by eating at 10, late for Charles but still early for me. He sweetens the breakfast pot, by using it to cook with. Am I lucky?

In a word, YES.

Of course sometimes the chef needs a morning off. Often Charles and I decide we need a little Sierra House in our lives. For me, at least,

getting to the snug Pine Grove eatery is half the fun. I love the wild, winding road across the river and into the trees.

The Sierra House is an appealing destination, a snug cabin- like place with a pitched roof ceiling, three walls of knotty pine and the fourth made from ancient stone. Food and friendliness are the restaurant’s main attractions. On a recent morning the place was filled with customers chatting amiably among themselves and with the busy wait staff.

Some people get a large charge out of elaborate brunches at upscale hotels or sophisticated spreads in after the last word country clubs. That’s ok sometimes, but this is breakfast. We’re talking the ultimate in comfort food. The Sierra House’s emphasis is less on presentation and more on the food itself. Good food.

As far as ambience goes, you can hold the attitude along with the ketchup. Our frequent server is Carly Ostergaard. She’s quick, smiling, and always knowledgeable about a menu that has more than a few pleasant surprises.

If you’ve a taste for the exotic, try the Chorizo and Eggs Scramble, a Spanish sausage

tossed with eggs for $7.95. It’s an old favorite of mine. There are also eight different omelets from which to choose. Charles’s choice, the Classic Denver, with eggs, ham, onion, and bell peppers is also $7.95.

On a recent morning, after our juices, cranberry and tomato ($2.55 for a small and $2.95 for a large), I ordered oatmeal—old fashioned hot oats with brown sugar and raisins. You know, like our mothers used to make. Minus Mother, it costs $4.95. Don’t know about you, but I like and appreciate oatmeal a lot more now that I’m grown up.

Still, good as it tasted, oatmeal wasn’t quite enough, so I ordered a side of bacon for $3.75—a perfect compliment.

Charles opted for a thick, center cut country smoked ham steak with two eggs and hash brown potatoes for $7.75.

We both agreed that what the Sierra House serves is about as good as breakfast gets. What a way to start the day!

VITALS: Sierra Restaurant is at 20153 Hwy. 88, Pine Grove. Phone: 296-4894. Open for breakfast from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch served from 11:30 on. Closed Tuesdays. Credit cards accepted.

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