The Elbow Room

Here we are, pretty much at the end of April already. I don't know about you, but I think that 2010 really needs to slow down, especially so that we can plan out how to survive 2012! (-insert sigh, head slap and laughter here-) On that note, The Team chose to head back into the downtown area for our breakfast adventure this week. Considering the number of breakfast/brunch joints in the downtown core, it's kind of funny that this is only The Team's second foray into the area. In light of that fact, we chose a very one-of-a-kind place, and that place is known as The Elbow Room, which is located on Davie Street, just off of Seymour Street. (560 Davie Street) Kimmy has finally returned from her breakfast hiatus this week, so welcome her back. Additionally, you can welcome back Sarah and say hello to Paul, Cam's friend that was up from Seattle for the weekend.

Now, anyone that knows of The Elbow Room and what it's all about will tell you that you have to experience it at least once. Some people take the ribbing and abuse with a laugh, while others take themselves entirely too seriously, and get offended by the treatment they receive at The Elbow Room. Yes, it is actually the mandate of The Elbow Room to be offensive, abusive and just plain mean. Don't take it seriously, though, as it's all part of the fun. For us especially, it wasn't too difficult since one of the rules of the place is that you get your own refills of coffee and water, which is exactly what we do at Bon's on a regular day. Anyway, so yeah, if you take yourself too seriously, or are just emotionally unstable, I'll point you away from The Elbow Room right now. Otherwise, head on down and have some fun with your eating experience!

In our case, we (minus Paul, he hadn't shown up) were seated immediately and brought drinks. Waters for Sarah and I, and coffee ($2.75 each, bottomless cup) for Cam and Kimmy. When we opened our menus we were greeted by a list of rules, which included the refill thing that I mentioned earlier, don't ask questions, don't take a million years to make a choice and the like. Frankly, the rules actually made really good sense to me! Anywho, after reading the rules we began searching through our breakfast options. The Elbow Room's menu is very extensive and leaves you torn over about 5 different items, and that's after you narrow down your options. After what seemed like ages, we had all eliminated our options and had come to our decisions. I went with The Lumberjack (eggs, bacon, ham, sausages, hash browns and marble rye toast), Kimmy chose Thelma (an eggs benny of sorts, topped with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocado and cheese), Cam went nuts and chose The New Yorker (another eggs benny with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, bacon and pepperoni, topped with spicey bbq sauce) and Sarah was boring with a plain ol' bacon & cheese omelette.

It was at this moment that Cam realized that he had missed a phone call. It had been his friend Paul, and he was on his way down to meet us for breakfast. Just as Cam was relaying this information to us, I saw Paul walk in the door. The look that the owner of the place gave him, and then us was classic. Paul said, "I'm with those guys." To this, the owner replied, "You're with those stupid idiots?" Then one of the servers sat him down at the head of our table and said, "So, is this all of you, or are you going to bring more people?" We assured him that Paul had been MIA beforehand and was a surprise addition to our team. With that grilling over with, our server came back over and took Paul's drink order and gave him a menu. I made a point of sending him straight to the rules section, since he had gotten off to a bit of a rough start. (haha!) By the time that the server came back with Paul's coffee, he was ready to order his food, so with that out of the way, we began our wait for breakfast.

After about 5 minutes, I looked up and said to Cam, "Isn't that Andrew?" (Andrew being a friend of ours)

"What the hell? Yes, it is!" he exclaimed.

Then our friend Tomas walked up, and we realized that they had all shown up for breakfast.

"I didn't think that you guys were coming!" Cam said.

"No we didn't, I just didn't reply to your message," Tomas replied.

So, here we had another 4 people showing up for breakfast, after we'd all assured the staff that no one else was coming to join us. We got the dirtiest looks from the owner and the server. The owner walked over to the table that was sitting behind and said, "Would you guys mind if we moved you to another table so that these idiots can sit next to their stupid friends?"

The table of people happily obliged and the four new folks were seated directly behind us. I'm not going to get into details on them and their food, since they were separate from us, and I wasn't close enough to converse with them. Let's just say that they ordered a bunch of food and coffee and had a lovely time!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... or, The Team's table, in this case, our food began to arrive. The plates were loaded, and I mean loaded. Not only were they loaded, but they looked damn tasty.

"I don't think that I can eat this. Seriously, it's like a work of art," Cam commented. I thought that he might be serious, but then again, Cam says some pretty stupid stuff.

So, we all dug into our breakfasts. I have to say, everything tasted amazing. The bacon had such an awesome flavour that I couldn't get enough of it. The only complaint that I had was that the eggs seemed a bit rubbery... but, they still tasted great! Everyone else agreed, as they happily munched away on the food in front of them. I think that Cam's comment sums it up... "This is the first breakfast that I can say that I'm actually full with no complaints."

The bill, after taxes, came out to about $80, which isn't too too bad for 5 people, though we think that there may have been a few dollars added in somewhere, since it seemed like the math didn't seem to work out. Regardless, we paid the bill and left a tip. Frankly, the food was good enough that we weren't too concerned, though I may make the suggestion to check the math on your bill if you do happen to come to The Elbow Room. All in all, I give The Elbow Room 5 Bacons for food and service, and 4 Bacons for affordability! Tasty times, and some pretty good laughs at our expense.

Stay sharp, kids
Jesse