French Fry Diary 492: Perkins Restaurant & Bakery

Flashing back to a few months ago when my friend Ken came into town for a few days, here is yet another Ken entry. As I've mentioned before, not many of my friends are non-health-conscious enough to go on FFD excursions with me, so these trips are usually rare or done solo. Ken, while on vacation, is unofficially also off diet, but don't tell his wife that, wink wink.

We had one lazy day where we both slept in and then worked for most of the afternoon, he telecommuting and me writing at my desk. Around three Ken decided he wanted breakfast. Breakfast at three in the afternoon. If that's not a screaming definition of 'on vacation,' I don't know what is. We went off in search of breakfast.

I had an errand to run up in the Moorestown area so we were in the neighborhood and decided on Perkins. Perkins Restaurant & Bakery is IHoP's biggest competitor in the we-do-mostly-breakfast-but-we-really-want-to-be-Fridays-or-Applebees business, and I had never been there before, so it seemed like a worthwhile place to go. I knew they had to have potato products of some kind.

We were served very quickly, mostly because it didn't really appear to be anyone else in the restaurant. It should be noted that the service was also very courteous and friendly, as well as very welcome and refreshing compared to how Ken and I had been treated earlier in his trip.

Everything on the menu looks good, everything. It looks delicious, water watering, and stomach growlingly tasty. But it's like a rearview mirror, some things look a bit different than they really are. The onion rings for instance, are very different from the only onion ring-like item on the menu. What I wanted was the crunchy little Onion Tanglers they put on their burgers. What I got was big old greasy beer battered onion rings, I was not happy.

I did not try the fries, which were regular natural cuts. They also had standard shredded hash browns, but I opted for the breakfast potatoes instead, another decision based on the pictures in the menu. They looked glistening and hot, but what I got was big chunks of potato with a very crunchy outer skin, almost like batter fries. They came in a large portion, most of which I took home. For the record they also have standard shredded hash browns as a breakfast option.

Lesson learned, know the menu, and know the difference between the picture in the menu and what really comes to the table. Also, either bring a big appetite, or a big doggy bag, because the portions are huge. We'll be back again, maybe this time more prepared.