Bob's Diner
 Pittsburgh, PA        Date of Visit  09/08/12        http://eatatbobsdiner.com/  

Looking to break our fast before fleeing the Burg and get back to our puppies our hosts thought we ought to swing through Bob’s diner on the way out of town. I knew there was a reason I liked these people. A simple rectangle of brick and roof across the road from some spectacular orthodox churches with the golden onion domes and everything. There was nowhere to park, nowhere to sit inside, people standing outside in the rain to get their turn to wait inside. Oh, it is on!
 

Fresh, Simple, Gorgeous

After a surprisingly brief wait we took a table, started pounding some coffee and perused the menu. It took me a while to get through the menu as I was distracted by the plates being cravenly devoured by all manner of Pittsburgers. A family joint inspired by the owner’s trip to a diner in Florida with his dad encapsulates diner top to bottom. The servers are not particularly well trained but are friendly and made up mostly of young folk with a lot of hustle. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that a fair percentage of them have family connections. We ordered French toast, a breakfast sandwich and two of Bob’s Bountiful Breakfasts.

The sandwich is sort of the antithesis of what you would find passed out of a drive thru window. About as far from prepackaged perfection, there are fluffy eggs, melted cheese and salty bacon on thick-sliced and toasted Italian bread. Superior by far like a very well done home version of the transportable breakfast. The home fries  are skin on taters which are well seasoned and dosed with aromatic veggies.
 

The French toast starts with the same thick Italian loaf with serious crust, just softened by the egg mixture, butter and heat of the grill. Done to a healthy brown, dusted with powdered sugar and topped with butter and syrup it’s just a treat. The original flavor of the bread shines through all of the additions making for a much more interesting plate than most Frenchie options.

Bob’s Bountiful Breakfast comes with two cooked to order farm fresh eggs, homefries, your choice of toast, and your choice of triple cured bacon, jumbo link sausage, hot sausage or slice of ham. Not the largest option on the menu by far but still an all around breakfast journey. I ordered mine over easy with rye toast, bacon and added the hot sausage while our host went with bacon and wheat. Well done eggs, nice taters, crispy bacon (the only way to get bacon).

All together it summed up breakfast when I stole a couple of bites of the French toast. The hot sausage. I should have known. I’m in the Burg. Poles and Germans everywhere. I ordered it thinking it would be an unapologetic slap in the face of heat and meaty goodness. Turns out I did know. It delivered on every plane bringing the whole breakfast to a punchy awesome. Bob’s Diner was a great stop and well worth a delay in departure, it represents what makes me so happy that we have continued our little culinary adventures long past my expectations. There may not be anything new or super unique about Bob’s but they do what they do well. If you are in town and peckish in the morning, skip the drive-thrus and enjoy a real sit down experience with friendly folk and great food. As classic as it gets.