Maraschino Diner
8:28 - 9:16 am
You pull up to Maraschino Diner on MacArthur Road, thinking it does not seem like much. The parking lot is super tight and difficult to navigate and park. It is basically an alley on a major street. The mirrors on the outside of the super red building do not give the place high hopes. Then, you walk in the front door and are greeted by a green ivy wall with a cute neon sign saying “hello beautiful” in cursive. You look at the person you are getting breakfast with and think to yourself “what is going on right now?”. The interior gives a classic diner feel with lots of red accents. This place was definitely an old diner bought by someone new and revamped to be super cute. You and your breakfast partner sit and look at the extensive but well put together menu. You have a feeling this place is going to exceed your initial expectations. Spoiler alert: it will.
Bethany
I ordered my classic decaf and water. I had to wait on the decaf for a fresh pot (shout out to no one besides me and old people with heart problems drinking it) but while I waited I enjoyed my crisp and refreshing water (we ended up getting two cups). The coffee was definitely worth the wait. Just a good old fashioned cup of joe. Absolutely no complaints there.
There were some tacos and burritos on the menu, but with the uncertainty of availability of flour tortillas (I am not a corn tortilla girlie) and the gut feeling steering me towards other options, I ended up ordering a Country Sunrise skillet that had potatoes, cheddar cheese, peppers, and onions covered in two over medium eggs and smothered in sausage gravy with white toast on the side. Two words: magically delicious.
The potatoes and veggies had a nice sear on them, the cheese was super melty, the eggs were cooked perfectly with a super runny and goopy yolk. The sausage gravy was very thick and my only complaint was it was almost too floury but not bad enough that I couldn’t enjoy it. I did not need to add any salt or ketchup, so that’s saying something. I did add a couple jalapenos from Ben’s dish to give it a little spice and cut through the thick gravy. At first glance, the toast was just toast, but after a few bites, I don’t know, there was just something about it that was so good. Maybe it was the copious amount of butter that made the toast a bit soggy, but wow it was a yummy meal.
Ben
The benedict I got was pretty good. I just had to go for the Mexican one because that's what was kind of speaking to me. It had carnitas, chorizo, avocado, jalapenos, the egg and of course on an English muffin topped with a Chipotle Hollandaise. It was so freaking good. I think that the chorizo was a little bit too borderline too spicy for me. At first, I thought it was the jalapenos so I picked them out, but I think it was the chorizo in the end. The avocado was extremely well ripened. The potatoes were so tasty. I don't know if they seasoned it with something or the oil was just like pure butter. I don't know. They just had a flavor to them, better than most that just taste like potatoes with oil. This was like it had a third dimension to it. Orange juice is fine. Very standard felt like maybe more orange flavor than normal.
Rating
Will be going back to try more items on the menu