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| - Note #1: Breakfast is served all day.
Note #2: Bob's is located in a strip mall in an area that is also referred to as McKees Rocks with a different zip code of 15136 according to my receipt and the takeaway menu I pocketed. As you drive by the strip mall, look for the words "DINER" to jump out at you.
Note #3: Aside from Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, they are open every single day for breakfast and lunch.
Note #4: A chain is obviously in the works as Bob's boasts diners in Imperial, Carnegie (coming soon!), and according to the fine print at the bottom of the menu, Bob is looking for licensees for more locations. Start up your own! You could operate your own Bob's!
Owner Bob Marshall, the friendly middle-aged, Alan Kalter-lookalike who will greet you as you enter his establishment, is apparently looking to challenge Pamela's and The Dor-Stop if his menu is evidential of anything. Sandwiches, salads, burgers, and breakfast are what's on deck for those who come here, but if Bob's wants to be a contender, he's gonna need to work on some things.
Take for example his Eggs Benedict, called "Bob's Eggs Benny" on the menu. The ham was fine, the eggs were poached superbly as Jacques Pepin would, the English Muffin was light, fluffy, fresh and was probably the best I've had in some time, but hollandaise sauce is what draws patrons to Eggs Benedict, and here lies my only gripe.
I rarely ever order Eggs Benedict at restaurants, my mother having spoiled me with her transcendent hollandaise sauce, which according to her is a cinch to make; butter, prepared mayonnaise, a splash of lemon juice, egg yolks, salt, pepper, and half-and-half, being the ingredients (you figure out the proportions and technique, detectives). Well, upon tasting Bob's hollandaise, I got that "pre-fab" feeling, the Post-Gazette's Munch confirming my suspicions by saying in his own review from late November of 2009 that "It's a great menu if only because one can order the Eggs Benedict. Yes, you read that correctly, Eggs Benedict in a diner at a strip mall. Bob admitted to have not made the Hollandaise sauce from scratch, but still, how cool?"
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09330/1016343-440.stm
Hurm.
Either paprika or cheyenne topped it off, just like Mom does, depending on which she has or what mood she's in.
Not that it wasn't a pretty good Eggs Benedict. I liked everything about it but the sauce, which really just needed more flavor.
The home fries that came with the Eggs Benedict were flying aces. The potatoes were generously cut, cooked ideally, and were not overly greasy.
Kay and I each ordered a side of corned beef since I wanted to try Bob's. Kay thinks it came from a can and just had onions and peppers added to it. I'm not exactly sure myself and never got around to asking, but I can't say that it was terrible.
Bob's has an array of specialty pancakes and French Toasts. I almost ordered one Cookies 'N Cream pancake, but second-guessed myself and went with the Crispy Stuffed Strawberry French Toast. Was it bad? Not really, but I was left wishing I went with my original choice. The bread was tough, the secret strawberry cream-cheese (?) filling was a little too tart and the Rice Krispy-laced batter seemed scant. Adding syrup helped, but in the case of specialty French Toasts and pancakes, I don't feel I should need to drizzle syrup on them. Do you put syrup on a piece of pie or cake?
Kay appeared to have ordered better than me. Her pancake was a heavy, doughy, obscenely flavorful, plate-blanketing medallion that was vastly different but just as choice as any of Pamela's or Dor-Stop's flapjacks. She let me try one of her sausage links, and I found that Bob's serves the best breakfast sausage as well as the best English Muffins that I've ever eaten. Each link looked as appetizing as a $3 stogie, that rough, burnt skin almost putting me off, but the hide turned out to be nicely flaky, concealing meat that was too gloriously fatty, moist, and succulent to comprehend.
Kay's slab bacon was weighty, lean, and a bit chewy like beef jerky. The McKenzie Brothers might approve of it even if it isn't back bacon.
Our breakfast at Bob's had some minor missteps, enough to keep it from being a full-on 5 stars but not enough to knock it down to 3, which is what I might have given it had I not helped Kay finish her meal. Hopefully Bob's Diner can correct these bugs.
Oh, Bob? My mom makes good French Toast too. She can help. Drop me a line. I'll put you in touch with her so you can get her recipes and work something out.
P.S. A band made up of retirees performed just outside the restaurant. Whether or not this happens regularly I couldn't tell you, but I got a kick out of it. They were swingin', daddy-o!
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