The new breakfast Spot

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Everyone knows that by now. It’s also the most satisfying, when prepared by a master chef.

The Spot was always a popular lunch and dinner spot with the local crowd. But breakfast was never on the menu at The Spot until recently, when owner Ryan Tondro hired a special breakfast chef to preside over the kitchen. As a result, The Spot now offers an outstanding breakfast menu from 8 to 11 a.m. every day of the week, including weekends.

Tondro says there’s nothing fancy on this breakfast menu, just traditional breakfast fare like pancakes, omelets, French toast, corned beef hash, and steak and eggs.

Fortunately, that’s just the kind of food most of us crave in a family breakfast, and the prices are affordable too.

The Spot’s classic breakfast is a fine example. It features two eggs prepared any style with two strips of bacon or a sausage patty. You also get your choice of country potatoes or hash browns and toast, all for a price of $6.50.

Another popular selection is the pancake breakfast ($8.50), consisting of three buttermilk pancakes, two eggs and two strips of bacon or sausage. The pancakes were fluffy, the eggs nicely done, and the bacon was crisp and delicious when we enjoyed breakfast at The Spot recently. In addition, the coffee is very good.

If you like a really filling breakfast - one that will hold you until dinner time - sink your teeth into the steak and eggs breakfast ($9.95). You’ll get a six-ounce flat iron steak, two eggs and country potatoes or hash browns on this country-style breakfast.

The omelet list is endless. It includes a Western ($7.75), Mediterranean with spinach and feta cheese ($7.50), a Chicago with Fontanini sausage and other delicacies ($8.75), a seafood with two eggs stuffed with crab gratin ($10.25) and a ham and cheese ($7.75).

If those don’t get your juices going, you can select your own ingredients and build an omelet, starting at $5.25.

The Spot has been dishing out great food on Prospect Street since 1978, and there has been a restaurant in that spot since 1915. The menu changes often, but as Tondro observed, “We offer a little bit of everything on the menu.”

That’s why everyone in the family can find something appealing. There’s a burger menu that takes up a full page, including your choice of bread, cheese, toppings and sauces.

The Spot’s steakhouse menu features pork chops ($18.95), meatloaf ($13.95), Niman Ranch bone-in rib eye steak ($29.95), and chili and corn bread ($9.95). The seafood selections run the gamut from fish and chips ($12.95) to live Maine lobster ($24.95 for a dinner that includes vegetables and potato and bread pudding for dessert).

The Spot is famous for its pizzas, and you can get them with thin or thick crust. However, since each one is made to order, allow 30 minutes for your pizza. Pasta, barbequed ribs and chicken, and a huge assortment of sandwiches and wraps complete this very versatile menu.

Among the newest sandwich selections are the open-face pulled pork sandwich ($9.95), chicken parmesan sandwich ($10.95), and Chicago-style Italian beef combo ($11.50).

The Spot still has its original wood-paneled walls and wooden booths, and is cozy and comfortable but not fancy. A brick fireplace warms the atmosphere on chilly nights, and the service is friendly and efficient.

If you haven’t gotten around to sampling the breakfast offerings at The Spot, don’t wait too long. A Spot breakfast will get you off and running for the whole day.

The Spot is at 1005 Prospect St. Call (858) 459-0800.