Given the steady stream of customers from across the spectrum of age, culture and social status that keeps the tables packed all through the bohemian confines of Honey’s, 800 N. Fourth St., this eatery really doesn’t need us singing their praises.
But, dammit, we’re going to do it anyway. They can always expand.
Breakfast food is king at Honey’s and probably what first hooks the vast majority of devotees because 1) it is so freaking good; 2) the cooks make everything they possibly can in house and from local ingredients and 3) it’s available all day.
Warning: If it’s the weekend, be prepared to wait. It’s worth it, but you are going to wait.
For traditionalists, there are buttermilk pancakes ($6 plain, add $1 for add-ons such as bananas, chocolate chips, berries, etc.), biscuits and gravy ($5.50) and challah French toast ($7.75). Vegetarians can get down on Honey’s vegetarian chicken-fried steak ($8) or the tofu scramble ($7.25), with peppers, onions, tomatoes and hand-cut fries. Penny-pinchers can get their fill with the bargain breakfast: two eggs, a potato latke, grits or home fries, toast and coffee ($3.95).
The truly adventurous should head straight for the enfrijoladas ($7), flour tortillas stuffed with eggs, beans, salsa verde, black-bean purée, sour cream and onions and topped with a micro green salad. Chorizo, tofu, veggie sausage or other breakfast meats can be tossed into the mix — but the dish is strong enough to satisfy without, and elevates breakfast food to a high art.
Elsewhere on the menu, perfectly executed down-home goodness abounds. The fried green tomatoes ($5.50) and the guacamole ($5.75) are a snacker’s paradise.
Here’s where the beauty of Honey’s really kicks in: For every dish that is refined excellence, there is a dish that sounds and looks like it flew screaming and on fire out of the imagination of a really hungry pothead. Which is where the Frito chili pie ($6) comes in. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Take a pile of Fritos, throw some chili (beef, chicken or veggie … they thought of everything), tomatoes, cheese and jalapeños on top and bake. Some sour cream and guacamole later, and you’re done. It isn’t brain surgery, but it is damn tasty. It might not be candlelight and soft-music fare, but if you and your friends are ever halfway through a waterpipe and listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” this dish will be calling your name.
Then there was cake. Is it wrong to eat cake with breakfast? Bill Cosby once pointed out that there were eggs, milk and wheat in cake. Mmmmm. Cake. Honey’s has thick, luxurious chocolate cake ($6), a slice as big and as thick as a small mattress. If you must indulge, enlist help, even if you have to ask strangers. Don’t worry, they will thank you for it.
Oh … we have to leave. People are waiting for our table.
Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or anything after, Honey’s is the queen bee.