>>> VOTING CLOSED FOR MARCH 28 <<<

You know how yesterday we said you, much-appreciated readers, had responded in droves to our Tournament of Breakfast so far this year.

Well, we lied. We hadn't seen anything yet.

Yesterday was droves, people, perhaps more. Yesterday was just plain freakin' nuts. When it comes to breakfast, it's obvious you really care.

Maybe too much ...

On to today's Tournament of Breakfast action and yesterday's results.

Yesterday's Tournament of Breakfast Results

Here were the match-ups:

Marcia's Silver Soon Cafe (Tacoma) vs. The Homestead Restaurant (Tacoma)

Affairs Cafe and Bakery (University Place) vs. Moon Rise Cafe (Lakewood) 

Norma's Burgers (Lacey) vs. Hawk's Prairie Restaurant (Lacey)

McMenamins Spar Cafe (Olympia) vs. Cicada Restaurant (Olympia)

Once this game began it reaffirmed our opinion that there is no substitution for seeing a game like this in person, despite all of the advances in home entertainment technology. No screen or monitor can adequately capture the vividness of the strawberries, or convey the towering physical presence of a stack of pancakes. On television, hash browns look like an afterthought. In person, hash browns look ferocious. And according to statistics, hash browns were the deciding factor in this game. Twelfth seed Homestead Restaurant, behind its spuds, knocked off number one seed Marcia's with 54 percent of the votes.

The Moon Rise's raspberry jam has been surprisingly quiet throughout this tournament. Created in-house by owner Christine Curren, the jam was a key factor in bringing the Lakewood restaurant into the tournament. For most of the second half in its battle with Affairs Cafe, it was a different story. The jam came to life for the Moon Rise - as did many of Moon Rise's Benedicts. Affairs didn't want to go to its truffles, but it had to in the final six hours of voting. But the chocolate awesomeness wasn't enough. The Moon Rise Cafe grabbed 59 percent of the votes, and will battle The Homestead Thursday in the Poached Eight.

The Weekly Volcano's food tournaments mean everything - perhaps too much, as a team that dominates its regions during regular season play can have one bad day and see its season go down the drain. Certainly there is drama of the highest kind when it comes to mixing batter. The breakfast quiche kept pouring out of sixth seed Hawk's Prairie Restaurant's kitchen all day. It's only 450 calories! What was Hawk's Prairie thinking? You can't expect to start 450 calories and beat a powerhouse like number one seed Norma's Burgers. Seizing the opportunity, Norma's pulled in its I-5 Pile Up -  large buttermilk biscuits on top of hash browns and topped with two eggs then smothered with sausage gravy - and pounded the Hawk's quiche until it squeaked out a win with 52 percent of the votes.

McMenamins Spar Café got demolished by Cicada Restaurant, which was mildly surprising not because they lost but because they lost so badly - by 1,200 votes. The Spar Cafe kept all three of its Benedicts on the floor most of the game, with the Dungeness crab variation using the grilled tomato to its advantage.  For crying out loud, the Spar even pulled its Willapa Bay oyster shooter off the bench. What the hell happened to this Olympia institution? Cicada's green eggs and ham is what happened. The breakfast dish was unstoppable. It was ordered in the dining room. It was ordered in the fancy lounge. Someone even ate it at the hostess stand! Who says it's not easy being green? Cicada moves into the Poached Eight Thursday for a breakfast date with Norma's Burgers. Oh boy.

Let's take a look at the stack. The following are advancing to the next round:

• Homestead Restaurant
  
• Moon Rise Cafe
  
• Norma's Burgers
  
• Cicada Restaurant
  

The daily breakfast battles here on Spew are sponsored by Shakabrah Java on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue.

OK, let's check out today's Scrambled 16 breakfast battles. Vote for one breakfast joint per battle. Voting for today's breakfast battles ends at 11:45 p.m.