Tournament of Breakfast: Yesterday in Oly, Tacoma favs battle today

By Volcano Staff on March 21, 2012

>>> VOTING CLOSED FOR MARCH 21 <<<

Sixty-four South Sound breakfast joints were selected and seeded by readers throughout February for the Tournament of Breakfast, which is now seven days into the competition. Brackets don refrigerators, break rooms, restaurant hallways and birdcages. Morning business meetings have been moved to restaurants. Everyone is discussing syrup flavors and waffle thickness. It's crazy fun.

Yesterday's Tournament of Breakfast Results

Here were the match-ups:

Spar Cafe (Olympia) vs. Bread Peddler (Olympia)

Ben Moore's Cafe (Olympia) vs. New Moon Cafe (Olympia) 

Cicada Restaurant (Olympia) vs. Shipwreck Cafe (Olympia)

Darby's Cafe (Olympia) vs. Quality Burrito (Olympia)

Yesterday, we predicted the Spar Café would give the bread Peddler an early run for its money, which it did. The McMenamin brothers venture exploded with an early lead. However, the Peddler, with its yummy baked goods and freakin' delicious quiche, came on strong around dinnertime. In the end, the Spar Cafe squeaked out the win by a three-vote margin. The game will no doubt be the talk on Fourth Avenue corners today.

The opposite of the above game, Ben Moore's Café and the New Moon Café were neck and neck throughout the morning and afternoon. Then, as if Edward Cullen and his pals swooped in after dark to terrorize Ben Moore's, the New Moon went on an incredible terror and grabbed an amazing 70 percent of the votes. Could it be black magic, or the Moon's fried egg sandwich? Doesn't matter now. The New Moon Café enters the second round to battle the Spar Café March 23.

Cicada is fine and dandy, even after the ownership change. Commenter jjtandcompany says the Crabcake Benedict is to die for. Commenter Roger says Cicada's staff is friendly and treats the customer right. And the Tournament of Breakfast voters say Cicada is worth sending to the second round by awarding the Northwest restaurant with Southern accents 60 percent of the votes over the Shipwreck Cafe.

Every city has a restaurant that reflects the people, the culture, the reality of the place - not the town you see in a tourism brochure, but the town that folks actually live, work and eat in. Olympia has Darby's Café. Darby's represents the city of Olympia to the tea (15 versions).  Funky, liberal, friendly, and laid-back, it's all about serving quality food in the Man's front yard. While elected officials and developers argue about waterfront condos, folks can enjoy the democratic principles of fairness, whole foods, open-toed sandals, and an odd assortment of Wizard of Oz paraphernalia in this tiny joint. And Olympia returned the favor by awarding Darby's with 70 percent of the votes over Quality Burrito, and a ticket to the next round.

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

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

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




Tomorrow's Second Round Breakfast Battles

Game 1: Alfred's Cafe (402 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma) vs. Scoreboard Pub (1200 S. 224th St., Federal Way)

Game 2: Elmer's Restaurant (7427 S. Hosmer St., Tacoma) vs. Ricky J's Restaurant (6805 176th St. E., Puyallup) 

Game 3: Mystic Mocha (10220 196th St. Ct. E., Graham) vs. Poodle Dog Restaurant (1522 54th Ave. E., Fife)

Game 4: Original Pancake House (16116 Meridian E., Puyallup) vs. Johnny's Dock (1900 E. D St., Tacoma)

>>> Join us at 6 p.m. Monday, April 2 at the Meconi's Pub in downtown Tacoma for the Official Tournament of Breakfast Party - our winner will be announced during halftime of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game.

LINK: Tournament of Breakfast explanation

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