Bases loaded at the Home Plate Diner

UPDATE: Home Plate Diner has since closed.

On Day Three of my extended Fourth of July weekend staycation, I nursed a slight hangover from Giff Wagner’s 5th St. Pub the previous day.

Having passed on an earlier opportunity to try the Bases Loaded Hash Browns at the Home Plate Diner, the morning of Day Four seemed like a good time to give it a try.

Located on E. 30th, between Captiol and Walnut, the space had been the location for the Four Seasons, an East-side institution for years, and more recently the Waveland Fairgounds Café.

Described on the menu as "Hash browns made with onions, mushrooms, green peppers & Sausage. Topped with two eggs (any style), cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and covered with pepper gravy," the Bases Loaded Hash Browns sounded like the breakfast mashup I’d been searching for of late.

To start, the pepper gravy is nicely seasoned, boasting a pleasant kick of black pepper. Nice crunchy bits of chopped green pepper and onions, with the odd piece of mushroom a bonus. Unlike the hash browns similarly buried under another “breakfast fusion” I had eaten two days earlier [see blog post], these shreds of spud were indeed browned. Even crisped. With eggs ordered over easy, each forkful was an adventure in tastes, from the firm but yielding whites to the slow-running yolk mingled with the gravy.

Normally I’m a toast eater, but today I ordered a biscuit. Not at all greasy like it's fast food counterparts, I would easily return for a couple more, paired with Home Plate’s pepper gravy.

Pleased, I wandered down E. 30th to the Main Gate for a mini-pitcher of Amber Bock to compliment my meal. The only person obviously more pleased than I was the biker dozing away outside in a metal lawn chair, with his feet perched on the handlebars of his cycle. That’s a peace-of-mind I could rarely match.