This is the first in a series of reviews of places to have breakfast in Lakewood and the vicinity. Over the next few weeks I\’ll hit Goldrush Cafe, John\’s, Legal Grounds and the Corner Market. If there is some place in the Lakewood area that serves breakfast, let me know.

So, you may be wondering, why IHOP? Well there are several reasons 1) It is a baseline of sorts for breakfast — generic corporate coffee shop food. 2) As a child, it was always a treat to go to IHOP on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Is it still a treat??? 3) I had to go to PrimaCare this morning and IHOP is right across the street. So, really, #3 is the prevailing reason. But we had to start somewhere.

Is it still a treat, I asked above. Uhm, well, not so much. I love French Toast, so I went with their Vive Le French Toast combo platter. This comes with an egg (scrambled) and bacon (mmmmmmmm bacon).

The french toast was fairly flavorless. With only a light dusting of powdered sugar, I had to apply the \”maple\” syrup to get some flavor. I\’m not a fan of syrup on french toast, so this is a last resort. The scrambled egg was slightly above room temperature and pretty much tasted like a scrambled egg. The bacon was crisp and perfectly smokey. It was definitely the highlight of the breakfast.

Let\’s now talk coffee. Starbuck\’s has raised the bar on what passes for coffee these days. Everyone is offering better coffee. McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, 7-11 all are positioning themselves as having superior coffee. And I get the impression that many places think that good coffee equals roasting the bejesus out of the beans. At least that\’s what the coffee at IHOP tasted like. There was no subtlety, just a strong almost overroasted taste. The coffee was ok. But I\’ll stick with m k-cups.

Overall, this is food best eaten at 2:30am after a long night of drinking. But Cuquita\’s is not that far away. So, go there instead.

C-