I dropped Peg off for an early morning meeting. Instead of just waiting, I decided to go to breakfast instead. Shari’s Restaurant on South Union was calling to me.
Peg and I were devastated when Shari’s closed their restaurant on North Pearl. It was a late night haven for us. Our friends John and Karen Trueman would meet us there after attending a fundraising evening. By after I mean something close to midnight. It was a good chance to laugh at ourselves and each other. It was a friendly restaurant and the food was good with exceptional pies ready to go home with some lucky customer. Luckily, there are still four Shari’s restaurants in Pierce County.
I walked into the nearly empty Shari’s and turned down coffee . . . and then had second thoughts. It was a good change. A small coffee dish arrived with two containers of half & half, and two more containers of vanilla flavored creamer. I had many breakfasts at this Shari’s with my buddy Ed Taylor where we talked about his latest smooth jazz gigs. Smooth jazz is cool, but I prefer Ed singing the blues and accompanying himself on his Gibson guitar. I smiled at the memories and smiled even more when Sarah, my waitress, brought more coffee and more half & half, and vanilla creamers.
My breakfast sampler with pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and a sausage link put me in a very, very happy mood. When I ordered I asked for my hash browns to be, burnt, burnt, burnt. Sarah said, “You’re a man after my own heart. That’s how I like them. They were absolutely perfect. The pancakes were okay and the scrambled eggs with cheese were okay, but the hash browns were what I always hope to get, but only rarely see delivered. After I ate most of the hash browns, I picked up a dark brown and lovely bacon slice. It too was perfect as was its partner. The last item on the plate was one sausage link as thick as a plump cigar. I loved every bite. The hash browns, the bacon, and the sausage link reminded me of the Big Bopper singing Chantilly Lace: “Oh, baby, you know what I like.” It was a three way tie for the best food of that breakfast.
About thirty minutes later I picked Peg up from her meeting. I had promised her a good breakfast and she wanted to return to Shari’s. The two of us returned to the same Shari’s on South Union. After Rita took our order, Sarah, came over and said, “Weren’t you here earlier? I swear I served your twin!”
The second time around I tried only the Zenner grilled sausages. They were huge. With kraut or sweet red cabbage and a good bun, they would be excellent, but by themselves there weren’t as tasty as the sausage link I had eaten earlier.
Peg ordered a small chicken fried steak and a side of bacon. The steak was good, but paled in comparison to the bacon. We love our bacon. We took home as much as we had eaten at the restaurant. Both of us were glad that Shari’s still delivers delicious food. When we left, we carefully diverted our eyes and attention from the pie display case. I was afraid the pies might be calling to us.
More information on Shari’s from the internet – usarestaurants.info/explore/united-states/washington/pierce-county/tacoma/sharis-cafe-and-pies-253-272-4837.htm
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
