Sunday Brunch: Diners, Disney, and Dives

11 March 2012

Just south of Walt Disney World, there's a little town, a quiet village where every day is like the one before. The town is Celebration, Florida, a little town established in 1994 and best known as the town that Disney built. It was designed to be the epitome of Small Town, America though everyone at the time thought it was the original plans for EPCOT coming to fruition. Unfortunately, Disney no longer owns the town, but their imprint is still visible and its proximity to Walt Disney World does still give it the feeling of being at Disney.

While the topic of Celebration is quite an interesting story and history, today we'll actually stay on track and see what Celebration has to offer in terms of dining. With the excitement of being in a small town, albeit manufactured by the local magic makers, my friends and I chose to eat at what every small town has (or at least should have): the local diner, the Market Street Cafe. Located on the corner of Front Street and Market street, the Cafe has a great location, right in the town center on the edge of the lake.

Outdoor seating right on Front Street.

The indoor seating is just like any diner

The Market Street Cafe serves classic American diner favorites like open-faced Turkey Sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, and breakfast all day. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day and any opportunity to have it not during traditional breakfast hours, I will definitely take it. My friend Amanda had told me the pancakes were amazing at Market Street Cafe so we knew someday we'd have to go and try them. I had never been to Celebration, and I loved breakfast, so we made plans to go for weeks until finally we did about 4 Thursdays ago.

Joined by our two friends Aaron and Rebekah, we proceeded to celebrate breakfast in Celebration as each of us ordered breakfast. We also were celebrating the start of Reuben officially taking notes on Sunday Brunch. Though I have in the past jotted down thoughts on napkins, old work schedules, and the like, this time I turned my autograph book into a notebook. I've been using it since then to gather opinions, quotes, and thoughts on the food as experienced upon first bite. So coming to you live from cyberspace comes some reviews straight from our Noggins to my blog(in).

Amanda stated that the Potato Omelete strangely works. 'You would not think potatoes in an omelet could work, but alas the ballet sequence in my mouth was tasty.' Yes, those were her true words. I had a bite of it too, and I could surely agree. Eggs and potatoes have always been two frequent breakfast items, so why not put them together? Also, a unique part of Amanda's plate was her side. She liked that sliced tomatoes were an option over breakfast potatoes and the usual.

Aaron ordered one of the many monthly and daily specials Market St. Cafe offers, just like any diner. It was February, so they had special Valentine's Day themed pancakes made with strawberries and white chocolate. Aaron stated 'It was a very good marriage of fruit and chocolate. It tastes like Valentines.' Of course, who could say no to a reaction like that, so I also had to have a bite and agree!

Rebekah's plate was colorful and full of visible flavor and also one of the monthly specials. It had a sinfully delicious Bacon Cheddar Omelet and to make up for that, it came with a small salad and toast. Unfortunately, in all of our excitement in dining on breakfast, we missed Rebekah's review, but I did write down that she was talking with her mouth full about it, so I'm sure she definitely enjoyed it. Yes, Mrs. Bekah's Mom, she knows her manners, but it was an exciting day and a delicious meal, sometimes things like that get forgotten!

After talking about it for weeks, I knew I had to get pancakes, and the pancakes at Market Street Caf' are simply excellent. They come with maple syrup and maple butter, which is pure genius. The last time I came across maple butter was in Canada, so it was nice to see it way on the other side of North America. The pancake was very fluffy, but also heavy in the sense it was a hearty meal. Also it was enormous; while most diners offer 2-3 pancakes in a short stack, only one pancake makes up a short stack here! As with the strawberry and white chocolate pancakes, the banana and pecan was evenly balanced so neither outshone the other. The pancakes seemed to be made from buttermilk and while they were not overly sweet, they were just sweet enough.

Okay, so I lied, my last trip to Market Street Caf' I forgot my notebook, but I did take pictures. This time Bekah, Aaron and I were joined by Aaron's friend from home Courtney, who played rebel and ordered not-Breakfast. While opinions were not written verbatim, I knew everyone really enjoyed each of their meals.

Courtney's Open Faced Turkey Sandwih

French Toast with Strawberries and Brown Sugar

Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes

The unique item of this dining adventure was March's special Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes! Another genius pancake combination. I love both separately, but I was worried I wouldn't like it as a whole pancake, so I opted out, but Aaron and Bekah both ordered it and loved it. Again, this was a combination that strangely worked, and the special ingredient was appropriately proportioned.

I've grown up going to diners in NJ, from actual Sunday Brunches with my family to late night food hankerings with high school friends, the diner is always a place you can count on for good food and having a good ol' fun time. In my new home of the tourist heavy area of Orlando, that kind of daily living is hard to come by. It was such a relief and a joy that my friends and I finally explored the fabled town of Celebration. I know I'll definitely be heading here to get a taste of home and add a bit of regularity in the irregularity with living in the Vacation Kingdom of the world. I spoke with Amanda and Rebekah later that night about how much fun it was going to the diner, not just for the food, but for the company, the atmosphere, for everything! Though I have dined in many places in Disney World with amazing food, magical and nostalgic settings, and terrific service, one sometimes misses the comforts of home. I know now that if I ever want to remember what it's like for a regular life, I just have to head south to the little town, the quiet village where every day is like the one before.