| Start 2010 with a bowl of steaming tripe! |
The right way to start the New Year is to wake up early enough to eat a hearty breakfast loaded with foods legendary for their curative powers. Like menudo, the spicy Mexican tripe soup with chili peppers and hominy (there's often a calf's foot in there too, but not a handful of cute singing teenage boys). Poco's on the Boulevard, which re-opened as a Mexican buffet in September (although owner Lorenza "Poco" Guiterrrez continues to serve from the menu too, including those good old Waids-style malted waffles) will be open on New Year's Day, offering a big vat of fiery menudo on the breakfast buffet.
Waffles may not be the ultimate hangover-relief breakfast unless they're blanketed with butter. The secret, you see, is the grease. A breakfast rich in butter and bacon fat is a sure-fire way to stabilize the head-clanging dizziness of the morning after. If you're thinking of the venerable Village Inn, you can follow up a cholesterol-laden cheese omelette, buttered toast, bacon and sausage with a hefty slab of Caramel Pecan Silk Supreme Pie. It's open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- so go ahead, sleep in, eat later!
In its new location at 2601 Holmes, Beth Barden's Succotash will be serving brunch dishes from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., including a cup of her custom-blended hot java to settle those jangled nerves. If the idea of trying to eat and converse with another human seems too overwhelming, there's a wooden monkey named Buddy that can be brought to your table as a silent dining companion.
Sometimes it's not what you eat that's so comforting, it's how much! In that case, pick up a plate -- or two -- at the Old Country Buffet (7317 Quivira Road, Shawnee, 913-962-4092) and take those magical words "all-you-can-eat" literally. It's all breakfast fare from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and dinner the rest of the day. After polishing off a few plates, you can go home and sleep like a baby until Monday morning.
(Image via Flickr: Benrobertsabq)
