What is your favorite meal? You get three choices: Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner, or, if you are from the South, that’s Breakfast, Dinner or Supper.

For me, Breakfast has always been number one. I love breakfast when “breaking my fast,” but I also love it for supper or as far as that goes, I love breakfast anytime. Part of that love came when I started eating low carb about 14 years ago, and eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, and cheese have no carbs.

In the old days, biscuits used to be strictly breakfast food. All southern mothers could make biscuits with one hand tied behind them. But now everyone from Col. Sanders to Ryans is hawking biscuits around the clock. All the fast food chains promote their biscuits, but I’d have to give Hardee’s the red ballon for biscuit excellence. Cracker Barrel has long promoted their biscuits as the anchor for all their meals. Everyone claims their biscuits are number one.

Now the fast food joints are offering their breakfast menu, round the clock. But even though the fast food places sell a decent breakfast, eating off styrofoam plates with plastic forks just don’t cut it. For me, I want real silverware, real coffee cups and awaitress.

For the size town Crossville is, there are not that many places to find a good sit­down breakfast. Fast food breakfast is a sausage biscuit.

Here is the run down for my favorite places to get a decent breakfast in Crossville. One of the most traditional joints in Crossville is Edgewood, located at 1215 West Avenue, which has been around a long time. They make a good biscuit and serve a decent breakfast. You can get the basics with toast or biscuits. No frills, just good food.

A delicious country ham breakfast from Kali’s, the best of the best.

Kali’s is located at 178 Woodmere Mall, just a block from the Dairy Queen. Kali’s has the best country ham breakfast in town and the price is right. I usually get sliced tomatoes instead of the home fries. They serve a full center slice of ham with a steak knife. I have to brag on their cook. I always order my eggs “soft scrabbled” but rarely get them cooked right. Kali’s get them right and despite having a good breakfast crowd, their service is also excellent. Their coffee is nothing special, but the breakfast is.

Another little country place is Family Ties, located at 136 Genesis Road. They, like the others mentioned, provide the basic breakfast choices, including pancakes. They have their regulars who eat there every day. It is a good place for breakfast, fast service and an inexpensive price. If you are in a hurry, this is your place.

While Marketplace Cafe, located in the basement of 5th Street Marketplace is not open for breakfast, you can still get a scrumptious homemade dessert and hot tea or coffee in their Dessert Bar downstairs, always a good substitute for breakfast. They also feature a meeting room.

You cannot write about breakfast without visiting Waffle House, located at 3118 North Main, on the access road to Cracker Barrel. Nothing like a ham & cheese omelet, hash browns and of course, waffles. Founded by two Georgia neighbor in 1955, it is still going strong, specializing in their ala carte menu. Got to give Waffle House credit for their lingo­ inspired terms, like “covered” (with cheese), “smothered” (with onions), “chunked” (with ham), “topped” (with chili), “diced” (with tomatoes) and “capped” (with mushrooms).

The next stop on our little breakfast caravan with a trip to Cracker Barrel. Their famous breakfast line­up features: Old Timer’s Breakfast, Sunrise Sampler, Uncle Herschel’s Favorite, the Country Boy, Grandpa’s Country Fried, Fresh Start Sampler and Double Meat Breakfast.

I can remember, back when my appetite matched my girth, that the Country Boy Breakfast with biscuits and gravy, fried apples, grits, potato casserole, country ham (a whole piece) with eggs was more than you could eat. They would bring out a big basket of biscuits, apple butter, honey, and jellies, before they even took your order. Not so anymore.

That was “the old days.” Cracker Barrel today is just a memory of those days. The country ham is a half piece and thin enough to read the paper through. Everything that can be made a smaller serving is. I guess the eggs are the same as, chickens are still the same size.

Don’t get me wrong, I still eat breakfast on occasion at Cracker Barrel, I just expect small servings. Their hash brown casserole is still a great side dish, for any meal. Their promotional photo online shows country ham. It is enticing, it’s just a bit misleading.

At the mom and pop restaurants, like Edgewood, Kali’s, Family Ties, and Sisters, a big breakfast will cost between $2.99 + beverage ­to­ $4.99 + beverage. Waffle House, Cracker Barrel and Shoneys will set you back double figures.

My favorites

I love country ham. I buy a whole one every Christmas and have it sliced, and then give away whole pieces to my friends as a little gift. A whole piece of a well­cured country ham, sliced the correct thickness, is a pretty nice gift for country folks. And when I eat breakfast in a restaurant I will usually sample their non­city ham.

Based on consistent quality and fair price, Kali’s Restaurant is the country ham leader. Here is the photo of my last meal I had with them. This is no promotional photo like the one from Cracker Barrel’s website, this is “my” meal. The price was right too, less than $9.

Based on volume alone, Shoney’s legendary breakfast buffet is the winner. Their all­you­ can­eat breakfast buffet features eggs (your way) if you don’t want scrambled, plus bacon, link sausage, grits, biscuits & gravy, pancakes, fruit and more. The price is more too!

There are other places out in the far reaches of Cumberland County that I am not mentioning. And there is some sort of breakfast to be had at every fast food joint in Cumberland County. I guess you can even eat breakfast at Subway, but I don’t.

Do you have a little, out­of­the­way breakfast place that you enjoy? Email me at don@napiermedia and tell me about it.