Can a Place Named Mo’s Egg House…

really be tripadvisor.com’s Number One restaurant in Temecula, CA?

I had to find out for myself.

“When you’re hungry, there’s nothing quite like a menu that doesn’t stop. The only thing better than that is a menu that specializes in breakfast food.

“Mo’s Egg House in Temecula is one of Temecula’s most popular spots.... With cafe-style seating,

including bar-stool seating, Mo’s is packed every weekend with hungry egg lovers.

(Ed. Note: If you look carefully you will see the purse hooks on the underside of the counter.)

“Though business is brisk, the helpful staff at Mo’s keeps things moving. Mo’s is well-staffed, meaning with a crowd of people inside and a group outside at almost all times, they turn over the tables, process checks and serve customers very, very efficiently” (Jeff Pack at blog.pe.com).

We arrived at about 9:30 a.m. on a weekday thinking that we would miss the breakfast rush. Au contraire. There were waiting diners seated on the long benches outside the doors. There were waiting diners seated on chairs just inside the doors. And there were waiting diners just hanging around looking at these children’s crayon drawings

and reading the daily specials board.

A quick look around reveals that the décor should be described as “country kitsch” with lots of egg-related ceramics, like these chickens in the photo below

and the Humpty-Dumpty perched on a high shelf.

“With ‘egg house’ in the name, you know what you’re getting. The menu features an extensive and impressive selection of egg creations including omelets, specialties (Texas Style Chicken Fried Steak ‘N’ Eggs?), the Eggs ‘N’ More menu, and, of course, the egg-based pancakes, waffles and French toast menu.

“Really, there are too many options to list, but rest assured, if you love breakfast food and have a favorite, it’s probably on the menu” (Jeff Pack at blog.pe.com).

All breakfast diners are presented with a complimentary square of house-made coffee cake. The crumb topping tasted of sugar and cinnamon, was dusted with powdered sugar, and drizzled with a light vanilla icing.

Fortunately, since portion sizes here are huge, the cake was as light as it was delicious.

After extensive deliberation on both our parts (the menu is indeed large) and a few changes of mind, we were finally ready to order. My choice was the Swedish Pancakes topped with lingonberries with a half-order of sausage. The pancakes bore a strong resemblance to French crêpes. They were thin. They were rolled. They were light. So how are they different?

I came home and learned that Swedish pancakes are made with a much thinner batter than crêpes. And to keep the batter in the pan while being “swirled,” the Swedish pancake pan has a lip around the edge as opposed to the flatter crêpe pan. They are described at thebittenword.com as “a cross between Western flapjacks and crêpes….”

“…Lingonberries…are to Scandinavians what blackberries are to Americans—an abundant wild fruit free for the taking by anyone with a basket, a harvesting fork, and the patience to pick through and clean their harvest…. (T)he tart red berries are much smaller and juicier than their distant cousin, the cranberry. Bursting with natural preservatives and pectin, lingonberries were invaluable to earlier generations of Scandinavians, for they could be kept for months at room temperature simply by placing them in jars of water (vattlingon) or by stirring the raw berries with a small amount of sugar to make rårörda lingon, an easy lingonberry jam (no cooking required)…” (Kari Diehl at scandinavianfood.about.com).

Chuck selected the Peaches ‘N Cream Stuffed French Toast and added a side of home fries. This may be the first time in recorded history that he has been unable to finish much more than half of his meal—it was that large and that filling.

Two thick (Texas toast thick) slices of bread were slit to form pockets into which was stuffed a peach-flavored cream cheese mixture. These were topped with fresh peaches, which were slightly warmed. But not so warm as to cook the fruit that still retained all of the fresh crispness of a peach eaten out-of-hand. Add to this a mound of whipped cream plus a pitcher of warm syrup and you have one very sweet—as well as filling—breakfast dish.

Had his home fries been mine, I would have liked them a bit crisper. Still, there was a generous amount of both onion and bell pepper cooked with the potatoes and they were quite tasty.

I do so enjoy going out for breakfast. Especially when a menu goes beyond the boring egg/meat/potatoes combos. And this 5.0 “egg house” goes miles beyond the expected and meets its Number One rating.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.