An Island of Tranquility…

in the Sturgis Sea of biker bars.

As Chuck explained in yesterday’s blog, Sturgis, SD, is the bikers’ Mecca. And it is home to numerous biker bars, like the Full Throttle Saloon located on the eastern edge of town. The Full Throttle claims to be the World’s Largest Biker Bar. But who determined that it is the world’s largest?

Or that somewhere in Illinois is the world’s largest rocking chair?

And what about the world’s largest prairie dog? Two roadside attractions—one in Kansas and one in South Dakota—both claim to be the home of the world’s largest.

Who goes around doing all of this weighting, counting, measuring? Just wondering.

And, is this guy holding the world’s largest cigar?

But I digress. We wanted breakfast and the options were limited to one bar, multiple fast food chains, and the Olde Worlde Café & Bookery. Since my biker babe days are behind me and chains aren’t on my menu, the Olde Worlde Café it would be.

The café is operated by Julie Olson and Dan Heinzerling. “Julie has been a resident of Sturgis for 13 years. She worked as a radiologic technologist for 30 years…Julie retired from Radiology about 5 years ago. She had been day dreaming and planning for a cafe of her own for 15 years before it became a reality. Julie is the head chef and owner…Dan has been a resident of the Black Hills and now Sturgis for roughly 5 years. He has been Julie's partner in business and life from the very start of the cafe. He designed the ice cream and soda fountain...(and) is the breakfast chef and resident comedian of the restaurant” (from the restaurant’s web site).

The café is a small, charming place and operates as a café, coffee-house, internet café, ice cream parlor, and used book store. The purple and mauve walls are decorated with old coffee and tea pots, small quilts, and fifty-pound coffee bean bags.

The breakfast menu is short and simple and includes: a meat and eggs plate with choice of bacon, ham, or sausage with hash browns and toast; the Hungryman Breakfast with bacon and sausage, three eggs, hash browns, a cup of fruit, and toast; a French toast or pancake plate each with bacon, ham, or sausage; and large and small breakfast sandwiches.

We started by sharing a large cinnamon roll. This was served warm and was light and fairly yeasty and not overly sweet.

I chose the tomato, bacon, and cheddar quiche with a side of sausage. The thin quiche contained sliced tomatoes, crumbled bacon, eggs, and chopped onions and green peppers. While this was tasty (bacon makes everything tasty), I suspect that the crust wasn’t prepared in-house. The small and uniform “pleated” edges are a give-a-way. The sausage patty was lean and peppery.

Chuck’s selection was the Dizzy Dan Breakfast which you could order either omelet style or burrito style. He went with the burrito, which was filled with eggs, chorizo sausage, and jalapeno peppers and came with a small cup of mild salsa. This was quite good. Both the chorizo and peppers gave the burrito a mild heat and the scrambled eggs were light and fluffy.

He had an order of hash browns on the side and these more resembled home fries than shredded hash browns. Since he prefers home fries he was a happy eater. The potatoes were nice and crisp and were peppered with some form of all-purpose seasoning.

I would rate Chuck’s breakfast as 4.5 Addies and mine as 2.5 Addies, so we averaged this to 3.5 Addies and set out for a day of exploration.