A Denny's breakfast to remember...

A friend of mine was mentioning that Denny's plans to give away free Grandslam breakfasts to everyone who comes in between 6am & 2pm tomorrow (whoa, talk about deep pockets!)

I'm trying to fathom how many people all the restaurants in the United States, Canada & Puerto Rico can mill through in those 8 hours. Minus the one lonely restaurant in Cali that decided not to play along (doesn't that make them look like the scrooges?) I can only say that you couldn't pay me enough to be a server (or cook, or busser) in any of them tomorrow! Those poor kids....

And I'm just thinking how much more exciting it would be if Denny's were a restaurant I could eat in.... but alas, they've long since been scratched off my list of acceptable dining establishments. And before you go thinking I'm some sort of "breakfast snob", I'll tell you it's for very good reason!

When we were living in Ocala, I LOVED Denny's breakfasts.... we didn't go very often but I loved the rare visits. And I'd been seeing their new advertisements for those amazing-looking breakfast skillets and working on a severe craving for a while, so my husband took me out for "breakfast" on the way home from work one afternoon....

I was soooooo looking forward to my skillet.

Until the server set it down in front of me.

Now, during our time spent in Florida, I had become used to some of the simple differences in local lingo and the minor confusions it could cause - for instance; I knew better than to order iced tea in a restaurant unless I wanted to be puckered up at the first sip.... it's called sweet tea down there (just because we, in the north, know iced tea is sweet, doesn't mean it shouldn't be spelled out elsewhere).

But no where had I ever come across "over-easy" being confused with "raw" when talking about eggs.

I kid you not, when the lady put the skillet in front of me, the whites of the eggs on top were still CLEAR. Nothing easy about that.... except maybe my stomach trying to flip... that seemed like it was going to go pretty easy (thank God it was still empty at that point!).

I had to send it back. I mean seriously?? And the server didn't even apologize or raise an eyebrow. She acted like it wasn't any big deal - like maybe they routinely have people order (or at least serve people) raw eggs?? RIGHT.....

Then before long she brought back the skillet with nicely cooked, over-easy eggs on top and all was right with in my world. And it WAS good..... at least the first few bites. But as my meal progressed and I got a little deeper into the food, I noticed that the potatoes seemed a little damp.... kinda soggy....

I shifted stuff around a little with my fork only to discover the pool of raw egg juice at the bottom of my skillet. They hadn't done anything more that flip the majority off and slapped the cooked eggs back on top of the same potatoes.

I just about lost what breakfast I'd eaten up to that point.

I don't even have words for how disgusted I was or how awful the staff at Denny's were.... and feeding raw eggs to the public?? WTF is up with that?

My husband would've blown a gasket if I'd have let him.... but the polite little Canuck in me abhors a scene... so I just let it go.

We didn't finish our meals, we just left the restaurant.... and to this day the mention of that chain causes a little bile to rise in my throat - My family will never eat there again.

So, for everyone about to enjoy a free breakfast on Denny's tomorrow - just a word of advice: When they ask you how you want your eggs, don't confuse them with difficult things like "sunny-side" or "over-easy".... just try telling them COOKED, and it may turn out alright.