Better Than Hobees

As a number of people know, Hobees was about my favorite place to go out for breakfast when we lived in California. I always ordered the Santa Cruz Scramble because of the fluffy eggs, cheese, artichokes and pico de gallo on top. Oh, it was heaven. Well, get this: The Calabria restaurant in downtown Pristina, Kosovo has Hobees beat. I wish everyone could experience this. Eggs that taste like eggs and they come from chickens that run around in someone's yard here. Mushrooms that aren't just filler....they taste like mushrooms. The ham comes from some local little farm where pigs are grown right here in the country. Not in some giant food conglomerate feed lot type of thing. Creamy cheese and mildly spicy little peppers chopped up throughout. And look at the potatoes.....they look like Yukon Gold potatoes....not just some mushy, bland white potatoes....and pan fried so they were all crispy. And check out the tomatoes....it's February, people...and you know what? The tomatoes taste like tomatoes!!! Unheard of. And then there's the little chopped cabbage salad thing going on in the middle....it had a tiny bit of some kind of thin dressing on it....just enough to pique the flavor a bit. And pickles on the side....who would have thought? Good pickles, too....Paul, you would have loved them. The bread? It's called "morning bread", sort of like English muffins but a thousand times better. The bread in this country is worth the trip here. You can't see the glasses of fresh, hand squeezed orange juice that we had, too. Of course, Tom had a cafe latte and I had my usual capuccino. All this for the low, low price of 13 euros. If this breakfast alone doesn't afford The Calabria a Michelin four star rating, I don't know what would.