Hash House a Go Go at the Rio
Mardi Gras Pancakes – Buttermilk Confetti Cake with mini-M&Ms, white chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chips
Crispy hand hammered pork tenderloin benedict with yellow tomato, spinach, bar b’ que cream, 2 basted eggs, griddled mashed potatoes, and buttermilk biscuit
Lavazza Coffee
With my breakfast predilections ever skewed sweet over savory it came as a bit of a surprise that ‘National Pancake Week’ had gone unnoticed until I caught a news brief discussing the opening of the newest location of San Diego’s Hash House a Go-Go at The Rio; a special offering ‘Mardi Gras’ pancake catching my eye and early opening hours plus a promise of televisions showing the USA vs. Russia game cementing my plans to visit after a long morning run. Well designed and immense in size with clever interior flourishes complimenting the concept of “Twisted Farm Food” it was mere moments after the puck dropped on the third period that I arrived to the hostess stand and after a brief greeting I was handed off to a lovely lady named Peggy who would keep watchful eye over me throughout the overtime-extended visit – the nearly eighty minute stay ample time to enjoy approximately a whole pot of hot coffee and all that arrived on Hash House’s enormous signature plates. Deciding to go one sweet and one savory with a request to deliver the former followed by the latter it was with the special pancake that I arrived and truly the size of the hubcap it was exactly what I expected, fluffy and laced with buttermilk but exceedingly sweet; the equivalent of eating birthday cake for breakfast and exactly the sort of thing I’m willing to go out early for, though probably a dish best shared…particularly given what followed in a Benedict balancing a surfboard of crisp, lean pork with top quality vegetables and creamy mashed potatoes beneath lightly sweetened and tangy barbeque cream. Perhaps not ‘refined’ and undoubtedly ‘over the top,’ yet a place with something for everyone given their dedication to ethical farming and product sourcing Hash House a Go-Go remains one of the rare mini-chains I’m happy to support and with newer locations even offering ‘lite’ options of simple eggs, toast, proteins, and salads its only a matter of time before I visit the downtown and Sahara locations…the best biscuits in the city just one more highlight on an already long list.
http://www.riolasvegas.com/restaurants/hash-house-a-go-go.html#.UwLQYumPKAg