After last weekend’s breakfast debacle, Steve and I were both excited to jaunt over to Food Dance in downtown Kalamazoo. This adorable little place has giant-sized veggies plastered all over the walls and it sort of feels like the building-sized asparagus are watching over you while you’re there. We were elated about having breakfast and couldn’t wait to sit down and mull over the menu.
We ran into some good friends prior to being seated and had a brief chat. Our friends have a small child and prior to being seated, the hostess said, “Does he take crayons and paper?” Sort of as if she were asking a two-year old, “Do you take whiskey in your oatmeal?” I imagined the little tyke taking a pull right from the Jack Daniel’s bottle, “No crayons lady…what kind of kid do you think I am?”
After a short wait, we were seated and a smiling server came right over to 
take our drink order. “Two coffees, please.” Steve and I both needed this liquid more than you can imagine. The aroma was taunting us as we waited for our cups to arrive. After the first taste, Steve said, “This is the best coffee I’ve ever had here,” as if they were brewing some fantastically-flavored caffeinated madness that we had never experienced before. As our bellies were warming with the liquefied peaberry juice, Steve expressed excitement over the specials. “Oregon hash…yum,” he exclaimed. After giving me a lesson in the proper pronunciation of Oregon..,”That’s Or-uh-gun….not Or-uh-gone,” we proceeded to order our food.
I asked the server if the restaurant could make their home fries (potatoes and veggies) vegan-style. He said, “Absolutely!” This was very exciting for me, as I am typically relegated to ordering fruit and toast and that bores my soul to tears.
After less than ten minutes, our food was placed before us and looked simply delicious. I think the giant asparagus on the walls even cracked a smile. We decided to take photos to share with all when another server, whom we know, stopped over and said, “I couldn’t help but notice that you took a photo of your home fries. I hope that’s not because something is wrong with them.” Steve and I giggled and were delighted in the fact that someone recognized what we were doing and expressed concern that the food might be bad. If only this happened at every restaurant.
The food was simply delightful. Steve’s Ore-uh-gun hash had two sunny-side up eggs, potatoes, red peppers and salmon all mixed together, and my home fries consisted of an abundance of potatoes, green onions, squash and peppers. I, having a major affinity for hot sauce, proceeded to pour on copious amounts of delicious hot goodness that is made only a few-hundred miles away, in Ann Arbor, MI. This is another brilliant element of Food Dance’s mission – use as many local products as possible.
Steve devoured his breakfast, only before saying, “Sometimes eating fish reminds me of camping.” It must have been that Or-uh-gun thing…or possibly he shared some whisky with the non-crayon-taking two-year old.
After practically drinking the entire bottle of hot sauce and stuffing my bell 
with gobs of expanding potatoes, I could eat no more. I asked our server for a to-go box and was pleasantly surprised to have received a recycled cardboard box. “What, no Styrofoam? – Can this place get any better?”
With happy tummies and leftovers in tow, we skipped out of Food Dance giggling. I’m pretty sure I saw the asparagus wink at us on our way out.
