Grand Slam McMuffin
At 10 on a recent Monday morning, it was 26 degrees outside — but just shy of 80 degrees on the recently enclosed patio at Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse. At the walk-up window, I narrowed my top three choices down to one and ordered from the new breakfast menu, served daily from 9 to 11 a.m.
“Tap if you’re tapping,” said the cashier, pointing to the card reader on the side of the screen. “You can also tap dance if you want. I’ll do it with you.”
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I gave him a little shuffle step, which is all I remember from the tap classes of my youth, and he responded with a jig. This led to a discussion about whether we’d be more prone to dance if we all walked around all day with tap shoes on, and we both agreed we would.
I stripped off my hat, coat and gloves, settled into a booth and smiled at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Smurfs pillowcases hanging from the ceiling. There’s no shortage of atmosphere at this McFerrin Park corner lot spot — the sole outpost of the New Orleans original, which received a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand designation last month.
TATWI’s new breakfast menu has a mix of hefty and lighter options, a savory sense of humor and the same nostalgic presentation as lunch and dinner. My breakfast sandwich, the Spanky Supreme, arrived on an McDonaldland plate, with Ronald and the Hamburglar smiling and waving from a prop plane.
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A play on spanakopita, the Spanky is mix of spinach, herbs and feta, with slices of piquant teardrop biquinho peppers throughout, atop a “steamed egg pillow” between two griddled buns. The steamed egg pillow — three words I love as much “apple pie guts,” which show up in the granola — makes an appearance in four of the five breakfast sandwiches, the exception being the Grand Slam McMuffin (sage pork sausage, American cheese, grilled onions, fried hash brown and ketchup on an English muffin). And even then you can order one on the side.
Speaking of sides, I’m incapable of turning down a hash brown, let alone two hash brown patties, which were pure salty crispiness served in a paper sleeve. Did I dip them by hand into a puddle of ketchup I made from Heinz packets? You’re damn right I did. And I could be mistaken, but I think naked Barbie, who was hanging out in the potted herbs with naked Ken, gave me the thumbs up.
Next time: The McCaviar or Everything Roti Flatbread and a breakfast cocktail.
