The other day, I went to Denny’s to try their new Hobbit menu which is available for a limited time to celebrate the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  In particular, I wanted to try their Hobbit Hole Breakfast – “two eggs fried right into the center of grilled cheese bun halves” served with slices of bacon and hash browns topped with cheese and crumbled bacon.

Here, you can see how it looked on the menu and how it actually looked on my plate at Denny’s.  It was kind of a mess, but I can report that it was delicious. My only complaint was that the cheesy hash browns (while crisp and tasty) didn’t have crumbled bacon on top as seen in the menu photo.  Instead, it was topped with half a slice of bacon broken into 3 pieces.  But all things considered, I was a happy with the meal (and very, very full).

Maybe I was inspired by the Lord Of The Rings stories… but on the way home, I decided I would have an adventure. I would create my own Hobbit Hole Breakfast. I would cut out bread in the form a ring and forge a wonderful meal.  If it turned out super great, I would call it “Lord Of The Rings” (ie. The Almighty King of Breakfasts that resemble a ring).

Armed with bacon, a potato, two eggs, cheese and a roll (and a little butter and canola oil), I would transform these items into a complete breakfast – a feat of magic worthy of Gandalf.  (He’s a wizard in the Hobbit movie – for those of you here for the recipe and not the cutesy movie correlation).

Let the adventure begin!

We’ve covered crispy hash browns and crispy bacon here before, so I’ll post some refresher links to those at the bottom.  For now, let’s concentrate on the Hobbit Holes themselves.

Many of us have been making Hobbit Holes for years.  But we’ve used regular bread and called them Egg In The Hole, Egg In The Basket, Popeyes or Birdies In A Nest.  The only difference between those and a Hobbit Hole is the bread that you use.  I found a terrific cheese roll at a local bakery.  I’ve seen similar rolls in grocery stores, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding them.

Slice the roll in half and then cut a (hobbit) hole out of the center of each half using a 3-inch biscuit cutter.

Melt a couple Tablespoons of butter on a skillet or in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Place each slice on the hot surface with its flattest side down.  Then, carefully crack an egg into each of the holes.  Fry until the egg is almost fully set and then flip and fry the other side for one minute.

Tips: One of my Hobbit Holes was cooking slower than the other, so I placed the lid of a small pan over it to trap more heat and move things along. If you’re worried that the egg could plop out when flipping, take a flat wooden spoon and hold it over the hole as you flip and then just slide it out.   Don’t forget to fry the little holes you cut out as well.

That’s all there is to it, my precious. If you make your own Homemade Hobbit Holes, let me know in the comments below.

Resources:

How To Make Crispy Hash Browns

How To Make Crispy Bacon

Fun Side Note:

I went to a Denny’s in North Hollywood, CA.  A few booths over from me, a tattooed hipster was actually reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit to his girlfriend as they ate.  He read the character voices in a stern British accent and the narrative in his usual California valley voice.  Here’s the funny thing… they didn’t order off of The Hobbit menu.  They had a Moons Over My Hammy and a club sandwich.  Go figure.

The ad showing Del Taco’s new breakfast burrito being hauled by a forklift is pretty spot-on.  The new Grande Scrambler is heavy.  When the Del Taco drive-thru kid handed me a bag of two, I almost dropped them.  I was expecting the weight of a couple cheeseburgers, not the heaviness of a honeydew melon.

A Grande Scrambler consists of eggs, shredded Cheddar cheese, hash brown sticks, pico de gallo salsa and your choice of sausage or bacon, all wrapped in a flour tortilla.

The Sausage Grande Scrambler In Reality

The Bacon Grande Scrambler In Reality

This is no breakfast for the diet-conscience. The bacon variety has 1130 calories and the sausage variety has 1100 calories.

Of the two kinds, I much preferred the sausage burrito.  The sausage had a decent, mildly-spicy flavor that paired well with the pico de gallo salsa.  The bacon burrito was somehow too rich.  It’s not bacon, per say, but rather bacon bits.  In my burrito, the bacon bits were clumped together and it looked more like ground beef. I love bacon… but if you grind it up and serve it in its most concentrated form, it’s just too much.

At $3.49 per burrito, you get your money’s worth.  Unfortunately, that’s not such a great thing. The Grande Scrambler is so big that you might get disgusted with it before you’re done.  By the end, you start to take more notice of the drawbacks like the concentrated bacon and a slight sponginess to the sausage.  If you’re like me, you’ll also feel fat and wish you’d stopped after the first 1/3.

The best part of the Grande Scrambler is actually the pico de gallo salsa.  It tastes garden fresh and adds a brightness to the heavier flavors.

And now for the report card…

Sausage Grande Scrambler:  B

Bacon Grande Scrambler: C-

See you later.  I’m leaving now to take my big burrito butt to the gym.

Expect to wait a while for a table.  The place gets BUSY.  The waiters and servers are exceptionally fast and the food hits your table minutes after you order.  The line to get in can be daunting, but it mores pretty fast.

Have cash on hand because they don’t take credit cards.  Most importantly, bring your appetite.  The portions are huge.  I had pancakes and eggs with a side of bacon.  I’m ashamed to say it could have fed a family of four.

There’s nothing gourmet about the food.  It’s just good American diner food done right.  I’ve had better pancakes.  I’ve had better eggs.  The Pantry is all about the portions and the environment.  I enjoyed my breakfast, but mostly because I had to wait for it and there was so much of it.

If you’re ever looking for breakfast in Downtown LA, give the Pantry a try.  It’s pretty fun.

The Original Pantry Cafe
877 S. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90017