Sam's Log Cabin

I had to take Jerry to the airport this morning for an 8 am flight in Oakland, so I decided to skip breakfast at home and go to an old favorite I hadn't been to in more than a year-- Sam's Log Cabin, on San Pablo near Solano in Albany.

The place looked and sounded just the same-- Scott behind the counter, small wooden tables and chairs and Brazilian music playing.

I settled in with the New York Times, but was relegated to headline reading because I had forgotten my glasses. Just as well. I relaxed and recovered from getting up at 6 am and driving in the rain. I drank really good Thanksgiving coffee and waited for my standard Sam's breakfast-- two eggs, potatoes and coffee cake.

The coffee cake at Sam's is your usual cowboy coffee cake; brown sugar cake with cinnamon streusel on top. But it never fails to satisfy. I ate it as dessert with another cup of coffee.

Before I left I had to make a visit to the bathroom. It too, was the same, though I had forgotten about the photo of "Fred, the Kooky Cockatoo" on the wall. Hadn't forgotten about the ballerina cowgirl, though.

I had a chat with Scott before I left. His son Sam is at Emerson in Boston and his daughter Julie is in med school at Georgetown. They went to the inauguration and the MTV ball. Both are doing extremely well, though that doesn't surprise me. They were always great kids.

Sam's is more expensive that Comfort Food Cafe and it's not my regular breakfast place any more, but amazingly, as soon as I walked in I felt completely at home, as if I'd never left.

It's good to revisit old friends every now and then.