It might as well be called Another Average Breakfast Chain. Think First Watch, think Peach Valley, think the Egg & I. Someone needs to break this mold instead of an egg. Such as it is, the food is fine.

Brick & Spoon is a breakfast, brunch and lunch spot, open only until 2 p.m. most days, 3 p.m. on weekends. The restaurant’s mission statement says that it wants to serve “unique meals with a spoonful of southern flair,” and the menu does have Louisianan touches here and there.

There are other locations of this popular breakfast and lunch spot in the area, but this one is unique in that it has a bar. Not a fully stocked bar, mind you, but a careful selection of appropriate cocktails. The food is good, too, with an emphasis on fresh cooking

The portions here are outsized and designed to impress, if not frighten and intimidate. Take, for example, the restaurant’s signature fried chicken and bacon waffle tower, which probably has more calories than the average adult male should eat in a week. (Excuse me, could you please pass the syrup?) Or the house version of eggs Benedict with smoked bacon, basted eggs, red pepper cream on a biscuit, all sitting atop mashed potatoes.

When the food gets this big and ostentatious, one naturally braces oneself for the trade-off in quality. But Hash House delivers there, too. All of the food I tasted — and I do mean tasted; I left a good deal of it on the plate — was quite good, well prepared and evenly seasoned.

I enjoyed everything else about my breakfast, from the sincerely pleasant staff and simple decor to the delicious food.  I ordered a sausage and cheese omelet with home fries. And because I knew that the first Keke’s started life as the Florida Wffle House, I wanted to see how this Keke’s flapjacks were, so I asked if I could order just one. I’m glad I got only one because it was huge. The buttermilk cake filled the plate (which was square, but that didn’t bother me) and was nearly three-quarters of an inch thick. (Yes, I measured it.) It had a fluffy texture and a golden hue, and while it might have been a bit hotter so as to melt the butter — they’re also called hotcakes, after all — it was delicious. So was the omelet, which was dotted with bits of sliced sausage and had gooey cheddar cheese folded inside. The home fries were good, too, and had the perfect bit of greasiness, but the wheat toast went uneaten — the pancake was bread enough.

I enjoyed everything else about my breakfast, from the sincerely pleasant staff and simple decor to the delicious food.  I ordered a sausage and cheese omelet with home fries. And because I knew that the first Keke’s started life as the Florida Wffle House, I wanted to see how this Keke’s flapjacks were, so I asked if I could order just one. I’m glad I got only one because it was huge. The buttermilk cake filled the plate (which was square, but that didn’t bother me) and was nearly three-quarters of an inch thick. (Yes, I measured it.) It had a fluffy texture and a golden hue, and while it might have been a bit hotter so as to melt the butter — they’re also called hotcakes, after all — it was delicious. So was the omelet, which was dotted with bits of sliced sausage and had gooey cheddar cheese folded inside. The home fries were good, too, and had the perfect bit of greasiness, but the wheat toast went uneaten — the pancake was bread enough.

At the suggestion of my server (whose playfulness and good nature added to the enjoyment), I had the pot roast lunch, a full plate of tender, falling-apart tender meat with a plop of mashed potatoes holding a well of dark gravy and steamed green beans and carrots. More than enough to eat, and priced under $9. What’s not to like?

M&M also has a full roster of breakfast items, and the BLTs at the next table looked so good I almost ordered one to go.

I wonder if there is a time during the day, any day of the week, when Metro Diner isn’t overflowing. When I visited after 1 p.m. on a weekday recently, there were multiple groups of people, both inside and out, waiting for tables to open.

Such, apparently, is the power of a popular television show like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. I’m not sure the Jacksonville restaurant’s reputation would have preceded it to its new location in Altamonte Springs without host Guy Fieri’s raves.

Not that the raves are not deserved. The food is impressive and sincere, and the atmosphere leaves no question about the diner designation.

Omelet Bar seems poised to take on the First Watches and Keke’s of the world (and says as much on its website). With a little more polish it could be a contender.

Sometimes being evicted can be a good thing.

The Townhouse Restaurant — or Town House, you’ll find it both ways, even on its website (or web site, if you prefer) — has been part of downtown Oviedo for decades. Some might even say it WAS downtown Oviedo. It had occupied a little box of a building at the corner of Broadway Street and Central Avenue on a spit of land triangulated by Railroad Street.

To call it rustic would be an understatement. It looked its age and was often unkempt. But it was comfortable, and it had a dedicated and loyal base of customers who were horrified when it was announced, in 2014, that the Townhouse house would be torn down to accommodate the broadening of Broadway.

But it didn’t mean the end of the Townhouse. It found new digs only several hundred feet up Central Avenue and now has more seating in a spacious restaurant with volume ceilings, a pleasant outdoor patio overlooking the Florida Trail bike path and a parking lot (which seemed to be used a lot by bikers who may or may not have been eating at the restaurant). And the old Colonial style sign has even been incorporated into the new building.