Best breakfast in Riverside/Avondale?

[Jaxson]

Chris
I never get into politics but Ian at the Fox is soooo far left he is off the map. I love the outsider art. That stuff is worth some money if you know the market.
The old Fox was unbearable to watch the short order cook eat off the grill, smoke his cigarette that was hangin' off the prep table, wipe his hands on his dirty jeans and then that hand went straight to the hash browns to be used as a spatula to get it to the plate - no kidding. 

IMHO, I think it is neat that The Fox gives the little ones a showcase for their fox drawings.  Nice touch.  I am too young to remember The Fox before Ian, but he is a great guy who runs a great place.  I never knew him to be openly political...

[JeffreyS]

The Fox is fine it is just my fourth choice in the area behind Kickbacks, Cool Moose and Crazy Egg.

[Jaxson]

I love Cool Moose, too!  Never been to Kickbacks for brunch, JeffreyS, but thanks for the heads up --- and same goes for Crazy Egg!

[north miami]

Chris
I never get into politics but Ian at the Fox is soooo far left he is off the map. I love the outsider art. That stuff is worth some money if you know the market.
The old Fox was unbearable to watch the short order cook eat off the grill, smoke his cigarette that was hangin' off the prep table, wipe his hands on his dirty jeans and then that hand went straight to the hash browns to be used as a spatula to get it to the plate - no kidding. 

+1

I love the place.  May May Chase, Ian, and my cousin Erik.  Great stuff!

And Jackie too-I believe she is even pre Ian.

[ChriswUfGator]

Chris
I never get into politics but Ian at the Fox is soooo far left he is off the map. I love the outsider art. That stuff is worth some money if you know the market.
The old Fox was unbearable to watch the short order cook eat off the grill, smoke his cigarette that was hangin' off the prep table, wipe his hands on his dirty jeans and then that hand went straight to the hash browns to be used as a spatula to get it to the plate - no kidding.  

I wasn't referring to Ian so much as to the customer base, although he is often very rude and nasty to his customers, without reason. In my book, that scratches the place off the list. About the "outsider art" (if you want to call it that) I'm not lamenting it, I'm missing the 80% of the stuff on the walls that he took down when he bought the place and painted the walls grey, including the old memorabilia, etc. And value has never really impressed me if I don't like the underlying aesthetic, not sure where you're going with that. Value is a subjective thing anyway, the phrase "one man's trash is another's treasure" wasn't coined without reason.

But with that said, if I had a buck for every time since I moved to Jacksonville that someone tried to point out some kitschy thing or some questionable painting and tell me it was worth a pile of money, I'd be set for life. I don't know why that seems to be endemic here. If you like a piece, then great, I can certainly appreciate it on that basis. But I'm not wholly unfamiliar with the market, and I wish people would stop bullshitting the bullshitters on prices, that is one reason there are so few direct sales locally. I guess there's always a sucker, but most folks halfway interested will either get the auction reports or have an artprice.net subscription, and when they go look it up and these local artists whose every work is somehow allegedly worth $50k have all their recent sales showing up under <$2k and current listings available in the same price range, then they just buy from out of town or (more likely) they just don't buy at all. It's really cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Back to the Fox, I do agree the greasy/unwashed looking chef may have been gross, but the food was 10X better then than it is now, and since it's a restaurant, to me at least, that tends to be the whole point. These days I go to Crazy Egg if a weekday, or Biscottis/Brick/etc. on a weekend. FYC also does a decent brunch. I used to go to Metro Diner, but since they got on T.V. you have to wait an hour to get in now, so that's off my list until the hoopla dies down.

The quality of breakfast food in Jacksonville is really pretty horrible generally, with only 2 or 3 exceptions. It's overly greasy, not innovative, and bland. I guess I got spoiled in south Florida, even that 4am greasy hungover trip to la carretta beats the best thing you'd get at the Fox, Derby House, etc. If I am going out to a restaurant, I'd ideally like my meal not to be something I could have made myself in less time from common ingredients in my kitchen, for free. Which is unfortunately the entire Fox menu these days.

Take Biscottis for example, the breakfast pizzas with peppers etc., I probably wouldn't think to make myself. The breakfast burrito with eggs, peppers, black beans, tobasco, etc., I wouldn't have thought to make at home. Pretty much anything on Orsay's menu I wouldn't have thought of making at home. The old Fox menu was like that, I would have never thought of making a breakfast club sandwich at home (The Affair), it was really pretty innovative. At the Crazy Egg they get real Andouille sausage and make omelettes out of it. That's not something I normally have at home. Metro Diner does homemade fried chicken and waffles, I'm definitely not frying my own chicken at home. So I'm willing to go out for that. But the Fox, come on, there's nothing on their menu that I couldn't make from the common household stuff in my kitchen right now, in 10 minutes and for free. Doesn't take much thought to slap two eggs and some flaccid bacon on a plate, or open a can of condensed gravy and dump it on grands biscuits.

[blizz01]

The Fox is my favorite place to people watch - such a mixed bag on a Sunday morning.  People fresh out of church mashed up with all of the hung-overs.....

[mtraininjax]

such a mixed bag on a Sunday morning.

Try every morning. I love the fact that I can walk 4 blocks to the Fox. Get there by 8 and no lines, no waiting.

[Dog Walker]

Went to the Fox years ago.  Made a face at the dishwater coffee.  The owner asked me what was wrong and when I said the coffee was watery, he got in my face and growled, "People love our coffee."  We left and have never been back.

You want a different breakfast try the whole catfish with grits at the Derby House.

[Jaxson]

Went to the Fox years ago.  Made a face at the dishwater coffee.  The owner asked me what was wrong and when I said the coffee was watery, he got in my face and growled, "People love our coffee."  We left and have never been back.

You want a different breakfast try the whole catfish with grits at the Derby House.

That wasn't Ian who growled at you, was it?  I cannot picture him doing that to anyone...

[exnewsman]

That wasn't Ian who growled at you, was it?  I cannot picture him doing that to anyone...
[/quote]

I beg to differ. My co-worker had a run in with Ian just recently. He was very rude to her. I witnessed it and was astonished a business owner was acting like such an ass. No Fox for us.

[scottjaxfl]

My partner and I love Einsteins near the Publix on Riverside Avenue. We go there nearly every weekend. Very relaxing atmosphere and great view looking out over Memorial Park and the St. Johns river.

[RockStar]

ChrisUF- if it's in your kitchen, it's not free. You bought it. Unless you have a magic kitchen, in which case I'm jealous. And I have to believe you would've thought of making a breakfast burrito...  

As for the Fox, steak and eggs with biscuits and sausage gravy. There I said it. Not cutting edge cuisine, but it's a diner, so expect diner food. Also, diners are supposed to have grumpy, snarling owners..it's part of the charm. I like a sarcastic waitress for good measure as well. It's all in the Diner Operational Handbook (D'Oh!), chapter 3 - The Customer Is Never Right.

Smile people. Breakfast is supposed to be fun. Be pissed off at dinner.

[Jaxson]

Are there any urban core eateries that are best known for their grumpy management?  I remember that this was the appeal of places like Colonel Mustard's.  For regular customers of those kind of places, it must be a fun way to get a bite to eat.  I wonder, however, how do the uninitiated respond to this kind of service/treatment? 

[buckethead]

Judging from some of the posts in this thread, the do a cease and desist of patronage.

[north miami]

                 Another great Riverside/Avondale breakfast location:

         Just offshore........the breakfast table being your small craft hand launched at Ortega bridge.