It’s the holidays. Happy over-indulgence season! Every year I say, ‘I’m not going to overdo it this year,’ and then everyone starts offering me the best food and drink and I’m off the wagon really before I’ve even gotten on. I blame it mostly on all the great places in the Adirondacks that serve up some of the best libations and tastiest eats. One recent morning, after enjoying a bit too much of the former, I went in search of the latter in Tupper Lake.
It was a brisk December morning but the air only did so much to clear the cobwebs from my head. I had heard tell of a new place just recently opened in town and a quick review of their website confirmed they were open and the menu included some serious looking breakfast plates. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone I called up my buddy Chris, home from the Air Force for the holidays. Connecting with an old friend over a good breakfast sounded like the perfect hangover cure.
Amado Bakery & Bistro
Opened by Cory & Lilian Rohrbach in the fall of 2016, Amado is tucked on the intersection of Cliff Ave and Lake Street. It’s also one door down from Big Tupper Brewing (see ‘libations’ mentioned above). The entrance juts out from the building, welcoming you as you come around the corner.
Inside Amado is everything you want in a comfortable bistro. You can sit down to a hearty breakfast, or just as comfortably nurse a cup of coffee or tea and a freshly made baked good.
A breakfast that stands on its own
Tupper Lake is a a town known for its breakfasts. Whether you're recovering from a night of revelry or just looking for a killer breakfast, you can get a top-notch short stack or sausage and eggs at any number of great places. So Amado is competing in a crowded field. But THIS breakfast, the ‘Amado Breakfast’as it's called on the menu, knocks it clear out of the park.
Let’s break it down, working clockwise around the plate, from the bottom:
Maple Syrup - No imitations here, just pure maple goodness.
Pancakes - Don’t let their size fool you, these little guys might be the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Fluffy and full of flavor, each bite is worth savoring. In fact I think the little guy on top got a little drunk on his own awesomeness, he’s got to lean on the syrup to stay in place.
Sausage - A patty of house-made breakfast sausage, packed by hand and fried on the griddle so that it’s crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. If you’re a bacon or hash person they can hook you up with either of those instead.
Toast - Amado makes all of their bread in-house. Toasty, delicious, the perfect breakfast utensil, and essential for morning-after recovery!
Bangin’ Blueberry Jam (top left) - Let’s take a moment here, this is the best cup of homemade blueberry jam heaven you will ever encounter. Period. Or as my buddy Chris described it, "Bangin'." You can tell it's most definitely homemade, just a little chunky, HUGE blueberry flavor, and not too sweet. It was flat out amazing on the toast. In fact, if you put this on a shoe I’m pretty sure I would eat it. I'm thinking the only thing that could make this breakfast better would be to mix this jam into a morning cocktail!
Ketchup (top right) - To be honest, I didn’t even need the ketchup. But if you’re a ketchup fan I’m pretty sure it will not disappoint.
Hash Browns - Salty, peppery, perfection. I love how they cut the potatoes in small slices to perfect the ratio of slightly browned crispy surface vs. moist and delicious potato inside.
Eggs - As far as I’m concerned you can't have breakfast, particularly a hangover breakfast, without eggs. I like mine sunny-side up but they’ll do them any way you like.
I was pretty singularly focused on this breakfast from the time I saw it on their menu before I left my house that morning, but the Amado menu goes well beyond this hearty hangover breakfast. Omelets, French Toast, Benedicts, Breakfast Rosti, Breakfast Panini, steak and eggs. And I haven’t even touched on their lunch menu or baked goods! Cory and Lillian are building something ‘bangin’ in Tupper and there’s no hangover required for me to want to come back here again…and again…
The donut at the end of my breakfast rainbow
I’m sure the Amado baked goods are more than deserving of my attention, but at the end of my breakfast rainbow this morning there was only one thing I had in mind, a Washboard donut. Since discovering these deep fried Adirondack delicacies about a year ago, I can’t drive through Tupper Lake without stopping for one. Just down the street from Amado, the Washboard Donut Shoppe is not only popping out fresh donuts to order, they’re also a gift shop, and a laundromat. There’s really very little reason to ever leave.
I capped my morning off with a box of donuts to take to work (you're welcome co-workers) and one very special maple bacon donut with my name on it for later!
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