This week we’re queuing up for the first meal of the day. We also welcome Guest Gulletier, Tanya O’Brien to the table.
The Early Bitch Gets the Breakfast Sandwich
by Kitty
The breakfast landscape is shockingly lush in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Nick and I are lucky enough to spend time there during the summers and the scent of beach roses and bacon really gets me going. There are a bevy of outposts that offer freshly brewed coffee and hot-outta-the-oven bakes, but they come with constraints. If you want the town’s best BEC, you’ve gotta be out of bed early.
Through our extensive taste testing, it’s been decided that iced lattes are preferable from Dave’s while breakfast sandwiches must be obtained from Quonnie Farms. Until this weekend, we had always rotated between the two, with an occasional wildcard visit to a cafe that’s within walking distance of the house.
After waking at a reasonable hour this Sunday, I wondered what was stopping us from having the best of both worlds? I buckled up my Birkenstocks and set forth to try and have it all. We arrived at Dave’s at 10:45 am, filing in line outside behind a girl in a surf hat and board shorts who turned to me and said, "It's wild in there." She seemed trustworthy, but I had to investigate for myself. The small cafe, tucked in the back of an old colonial house, looked cramped. Rhody-based beach goers stood shoulder to shoulder with Connecticut residents who had crossed state lines for cold brew. It was going to be a while.
Quonnie Farms is a mere ¾ mile down the road, but the cut-off for breakfast sandwiches is 11 am, and the clock was ticking. While my head was saying house made vanilla bean syrup, my heart was saying runny egg on sea salt focaccia. A quick consult with Nick resulted in not wanting to miss out on sandwiches, and we scurried on over to the stand. The fluffy bread, melty cheese, and thick slices of bacon shine on their own–but waiting for them surrounded by fresh vegetables, florals, and fancy beachside provisions felt aspirational, like maybe someday, I’ll grow my own tomatoes and a perennial garden. (I won’t.)
Satiated, but still missing something to sip on, I Googled “best coffee in Charlestown”, and discovered the shop closest to the house had recently come under new ownership. What used to be "The Bakery" was now a cafe called "Jitters." Seven dollars later, that’s exactly what I had.
Operating on “beach time” is a breeze until your taste buds call. That globe-trotting girl you see on TikTok touting croissants in one hand and coffee in the other in front of a seemingly deserted, world-famous landmark? She didn’t auspiciously stumble upon it, camera ready. She got up early, and she got in line. Next time I’m snoozing by the salty shores, you bet your ass I’m setting more than one alarm.
Name drops: Dave’s Coffee, Quonnie Farms, Jitters Cafe
Breakfast Person
by Tanya O’Brien1
I am a breakfast person. I will eat breakfast any time of day, for any meal, for multiple meals in a day.Breakfast for dinner is a frequent occurrence in my house and my idea of a lazy night dinner. Brunch? The best meal ever. You get to sleep in and then indulge in a long meal with breakfast food on your days off. The variety of options for breakfast foods is rival to none. My favorite flavors and textures are easily found in breakfast offerings, whether sweet and savory, soft and crisp, or creamy and salty.
I recently had the breakfast sandwich of my dreams. After seeing compelling praise on Instagram about the newly opened restaurant, Irregardless, on the west side of Providence, my fellow food enthusiast friend and I decided to try it out. We arrived early on a Friday morning and waited in line for it to open. I’m much too anxious of a person to take a chance on what I want being sold out, so we reviewed the menu about ten times before ordering, finally deciding on the biscuit with sausage gravy to share and two of the Howard’s biscuit breakfast sandwiches which boast extra thick maple and pepper glazed bacon, egg, and cheese on a house-made biscuit.
I’ve made biscuits at home, but they are nothing in comparison to Irregardless. I’m not a bad baker, but I have to admit I am a Midwesterner, so I don’t have the southern chops to really get that special rise and fluff a pillowy biscuit should have.
The standard biscuit at Irregardless: delightfully fluffy, richly buttery, and crisp outside. The strawberry butter option for biscuits was creamy with a lovely, light strawberry tang.
The biscuit with sausage gravy: basically perfect. Spicy and herby with rich cream gravy and ground sausage.
The Howard’s biscuit: everything I look for in a breakfast sandwich. “Thick” is an inadequate descriptor for the slices of pork brisket piled in the middle. The bacon was smokey, maple-sweet, and so tender. The over-well-done egg and gooey cheese were perfect, classic breakfast sandwich style. In combination with the drizzled hot honey for that extra sweetness and heat, the breakfast sandwich was truly a treat. I ate this sandwich for cold leftovers later, and it was still outstanding.
Overall, this breakfast person highly recommends Irregardless and will be back to try their recently added hashbrowns (potatoes are the most versatile food and delightful in all forms) and dinner offerings.
P.S. Get the NOLA iced coffee. The tiny cookie served with the NOLA iced coffee tempted me to try their version with chicory syrup, and it really was wonderful: smokey and sweet with a little spicy ginger cookie. Perfect for iced coffee-obsessed Northeasterners.
Name drops: Irregardless
A special thank you to this week’s illustrator, Christian Chang2! See his work here.
If you’d like to be a Guest Gulletier or illustrator, drop us a note at putitinthegullet@gmail.com
Tanya O’Brien is a Rhode Island transplant and owner of Savory Stitch, a small craft business focused on teaching and sharing cross stitch. Savory Stitch cross stitch kits are designed to teach how to cross stitch from start to finish and features patterns based on locally loved foods and culture.
Christian Chang is a Korean-American artist from California but currently based in Brooklyn. His work has been featured in multiple exhibitions and publications at the School of Visual Arts. When not making art he enjoys reading, going to art museums, and watching movies.