The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 25

B-5 THE RECORD. WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 22, 1984 The scramble 5s on your tastes, the chains are always working up new dishes to woo you. McDonald's, for instance, is testing six varieties of a baked-fresh-in-the-restaurant biscuit that holds fillings like ham, sausage, or eggs. Another item now in a small test market is the Maple McCrisp, a small, square pocket of dough that is filled with syrup and deep-fried.

"It tastes kind of like French toast," says McDonald's spokeswoman Stephanie Skurdy. "It's crisp on the outside and when you bite into it the syrup oozes out We're also testing a caramel-pecan roll in some markets. There's a lot of interest in items like this, because the breakfast business today is really Because Burger King's breakfast is so new, the Miami-based chain has yet to make available its nutrition data. Meanwhile, at least one diner owner believes the fast-food restaurants aren't cutting into his breakfast business. "If anything, it's helped us," says Steve Geotas, whose Spindletop Diner is on the other side of Route 23 in Wayne from Burger King.

"People drive by here on the way to Burger King and they see us, so they make a mental note to come back and see us when they want a breakfast that is more sophisticated." And if Croissan'wiches and Egg McMuffins aren't classy enough for has six "club breakfasts," too, that are ordered by number and include juice and coffee. Pancakes here come in many sizes and varieties, including buttermilk, blueberry, dollar-sized pancakes, and pigs in blankets (the pip are sausages, the blankets are pancakes). French toast with bacon is $3.10, substantially more than the $1.89 at Burger King, but the plate comes with three whole, thick slices, not three halves. From 7 to 11 a.m., the Twin Oaks Diner in Paramus serves 10 order-by-number meals that combine eggs, pork, and pancakes in various ways. No.

2, at $2.95, was good but again, may be more food than many people can face in the morning. It a slice of Canadian-style bacon, and a piece of American cheese are sandwiched between buttered, toasted English muffin halves. It was light satisfying, and, best of all, required no knife or fork. The $1.69 Big Breakfast was also filling, although skimpier than what goes by the same name in a diner. At Burger King, the bacon Crois-san'wich, priced at $1.39, was a little different Instead of being fried in butter in a circle, the egg was more like an omelet and it was cooked in vegetable oil.

In place of Canadian-style bacon, there was American bacon crumbled up to fit on the croissant French toast with bacon ($1.89) was delicious, if not a dieter's delight three halves of bread were deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar, and the bacon was crisp without being dried out The hash browns, also a no-no for calorie watchers, were identical to the ones FROM PAGE B-l interest for the fast-food restaurants that built their empires on burgers? "More women in the work force, two-income families, and single person households have all contributed to the growth in interest in the restaurant breakfast," says Stephanie Skurdy, public-relations director for McDonald's. "Working people in particular like the convenience of eating breakfast out Many of our customers are on tight morning schedules." Says Burger King's public-relations coordinator Moyna Prince: "It's much easier to stop on the way to the office to get breakfast than to make it at home. And on weekends, families like to have breakfast out" Of course, fast-food restaurants are just one alternative when it comes to dining out in the morning. Diners offering breakfast specials ange juice has 780 calories, 30 grams of protein, and 1,465 milligrams of sodium. To put this nutritional data into perspective, remember that the suggested recommended daily dietary allowance (RDA) for sodium is 1,100 to 3,300 milligrams.

A man needs roughly 2,700 calories and 51 grams of protein each day, while a woman requires about 2,000 calories and 44 grams of protein a day. If you're watching your weight the Big Breakfast may not be for you, but you can reduce the calories substantially by skipping the hash browns (125 calories) and the sausage (206 calories). You know what you you know where to find it. "It's much easier to stop on the way to the office to get breakfast than to make It at home. And on weekends, families like to have breakfast out." Moyna Prince Cotton Sweaters $99 Value $1898 consisted of orange juice, bacon, two scrambled eggs, home fries, buttered white toast and coffee.

The breakfast menu here offers lots of variety: 13 kinds of omelets, rolled strawberry or blueberry pancakes, corned beef hash, Nova Scotia lox and onions with eggs, and toasted bagels with the works lox, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, sliced Bermuda onions, and olives, for $4.95. Although they were more expensive, both diners took only four minutes longer than the fast-food restaurants to serve the meal, and the orange juice was freshly squeezed. On the other hand, it can sometimes take a while to request a check, and you have to figure the tip into the cost of breakfast Even at the fast-food restaurants, prices vary. That's because about three-fourths of the McDonald's and Burger Kings are franchised, and these independent operators set their own prices. A telephone check of breakfast prices at Burger Kings in Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties showed that the price of a Croissan'wich before tax, ranges from $1.22 to $1.45.

The price of a scrambled egg platter ranges from $1.35 to $1.51, and the scrambled egg platter with meat costs anywhere from $1.42 to $1.95. McDonald's restaurants in the three counties charge anywhere from 99 cents to $1.29 for an Egg McMuffin, and anywhere from $1.60 to $1.90 for a Big Breakfast Nutritional breakdown Those who wonder what kind of nutrition they're getting for the money at McDonald's can refer to a company brochure to learn about calories, sodium, fat, and carbohydrate content. An Egg McMuffin has 327 calories, 18.5 grams of protein, and 885 milligrams of sodium. Pancakes with butter and syrup have 500 calories, 7.9 grams of protein, and 1,070 milligrams of sodium, and the Big Breakfast served with or are as common in North Jersey as cheese Danish, and their bills of fare generally are much wider in scope. Both diners and fast-food restau-' rants have their pros and cons: Diners generally are more expensive, but the food is served on china plates instead of Styrofoam containers, and eaten with stainless steel flatware instead of plastic knives and forks.

Diners also tend to win more points for ambiance: upholstered booths, more privacy, jukeboxes on the tables, and, of course, waitress service. On the other hand, fast-food restaurants can have the meal ready in less time, the food is cheaper, and many now have "drive-through" windows where patrons can order a carry-out breakfast much the same way they withdraw money from the bank. Finger-food entrees like the Egg McMuffin and the Crois-san'wich make it easy for drive-through customers to eat without ever leaving the car. Recent visits to two diners and two fast-food outlets revealed that while breakfast is generally cheaper in the fast-food restaurants, you get bigger portions in the diners. Breakfast was eaten on weekday mornings at the McDonald's on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry, the Burger King on Route 23 in Wayne, the Twin Oaks Diner on Route 17 in Paramus, and the Spindletop Diner on Route 23 in Wayne.

At McDonald's, 99 cents bought an Egg McMuffin, in which a fried egg, served at McDonald's: a solid wedge of chopped potato, cooked to a greasy brown crisp in a deep-fat fryer and served in a small paper bag. Many of the breakfast items in the fast-food restaurants, such as the hash browns and French toast, come proportioned and frozen, and need only be dropped into the deep-fat fryer. But whole fresh eggs are used in all the dishes, no food is held for more than 10 minutes, and real butter is served on the muffins and croissants. As one would expect the "maple syrup" is the imitation kind that contains just 1 or 2 percent real syrup. No-nonsense breakfasts Over at the Spindletop Diner, the Big Breakfast is a substantial; no-nonsense meal for those who are really hungry: two any-style eggs, two sausage patties, two bacon slices, and two good-sized pancakes.

The price: $2.89. Owner Steve Geo-tas, who opened the diner 16 years ago, told us later that the Big Breakfast is his best-selling breakfast item. "And it's not just popular at breakfast" he said. "It's ordered by a lot of people in the late evening who want a light snack after a movie or a concert" Breakfast at the Spindletop ranges up to $4.10 for a platter that holds four slices of bacon, two eggs, and three pancakes. The Spindletop If 0 0 Sportv and stvlish these 1 00 cotton Sweaters are perfect for work or play.

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