On a lazy Sunday morning after a late night out, who wants to make breakfast?
And because you may be nursing a hangover, you don't want to trust your delicate stomach to just anyone's cooking. That's why people go to The Penguin Restaurant.
Carrying a reputation for being one of the best breakfast restaurants in the area, The Penguin's popularity shows that it knows how to satisfy those morning cravings.
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Kelley Butler, 18, of Rochester says that she visits The Penguin “just about every day before (work) … People at my job told me about it … They don't take long, and the food is good.”
Over the course of three recent visits, the service was friendly, efficient and quick. The food was delicious, and my guests were eager to return.
From personal experience, a standout is breakfast choice No. 9: a scrambled egg sandwich with cheese and choice of meat served on grilled sourdough bread with home fries or hash browns ($3.45).
Restaurant regulars recommended any of the omelets ($2.25 to $5.95) and the Tower Burger ($4.55.)
The Penguin is in a fairly nondescript building on East Main Street. Inside, however, it's anything but ordinary. And it's hardly surprising that when you walk inside, you're inundated with penguins.
One wall is covered with framed cartoon penguins engaged in various, well, penguin activities. Elsewhere are stuffed birds and figurines.
The penguin theme goes back more than 70 years to Sidney Bloom, the original owner of the restaurant.
“I asked him once,” says Jim Doukas, 39, of Rochester, who with his wife, Shelley, owns the restaurant. “He told me that in 1930, which was as far back as he could remember, he was selling Kool cigarettes. Back then, with every case of cigarettes you bought, they would give you (penguin figurines). So he decided to give them away and call the place The Penguin.”
Even though the penguin merchandise has run out, the restaurant is still a draw.
“You can't beat it,” says John Stendardo, 37 of Rochester. “There's other places you can go down the road ... (but they're) double the money.”
On the breakfast and lunch menu, the prices are so low that it makes you wonder how The Penguin makes any money. Choices range from a mere $1.35 for toast and an egg to a steak and egg meal for $5.45.
In its current incarnation, The Penguin has been around for about a decade. The property is owned by Doukas' family, so when the last tenant left, Jim Doukas took over. As with any new restaurant, business was slow at first.
“I figured it's a tough area (to have a restaurant),” says Doukas, “So, you know, what you've got to do is you've got to give people good food and a good deal to come here … There's so many restaurants in Rochester, I mean something's got to draw them. And since I own the property and the building, I don't have to pay a mortgage on them, so I can afford to do that.”
And draw people it does. On a recent Wednesday morning the waitress making her rounds called customers by their first names almost as much as “honey.”
The family atmosphere is strengthened at one point, when a customer simply tells the waitress, “Tell Jim it's for me, he'll know how to cook it.” A few minutes later, when the customer gets the order, Doukas calls from the kitchen into the dining room, greeting the man and doublechecking that he likes his omelets done well.
The Penguin isn't just about breakfast, though. Amber Lee, 25, of Rochester, who visits at least once a week, finds that there is still plenty of variety. “I like to switch it up a bit. I think everything's good — lunch or breakfast, it doesn't matter.”
On Fridays only, the restaurant reopens at 5 p.m. to serve fish fry dinners.
Stendardo, explaining why he eats there every weekday, says “it's convenient, the food's good, and the prices are very reasonable.
“Oh, yeah,” he adds, winking at the waitress filling his cup. “There's good service.”
