The Gawd Awful

My version of The Gawd Awful

On the occasional Saturday morning when I lived in Salt Lake, I'd go out to breakfast at this tiny, quaint... urrrrrrr ok, you got me.  It was a nasty dive bar.  But they served a full breakfast-lunch-dinner menu so it didn't seem quite so bad. Catering to college student's desire for cheap food and beer, Big Ed's was right across from President's Circle at the U of U.  By the time I was frequenting the joint, Ed was long gone having sold it to a very animated and often angry Asian woman and her shy and sullen son. One of their breakfast specials was a dish they named 'The Gawd Awful.' And that's usually what I ordered... a plate of cheesy hashbrowns smothered in a big scoop of chili and topped with 2 eggs, sour cream and (usually) chopped green onion.  And then I settled in to watch the show.

A visit to Big Ed's was always entertaining.  Another friend remembers going there with her class under the auspices that they were "studying,' i.e. talking social theory until the professor was too tipsy to speak coherently.  And that's usually when someone would provoke the Asian lady and she'd start cussing and lapsing in and out of very broken English and what I think might have been Vietnamese.  Soaking wet bar towels would go flying across the room making a loud thwap when they found a target, either intentional or an unfortunate casualty.  At least once, I saw her use one to smack her son side of the head.  And then almost as quickly as it started the whirlwind calmed and she was playing the dysfunctional mom/friend to anyone who looked like they needed a bit of motherly care or bad advice.

I'm not quite sure what brought that memory up but today I made my version of The Gawd Awful for breakfast.  There's a few ingredients and steps but it's really pretty easy.  Start with a large portion of crisply cooked hashbrowns.  They can be shredded or the country-style cubes like I used, whatever you prefer.  When they are ready and all plated up, cover with grated cheese and dip a ladle of chili con carne over the top.  Next, add an egg cooked as you like.  I scrambled mine (and mixed them right into the potatoes at the beginning) this time but in the cafe, I usually asked for them over medium.  Finally, garnish with a dollop of sour cream and, if you like them and have some handy, a sprinkle of chopped green onion.  And there you have it:  The Gawd Awful in all it's dive bar glory!