Marcia's Silver Spoon

Where: 2601 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.472.0157
Hours: 5:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday- Friday, 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday 
Cuisine: All-American breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, seafood baskets, homemade soup, salad
Scene: All-American diner - casual, family friendly
Drinkies: Standard non-alcoholic beverages
Prices: $3.49-$12.99

ANNOUNCER: As promised earlier this year, the boys will shine a spotlight on some of the South Sound's favorite old dining haunts. The Silver Spoon Café has been around since the late '80s. Marcia Crelling took over from her mother, the original owner, earning her first dollar on Jan. 3, 1995.  Crelling's belief that people should get good food at a decent price holds true over a decade later.  It's what everyone raves about when the South Tacoma Way café is mentioned: portions are huge; prices are right. Open for breakfast and lunch only, lines of people are not uncommon.

JAKE: Sitting reading the menu, I took in handwritten food order tickets, a plain Jane cash register, the absence of flat-screen televisions, and no beer and wine service that lent an old-town 1980's vibe to the café. I was happy the dominant noise was from the street through the open front door and not from the whine, hiss, bang of an espresso machine. Two ceiling fans lazily moved around warm afternoon air that smelled of onion, potatoes and meat. Fresh-brewed black tea with a squeeze of lemon was refreshing and hit the spot without being cloyingly sweet like soda pop.

JASON: You know who wasn't lazy? Our server - a young guy with a swift friendly smile and an air of sincerity, that's who. I usually don't care for male servers - but he was on point with answers to your trillion questions and didn't seem irritated or impatient. I respect that.

JAKE: Laid between lightly toasted marbled rye, the patty melt's hand-pressed ground beef patty reached all edges of the bread. Onions were gently grilled, still had a bit of snap, and juice mingled with multiple layers of Swiss. I skipped the fries. Once you've had hand-cut ones it's hard to go back to frozen.

JASON: Yeah, fries might be one of the only frozen, bagged things at Marcia's Silver Spoon. Nice and hot, al dente penne rubbed against bacon pieces, ping-pong sized hamburger chunks, diced tomato, and green onion in the bacon cheeseburger soup du jour. Moderately salty and lightly peppered, the soup du jour was a thick, delicious artery-clogger and was made from scratch, like all of Marcia's soups, using fresh ingredients. Previously, we'd enjoyed the chili on a Wednesday; it's quite the thing, too. Crelling puts the beans in to soak Tuesday and then whips it together bright and early Wednesday morning after arriving at 5 a.m. to make her famous corn beef hash from scratch. They run out almost daily we were told when asking if there was any left. There wasn't. With a grin, our server chided us for not getting there before noon.

JAKE: A return trip at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning meant waiting 20 minutes for a booth, which was fine. We were still SOL on the corn beef hash. It's become my white whale.

JASON: Ham as big as a whale hung off the plate just like the huge blueberry pancakes. Easily two to three potatoes were shredded and grilled up for some perfect hash browns. Eggs arrived exactly as ordered. Everything was hot. I gave it two fist pumps.

JAKE: Thin blintz had sweetened ricotta creeping out of the ends and wore a berry slurry as a blanket. Biscuits were an inch thick and made islands in thick, white country gravy loaded with sausage.  Marcia's has my vote for best all-American classic breakfast in T-town. I barely put a dent in the Silver Spoon Scramble. I admit I was intimidated when it hit the table, and I do mean "hit" the table. An audible thunk was heard as it touched down it was so heavy. Hunks of ham, diced bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, scrambled eggs, and those tasty hash browns formed a four-inch tall mound and made me feel like I was being served a giant's morning meal and not what a mere mortal could possibly hope to consume. 

JASON: While our server fetched to-go boxes, I noticed the milkshake machine was missing. We were told "it died, being from 1950s and all" and were offered homemade strawberry shortcake or cinnamon rolls for dessert. I would have needed to make a Roman trip to the bathroom, which is through the kitchen, in order to have room for it. I saved everyone that unpleasantness and politely declined.

JAKE: Thanks for not puking in Marcia's bathroom just so you could gorge on sweet stuff, Jason. You're such a gentleman.

JASON: I know I am. I'm going to take my wife to Marcia's for iced tea and shortcake after church.