Diner Review IV: Gruchalas

Gruchalas
Columbia Illinois
Open 7 days a week 6 A.M. to Midnight

In the last week i have had the opportunity to travel to Edwardsville as well as Columbia Illinois and it occurred to me that I have engaged in an almost unforgivably snobbish ignoring of our friends on the east side. I will make an effort to not snub our friends and on a recent Saturday morning I had the opportunity to travel to Columbia for breakfast with my partner John Mc Collough and David Kowert. We were discussing the state of the union as well as the state of our law firm. We were doing it in a bar called Gruchalas which as you can see does not look diner like from the front...and although lacking some essential elements of diner-dom...is none the less worthy of note for any breakfast ambience person.

But first...a little about Columbia Illinois. What a gem of a town. I got there in 20 minutes from Webster. You just get on 270, head south, cross the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, take the first right on Route 3 and the second left on Main and drive 1/2 mile. That brings you to downtown Columbia but it was a pretty morning and I had time so I drove around. Lots of new houses built on tree stripped hills which are ugly but once you get past that it is charming and pastoral. It lacks the big old houses downtown that a lot of small towns have but you get the feeling that this is a nice town that us struggling NOT to become the next boom suburb. After i left I found that if you boogie up Route 3 and through Sauget you are 15 minutes from downtown on a slow Saturday morning. The views of the city and the river from the bluff are outstanding and I strongly reccomend the brief trip across the river.

To Gruchalas...what a great place. It is a bar restaurant that serves breakfast as well. Several interchangable waitresses, all with brunette pony tails and heavy eye make up give good and friendly service. The regulars are all...regulars. Lots of Carhart jackets, feed store caps and the like. An even mix of men and women and some families. Lots of people smoking but not over powering. If you are not a regular you park on the street but if you know you park in back and walk in the back door. If you walk in the front you come in to a large bar area with a lot of memorabilia (beer cans and the like) and they will serve you there or you can grab a table.

The food is out of the ordinary and definitely heartier and more “country” then the normal greasy fare I like to consume. Hash browns are shredded as God intended and can be served with onions (.25) or gravy (.25) and only slightly improved. They are good. The sausage must be locally made and as Kowert noted it tastes more like a bratwurst patty. It was good but primarily good because it was so different. The bacon was a thick cut maple cured sweet bacon which is not my style but is really good and perfectly cooked. The omlette looked servicable but a country fried steak came out as a chicken patty in the only disappointment of the trip. Ice tea was brewed and the coffee was hot. they had a “slinger” on the menu which included buns...it was not ordered but perhaps on another day.

On a side note...but important note...beer is available for breakfast. As we left there were three guys at the bar eating full breakfasts and with a draft beer in a classic 8 oz. pilsner glass. Though tears did not quite “well up” there was still an over whelming feeling that I had found my people.

http://www.biske.com/gruchalas/index.html