Is there anything better than a good local breakfast joint? A harried-yet-friendly middle-aged waitress in a red apron, the clink of cheap china collected by disinterested high school busboys, the informality, the low din of companionable voices, the warm smell of endless coffee (I've never been able to drink the stuff myself, but acknowledge its contribution to the ambience). A plate of scrambled eggs and bacon or a huge waffle or an improbably-high stack of pancakes is the perfect start to the day, and often times the perfect antidote to the liquid sins of the night before.
Like family-owned ice cream places, New Hampshire has no shortage of these gustatory treasures. I was a frequent patron of the late and lamented Rogan's Village Bake Shop in Exeter, and there are plenty of others I've deeply enjoyed: Betty's Kitchen in North Hampton, Young's in Durham, the Golden Egg and Hebert's in Portsmouth.
My favorite has always been The Country View on Portsmouth Ave in Greenland. Probably because it's less than two miles down the road from where I grew up and has been the go-to place for my family for decades. The summers I worked for my father during high school and college, it was often a morning stop to fill the tank before a day's labor with Pace's Tree Service. Since lunch wasn't always a given, you chowed down at breakfast, and The Country View was always happy to provide the chow. I think my dad Albert Pace knows everybody in the place, and they know him - he's like the Norm to their Cheers. When it comes right down to it, that's what makes us love our favorite local restaurants so much - they love us right back.
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