Every so often my son and I like to go out for breakfast.  We ICQ (to avoid waking our wives) each other on a Saturday morning to let each other know we are up and ready to set
out.  We used to go to Country Boy because of the large pot of coffee and the inexpensive breakfast but the breakfast was nothing special.  We switched back and forth between it and Oscar’s until Benny’s opened.  Benny’s while not great was slightly better than either of the other two and had a nicer atmosphere. Then, one Saturday we hit upon Christopher’s Casual Dining.  Christopher’s breakfast special consisted of two eggs any style, back bacon, a toasted English muffin and dollar sized potato pancakes.  Those potato pancakes were fabulous. You are able to get the eggs poached – rare in breakfast special places.  Christopher’s has become our favourite breakfast place. We later tried lunch and dinner there to discover it delivered both consistent quality and reasonable prices. The English style fish and chips brings back childhood memories of a “chipper” on Yonge Street just north of Carlton in Toronto in the 1950s. James was in Ottawa Friday for the Ottawa launch of his new book, The Unwritten Girl, so Erin, Vivian, Pat, and I when to Christopher’s for dinner. All three specials were new. Erin tried the chicken special and Pat the charbroiled Black Angus rib steak.  They both had the house salad with their specials (Ross Dickson, the owner/chief, should bottle and sell that dressing it is very good) and shared their meat. I had my usual: the liver in the liver and onions dinner is perfect, the vegetables are just right for me and the Duchess potatoes are a house speciality. I’m becoming addicted to Christopher’s tomato and red pepper soup. The desserts are made in house.  Pat and Erin split a New Orleans chocolate pecan pie and I had an old fashioned rice pudding with raisins served warm.  I’d say Vivian also had a good time flirting with Brian our waiter. She loves to play fetch with waiters and anyone who will actually get up to get the stuff she has knocked to the floor. The feel of the restaurant is very pleasant and neighbourly. The food is good quality and they make tea better than any other restaurant I’ve been to excluding teahouses and tea specialty shops like the Aroma Café. We all would recommend Christopher’s Casual Dining, 1077 Weber St., E., Kitchener highly.

Update: Christopher’s is now Barnes’ Casual Dining; it is still one of our favourite places to dine. Barnes has kept the Special breakfast, the red pepper and tomato soup and those wonderful potato pancakes but, there are many new things on the menu including the best hamburger I’ve had in Kitchener/Waterloo.