Tour de Toast: Goody Goody Diner

Ann Lemons Pollack digs into the city's best brunch restaurants.

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In this ongoing series, Ann Lemons Pollack investigates brunch options in St. Louis—and an occasional breakfast joint for good measure.

Goody Goody Diner, a St. Louis stalwart since 1948, had been in the Connelly family since 1954. Its sale three years ago to Ryan and Joe Safi and their brother-in-law Charlie Mustafa was a surprise. Would things change at the long-time spot which hosted presidential candidates and preachers next to working folks and international tourists?

Not much, it seems. That’s good news for the many fans, especially breakfasteers. Because breakfast, as wide-ranging as it ever was, is now available on Sundays, a day when they previously were closed.

The fortunate diners will be greeted by Sly. (Surely he gets a couple of days off every week.) Sly is, in effect, the maitre d’, a helpful thing to have when folks are waiting for tables and other folks are waiting for carry-out orders in the same space. Sly’s a charmer, a poet in the style of Mohammed Ali. Pretty much no one leaves without a verse from him.

First-timers need to allow time to gasp at the wide range of choices. There are, for example, 11 kinds of meat—and that doesn’t count the options for things like do you want turkey or pork bacon? And how would you like those eggs? A chart explains exactly what 11 possibilities are. What’s the difference between over-easy medium and over-easy, medium-well? The yolks are firm in the medium-well egg. It’s a little easier with sides. There are three options beyond hash browns and three choices besides toast. Ready now? Let’s eat.

Goody’s signature omelet, the Wilbur, is definitely a big boy. It’s almost the size of a forearm, obviously a three-egg version, filled with potatoes, sauteed green pepper and onion, plus tomato, covered with the house chili and shredded cheese. Thick, flavorful ruddy brown chili is full of meat, but very little heat, a situation easily remedied with the hot sauce on each table. There’s a slinger on the menu, of course, but this is a first-rate variation on that theme, full of non-incendiary flavor.

Goody was one of the first places in town to offer chicken and waffles. They serve them separately, nice for those who are aghast at the idea of syrup on chicken, and it’s excellent fried chicken with a crunchy batter and serious seasoning. The icing on the cake is the optional glaze on the chicken, a spicy honey glaze with the acid notes of a Tabasco-type hot sauce bouncing off the sweet and pepper flavors. Wings, by the way, are the biggest I’ve ever seen. (And, no, I wasn’t recognized.)

Among the meat options beyond bacon and sausage—either links or pork or turkey patties—are things like catfish or country fried steak. Hot links, similar to Polish sausage, are split and grilled. The pork version sports what seems to be a natural casing, a fairly fine grind and very little grease; it’s also available with beef. One of the homey-est things is the salmon cake, irregular and lovable, with some notes of green pepper in there. It's comfort food perfect for wiping up a bit of egg yolk. And speaking of eggs, “scrambled soft,” something I always do at home but never when I’m eating out, rose to the challenge: moist, tender, just past the liquid point, just what they should have been.

From the Department of Carbohydrates, there’s good potato news. Diced potatoes are fried with just a little onion; an optional add-on of green peppers and more onions can be had. The potato pancakes are small discs, deep-fried, and nice for dipping into any of Wilbur’s escaping chili. Rice or grits are also available for the more southerly palate. Dollar pancakes, one of the options to toast, are considerably larger than expected, four inches or so in diameter, tender and appealing. Syrup arrives warm and not in those little bubble packs. Kudos, too, to the tall biscuits, which are so tender they might fall apart if their feelings were hurt.

The coffee is good, if not outstandingly strong. More importantly, the coffeemakers are obviously frequently and carefully scrubbed. Refills flow freely. And there’s half-and-half for the coffee instead of the ersatz kreemer stuff.

There are lots of longtime-employees, and all were pleasant, in my experience. This is among the most integrated restaurants in St. Louis, despite its northside location, and that’s another great pleasure here. There's plenty to enjoy, from Sly to watching for faces from the evening news. It’s essential St. Louis.

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