CK's Coffee Shop

CK's Coffee Shop
3139 Poplar Avenue
(901) 324-1249

Since we had an extra hour last Sunday, we decided to go out to breakfast. It was noon, formerly known as 1pm, but we still wanted breakfast. I suggested that we go to Republic Coffee. I had been there for lunch a few weeks prior and noted that they served breakfast all day. I even had a menu in my purse.

As we drove over, I read the menu to the very hungry monkeys (Satchel, 6, and Jiro, 4) and we all knew exactly what we were going to get. Too bad when we walked in (to the relatively empty restaurant) we were told that there was a 40 minute wait on brunch and that we could add our names to a list. (And no, we couldn't order off the menu.)

Brunch? I didn't see anything about brunch on the menu. Oh well, rather than fuss about it, we decided to go elsewhere. (Maybe the recent CA article caused an early morning rush.) I suggested Brother Juniper's, Barksdale, Perkins, and CK's.

CK's won due to proximity and the thought of greasy food in our very hungry bellies. Thankfully, CK's was not too crowded and we were able to get a booth right away. We had our usual disagreements over where everyone was going to sit, but eventually settled in. I grabbed a menu and showed the monkeys the pictures to help determine what to order them.

"What's that green stuff?" they both asked pointing to the decorative parsley.

"Don't worry, that won't come with it," I assured them as I directed their attention to the eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, etc.

"Why are the eggs like that?" they wanted to know. All of the pictures depicted the eggs sunny side up.

"You can have your eggs scrambled," I said. "They just do that to make them look pretty."

Satisfied, Jiro said, "I want that," pointing to the 3 egg special. (It comes with two sausage patties, two slices of bread, and a hashbrown.)

"Can you eat all of that?" I asked.

He nodded.

I have seen Jiro eat almost that much food at home so I decided to go ahead and approve his order. Breakfast is definitely his favorite meal.

Satchel licked his lips and said he wanted the ham & eggs with a hashbrown. Warren decided on coffee and a fried egg BLT and I got a patty melt and a Diet Coke. (Warren pointed out their iced coffee sign after I had already drank half of my Diet Coke.)

To pass the time, we had brought the Sunday coupons and some scissors. We also had a Target circular and a few other sections of interest to the monkeys. Unfortunately these items were not enough to distract them from wanting to eat. Now. They had spent most of the morning sneaking Halloween candy while Warren and I slept in, so we were definitely facing a starvation breakdown.

Jiro decided to assuage his hunger pains with a sip of Warren's coffee. Satchel decided to moan and look pitifully at the grill.



After a twenty minute wait or so, the waitress brought out our food. Well everyone's except Jiro's. "Where's mine?" he asked in the saddest voice I ever heard.

I could see the cook prepping his plate and encouraged him to be patient. When this failed, I started shoveling my hashbrowns in his mouth. His plate arrived soon enough and he attacked his eggs.

Satchel, who was shoveling his ham & eggs in his mouth as fast as he possibly could, paused every few seconds to heap accolades on CK's.

"The food looks much better than the pictures," he said. Followed by:

"This is better than breakfast at home."

"They make eggs like Gigi. Gigi's eggs are milky and buttery. They added ham."

"I want to come here every weekend."

And my favorite, clearly inspired by Warren's neverending attempts to disabuse me of the notion that the Memphis Pizza Cafe is awesome...

"This place is way better than the Pizza Cafe. They cook better stuff and it's faster."



Jiro was also impressed. Once his eggs were gone, he started in on his hashbrowns. "Mmmm...hashbrowns are yummy!" he squealed.

Since they seemed so smitten, I decided to go ahead and blow their minds. "Hey you know what?" I said. "This place is open 24 hours a day. It never closes."

Satchel's eyes grew wide and I could see him grasping this idea. "Really?" he asked, amazed. "So if I woke up in the middle of the night and came in your room and you didn't say no we could come here?"

"Yep."

"If I woke up really early before school we could come here?"

"Yep."

"Wow," he said as if this was the absolute coolest thing he had ever heard. Then he looked serious. "So the people who work here never get to stop working or go to sleep?"

I assured him that wasn't the case. Then it occurred to me that this might be one of the few times that I had actually eaten at a CK's during the daylight hours.

In the end, Satchel and Jiro ate just about everything on their plates, and what they didn't eat, Warren and I polished off. Our total bill was about $25. I totally forgot that CK's was a cash only place and we were forced to use their in-store ATM and pay a $2 fee. As I paid, I told the waitress that the kids had just had the best meal of their lives and that seemed to give her a nice laugh.

It was only after we left that I realized that (thankfully) none of us had the occasion to visit the CK's restrooms.

On a side note, while googling CK's to determine their address, I found this funny commentary. Enjoy!