This is CNY
By Charlie MIller
Onondaga Nation, N.Y. — Hold on a second, I’ll be right with you. I have to reserve my slice of pie for dessert. If I don’t, I’ll miss out. …
OK, sorry about that. I normally wouldn’t think about pie at 7 a.m., but the desserts at Firekeepers Restaurant don’t make it past lunch, and this place fills up during breakfast and lunch.
Firekeepers is located jus
t off the Interstate 81 exit outside of Nedrow. It had been a few different diners since 1983 until longtime owner Andy Cook retired in 2014 and sold it to the Onondaga Nation. Nation leaders spent two years renovating the inside and adding another dining room.
It finally opened on Father’s Day of 2016, and for the first time, the whole restaurant was non-smoking. The two dining rooms combined can seat 125 customers. The best seat in the house, though, is the front-room counter with 10 permanent swivel-stools that overlook the kitchen passthrough.
Theresa Homer, who waited tables for Andy Cook, now runs the restaurant. You may see her help head chef Juan Claudio grill home fries one minute, serve his giant omelets the next, and then go through the dining rooms refilling coffee mugs.
“My whole crew calls me Boss, and I always say ‘Stop.’ I’m just as equal as everyone else here,” she said. “I have a great staff, and my chef is very knowledgeable with many years of experience.”
Firekeeper
s specializes in comfort food, regardless of the time of day. The best-selling non-breakfast entrée here is the turkey dinner platter smothered in gravy ($11.25). Wednesday’s special was chicken and biscuits. A full portion was $9.25, and the senior portion was $7.75. Meatloaf also usually finds its way onto the special menu each week.
There is no peak time here. The dining rooms can be full at dinnertime or at 7 a.m. Even this Wednesday, when the temperature hovered around 1 degree before the sun woke up, many of the tables were occupied with hungry regulars. The thermometer skyrocketed to 28 degrees Thursday morning, and longtime server Mary Morgans was just as busy.
Regardless of how crowded it was, I got my food quickly.
Make no mistake about it, breakfasts at Firekeepers are large. Actually, they’re 2XL. My server, Mariah, recommended the Veggie Skillet. I laughed and gently said I was so hungry that I could eat a pig farm, a loaf of bread and anything a chicken could push out onto the griddle.
“Well, the Veggie Skillet is big, but it sounds like you need the Big Breakfast,” Mariah said.
The menu lists the Big Breakfast as your choice of two pancakes or French toast with two eggs and choice of bacon, ham, sausage patties or sausage links. It’s served with home fries and toast.
I opted for the French toast because Mary said the chef mixes cinnamon and vanilla into the egg wash that coats the Texas bread slices.
They should call this thing “The Who Hurt You? Breakfast.” This gut-buster arrived on two plates. That alone is a problem because the French toast was all alone on a plate, and I like to swipe it through the gooey yolks of my over-easy eggs.
The other plate was covered with home fries, six pieces and four half-slices of wheat bread. Jon Haines, the cook responsible for those home fries, said he starts the day by parboiling potatoes, cutting them into quarters and dusting them with a secret seasoning. They spend the morning on the flattop so they’re crispy by the time they hit your plate, not soggy.
All of that food cost me $10.45. And because Firekeepers is on the Rez, it’s tax-free! Just remember to bring cash. They don’t accept plastic.
Anyway, I didn’t eat for the rest of Wednesday. I did, however, wake up slightly hungry on Thursday. I returned to Firekeepers and vowed to take it easier on my body. I figured Mariah’s recommendation of the Veggie Skillet would be just what the fat doctor ordered.
Wrong.
It’s a frittata without meat: Onions, peppers, mushrooms and broccoli scrambled together with three eggs and home fries and topped with cheddar cheese.
This tax-free meal set me back just $9.25. And no, I couldn’t finish it.
“You can have something different every day here, and it’ll always be good, and it’ll always fill you up,” Mary said. “Just remember to order the pie first.”
Right, about that pie. Only three slices were left Wednesday, and they were lemon meringue. I don’t like lemon in my food. I don’t garnish my fried haddock with it, I would never incorporate it into the sauce with Chicken Francese, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want my dessert built around it.
But this is Firekeepers. Even after a 2,000-calorie breakfast, you save room for pie here, regardless of the flavor. Vicki Homer, Theresa’s sister-in-law, makes all the pies. Coconut cream is my favorite, but I’ll admit the lemon meringue was pretty good.