I spent several years working as a server in a busy restaurant. We served breakfast, lunch and dinner, but breakfast was the restaurants main claim to fame. Im not sure what it is about a great breakfast perhaps that its the first meal we eat when we wake up, setting the tone for the rest of the day, or maybe that a lot of breakfast food also doubles as comfort food but I do know, after watching many happy customers joyfully gobble waffles and omelets, that a restaurant that makes breakfast really well is worth its weight in crispy bacon.

Bensons By The Beach in Long Beach, Wash., is just such a place (and they serve lunch, too!).

Bensons, as its known by locals, is situated right on the main drag of downtown Long Beach. To clarify a minor point, the restaurant is not truly by the beach, but the beach is just a stones throw away. We visited Bensons on a lazy Sunday morning. The owner herself, Rhonda Benson, greeted us warmly at the door and welcomed us in, even with the gaggle of boisterous children bringing up the rear.

We were seated immediately at a cozy, cottage table by the front window, perfect for people watching. The décor is clean, bright and unassuming: white walls, beachy knick-knacks and artwork from local artists, and those brain-bender games with the white pegs and trivia quizzes on every table. In short, a comfortable place with nothing too fancy and a good family atmosphere.

Our orders were taken quickly, coffee dispatched immediately and our food arrived seemingly five minutes after ordering. The first dish I sampled was French toast, and it was literally one of the finest I have ever eaten. Though it wasnt indicated on the menu, the bread seemed of artisan quality: huge slices, richly textured and delicately flavored. This was definitely no Wonder bread. Each of the three enormous slices was fried perfectly, golden and a bit crisp, but melt-in-your-mouth soft and buttery on the inside. It also came with a choice of bacon or sausage links. I chose the links, and they were also flavorful and cooked well. The overall portion was much more than I could eat in one sitting, and it was one of those occasions on which I wished fervently that I had more room.

A second dish of biscuits and gravy were unfortunately not as pleasing. The homemade biscuits themselves were quite delectable, and in the future I would order them separately, minus the sausage gravy, as they were fluffy, subtly sweet and utterly mouth-watering. The gravy, though, was a bit on the thin side, a little lacking in flavor and devoid of discernible sausage chunks, which is what I prefer. The dish was certainly not inedible, but it needed some help from a bit of Tabasco to be more palatable.

Another entrée of chicken-fried steak with eggs cooked over medium, hash browns and toast was also a bit of a mixed bag. The breading on the chicken-fried steak was odd: rather thin and with an unusual spice I couldnt quite place. A crunchier, thicker breading is common in this dish, and this was much different. The meat was also a little tough, which is actually also common in this dish, universally, since such a high temperature must be used to get the breading to be crunchy and not soggy. The patty was also topped with the same sausage gravy as the biscuits and gravy, which I pushed aside. The eggs, though, were perfectly over medium, with the whites fully set and the yolks runny but not overly so, and the hash browns were also very pleasing, just the perfect combination of crunchy and soft.

The last dish of the morning was pancakes, and just like the French toast, was positively delightful. Thick, fluffy and evenly golden brown, they looked almost too pretty to eat. But eat them we did, and one of our diners proclaimed them the best pancakes ever. He is only five, but regardless, its still a solid claim.

Our service throughout was fast, friendly and attentive; I dont think my coffee mug was ever less than two-thirds full, and I am impressed that the owner herself takes such pride in her restaurant, greeting and serving customers with a smile.

And thats just what I do when I think of Bensons. Smile.