NAZARETH, Pa. — It's the most important meal of the day.
The one customers keep asking for in flight form. And the most tedious to prep behind the scenes.
Still, in Easton and Nazareth, restaurant owners say they sell enough that it's impossible to ignore the customers — the inconvenience in the kitchen is worth the recurring customer satisfaction both in-person and on social media.
At The Farm & Table at 119 S. Main St. in Nazareth, customers just can't get enough of the eggs Benedict flight. The bagel flight is popular too, owner Amie Eckert said, but the eggs Benedict flight takes the cake as a social media sensation.
For $20, customers can get a pair of eggs Benedict accompanied by a side of hash browns. For $5 less, the restaurant's bagel flight offers three varieties of meats — sausage, bacon and Canadian bacon — on plain and sesame seed bagels.
The two flights follow successful predecessors; The Farm & Table's debut pancake flight, and ensuing French toast flight.
Though the items are no longer on the menu, Eckert said enough customers return asking for the pancake flight that the back-of-house is trying to find a way to bring it back with less strain on the kitchen.
All in all, breakfast flights are demanding, both from the customer and the required prep. Plus, the restaurant sources a lot of its ingredients locally.
"[The pancake flights] were our most time consuming one," Eckert said. "On a weekend when we're busy, it was very difficult to keep up with, because you're making six mini pancakes, three different flavors — so it was a lot."
The eggs Benedict flight has been a hit, too — Eckert said they don't plan on taking it off the menu anytime soon given its popularity in-house and its social media presence.
The restaurant's "right-hand man" Dave Buzzard said he's seen a handful of new customers visit on the weekends — their busiest days of the week — and joked the eggs Benedict flight is " always photographed."
Pete Buonopane, another owner of The Farm & Table, said he estimates the restaurant sells around 60 to 70 of the flights on a weekly basis.
"Lehigh Valley Food [Facebook group] has definitely amped up our people coming in more," Eckert said. "In the beginning it was a lot of regulars, like it was like, you're almost like Cheers, where everybody knows your name kind of sort of thing... And then Lehigh Valley Food — We started advertising on there, and then it was like we just got hit."
Easton in the act
It's a similar story at The Raven 96 in Easton.
"So when I do something that people really like — I can't explain the feeling — but if someone loves the pancake flight, or if they love the Gabriele special, then it reminds me why I do what I do."Raven Gabriele, owner of The Raven 96 in Easton
Owner Raven Gabriele said when she first opened the brunch-themed restaurant at the old Simon Silk Mill off 13th Street, her mom suggested implementing a breakfast dish "that [she] could become known for."
A Pinterest post with mini pancakes, topped with a strawberry, is what inspired Gabriele into adding a trio of buttermilk pancakes with fresh seasonal toppings to her menu for $19.
A few social media posts later from Lehigh Valley Food and now Gabriele can say "the pancake flight has gotten so much attention."
Like The Farm & Table, Gabriele said the pancake flight can put a bit of pressure on the kitchen — cooking nine mini pancakes per order can back up the grille during a rush.
It's all worth it though, the first-time business owner said.
"I have been working in a restaurant for forever, but I didn't realize, I guess, the magnitude of owning one," she said. "So when I do something that people really like — I can't explain the feeling — but if someone loves the pancake flight, or if they love the Gabriele special, then it reminds me why I do what I do."
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Also in Easton, Plants + Coffee at 1458 Northampton St. has put its bagel flight on hold to showcase its new deviled egg flight.
On June 3, the brunch spot shared a Facebook post with the following deviled egg flavors in its six-egg flight: Thai green curry, avocado toast, the lox, jalapeño popper, shoyu and beet and horseradish. The food flight made its social media debut on May 28.
Plants + Coffee opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m., with the post saying the deviled egg flight sold out by 10:36 a.m. on June 3.
EDITOR'S NOTE: LehighValleyNews.com will be visiting some food flight spots across the Lehigh Valley. If you have a recommendation, contact Makenzie Christman at makenziec@lehighvalleynews.com or on Instagram at makenziemchristman.
