Hartland Diner, Hartland, Vermont

Update Review, 2020 Visit

Near 10 years ago, I discovered The Hartland Diner.  I fell in love with the pancakes.  Epic.  My first visit there was one of the more memorable dining experiences I had that year, and that was a year with *a lot* of eating out.  The only problem?  Well, it is in Hartland, Vermont, and I live in San Francisco.  I discovered it when visiting my parents in New Hampshire, after doing way too much random research on great breakfast/brunch places.

And thus a tradition was born, every time I went to visit, usually once in the summer, once at Christmas, my mom and I had a date to go out to breakfast there, 30+ minutes away.  We did it without fail for several years in a row, until I had a couple experiences that weren't *quite* as good as the original, and I decided to start checking out other places.  We continued our tradition of going out to breakfast somewhere when I was in town, and hit up the places closer to home (Lou's - best sausage but mixed otherwise, and definitely not good pancakes, and 4 Aces Diner - great pancakes, mixed otherwise). 

But I never forgot about the Hartland Diner.  For some reason, I started following the diner on Instagram.  I regularly drooled over the creations.  But moreover, I could see just how much love and care went into the place.  I knew this already, yes, sure, everything is local and organic, extremely homemade (no mixes, etc, etc), etc, but I could see the true passion and love that went into it.  It made me love it myself even more.  

And then COVID happened.  I watched a small business owner reeling.  I watched that passion and love turn into an extreme struggle.  A tiny diner?  Yeah, not set up in any way for this.  There is no space for outdoor dining.  The inside is a few booths, and, counter seating.  So even when outside dining opened back up, no option for the diner.  And inside seating? Sure, she could sit at most 3 parties.  That hardly pays for waitstaff.  And how do you have a place serving quality, ridiculously homemade items, with such low volume? It simply shouldn't work.  I really thought the days were limited, and lamented that I was on the other side of the country, and hadn't returned in a few years.  And yet,  I watched the chef owner rally, over and over again.  Still making everything from scratch.  Doing takeout for regulars, working entirely solo.  Adding frozen take home soups, chilis, and pot pies to the lineup.  And when she could, opening on weekends only, reservation only, for a few tables.

After months of sheltering in place in San Francisco, I decided to take the risk to journey to New Hampshire, to work remotely, and live with my parents for a while.  I really wanted to at least be able to breath fresh air, and enjoy the bounty from my sister's garden.  I quarantined for a full 2 weeks, I adjusted to living in my parent's downsized home and working full time from there, and, well, made pretty fast plans to visit the Hartland Diner with my mom as soon as I could.

I'm so glad I did.

Breakfast Feast!

My return to the Hartland Diner was a triumphant success.

We had a fabulous meal, and all the previous highlights still shined - excellent coffee, top tier pancakes, and a savory lineup that made my mom happy too.

This time I added even more items to our order, yes, we ordered way too much for two people, and got frozen items to take home as well, but I was not upset to leave with leftovers to freeze (seriously, don't knock freezing pancakes - they reheat beautifully if you put some effort into it.  Freeze well wrapped up, double layers.  Cook direct from frozen - wrap in foil, put in toaster oven (with a few drops of water inside the foil), about 350* or so, go ahead and make your coffee, get out some butter, warm up some syrup (I put it in a little bowl on top of the toaster oven and it warms beautifully).  Open up the foil at the end if you like a crisp top, get out your plate and fork and knife, and, you'll have perfection.  Moist (from the drop of water inside), not freezer tasting (double wrapped), and crispy (if you want it, from last minute or two outside foil).

I will definitely return for pancakes, anytime I am in the area, and the craving hits.  Until then, I'll be looking forward to my freezer stash.

Diner Rules: "How Things Work Here".

The diner still had the "How Things Work Here" literature on the tables, explaining that, well, you are in an opinionated place, let's just say.  But I adore that they care so much about the quality, and in particular "When food is ready to be served it is served. No one's food sits sadly, slowly dying, in a corner of our kitchen, waiting.  This isn't that kind of place. You all will not get your food simultaneously."

So much love for this, even though yes, it meant that I had all my food before my mom had a single thing, and. yes, that is a bit awkward, but, it also meant we both got our food in top form, which, for me, um matters? (more than it should I know).

Vermont Coffee Company's Tres Mariposas Coffee. 

To get the meal started, I opted for coffee, having foregone my regular cup the moment I got up at home.  It was rough to do, but I knew the Hartland Diner had great coffee, and I only drink a small cup of regular per day.

I really loved the mug in the way it felt in my hand, a heafty mug, and great size, but, perhaps the coffee wasn't very hot to begin with, but it was lukewarm within a moment, and the inside of the diner was pretty chilly, and it was stone cold before we had even really settled in.

That said, it really is a nice coffee.  Not too harsh, but strong, good aroma.  ****.

I moved on to decaf after, as I wanted coffee throughout my meal, and, well, wanted hot coffee.  It was brewed fresh, which I didn't mind waiting for.  I asked for it in a paper cup, so it would stay warmer (and would have a lid to hold in some heat).  The decaf was even great, which, I knew was true before, but surprised me as I assumed they were doing essentially no volume, and thus it would be stale.

I was quite pleased with my hot decaf. ****.

Special: Blueberry Muffin.
Grilled and Buttered

"HUGE Blueberry Muffins. 100% from scratch. No pre-made batters. No box mixes. Just real, fresh ingredients. FULL of wild Maine blueberries!"

I don't know if the Hartland Diner had muffins as specials before and I just never noticed, or if they were new, but, after seeing these on Instagram a few days in a row, I had no choice but to order one, even though I was there to get a ridiculous amount of pancake.  And literally had blueberry muffins from Danbury Country Store (so good!) the day before, and the day before that, and had a freezer full of great muffins.  The glamor shots online just make these look too insane - uniquely loaded muffins.

So I added one to our order, intending to try a bite and bring it home for later, perhaps freezing half for later.  But ... I forgot that it came split, grilled, and already buttered.  Doh.  Which, to be fair, would be great if I was intending to eat it right then.  In fact, I give major KUDOS for serving that way, as I love a grilled muffin (not just warmed up).  And, their butter is so delicious.

So yes, there are "blueberry muffins", and then there is ... this.  Not only is a monster of a muffin, but it truly was insanely loaded with fruit.  The base was a sweeter, cake style muffin, slightly less breakfast appropriate than your average muffin, and full of pops of juicy fruit.  Grilling it and buttering it just added to the awesomeness, no question.

It was a good muffin, particularly for the sweeter style.  It made me want to eat it how I used to eat corn muffins - warmed/grilled, slathered with butter, and, um, dunked in sugar (like, I'd get a plate of sugar, ideally pearl sugar, and dunk chunks in as I went).  Good for a sweet breakfast, and I think it would work great as a dessert style item too, as it was so sweet and cake-like, perhaps with some ice cream or whipped cream.

I gladly took home the rest, and, although my dad loves blueberry muffins, did not share.  Gulp.  Sorry dad.  ****.

When I got home, I saw the chef was making chocolate chip muffins next, with just as much chocolate, warm and melty, and nearly turned right back around to get one.  Heh.  If it wasn't 30+ min away ...

Pancake Armageddon. Single. Single. $14.
Maple Walnut White Chocolate Chip.

"Made 100% from scratch. No mixes. No boxes.  Just blood. Sweet and GLUTEN.  Served with BOTTOMLESS Richardsons' REAL Vermont Maple Syrup & Cabot Butter."

I was there for the pancakes.  No question.  I wanted so very badly to have good pancakes (I had some mediocre ones other places / home, and was craving a good pancake sooo badly).  But I also had fairly mixed experiences with the pancakes at The Hartland Diner before, ranging from literally the best pancake of my life, to kinda just ok.  I think there was a different cook that time.  So I was excited, eager, and worried my hopes were too high.

As before, pancakes were available plain, or with my choice of mix-ins (one mix-in for $2 extra, or the "Armageddon" with as many things in it as I want for $4 extra).  Available as singles, doubles, or, three, as always with the note to not even try to get three.  I knew that one was the same as a full stack elsewhere, so I only got a single, and got an extra plate, so I could properly cut off a chunk and butter/syrup it as I pleased.

Of course, deciding which kind to get was agonizing.  I knew that maple walnut was great for crunch, and had always liked it before.  I had mixed success with the white chocolate chips, and kept really wanting to try butterscotch, both of which would go well with the maple walnut.  But I also had been on a serious chocolate kick, and chocolate chip pancakes sounded great.  And ... so did blueberry pancakes (which, at least I was able to rule out due to the blueberry muffin, knowing I'd get some blueberry satisfaction that way).  I tried to order maple walnut, with white chocolate chips on one side, butterscotch on the other, hedging my bets, but, alas, was turned down from the half and half suggestion. So I went basic, just two mix ins, and hoped for the best.

The result?  Yup, a very good pancake. 

Maple Walnut White Chocolate Chip Pancake (half): Underside.

The pancake base had a nice tang, was oh-so-fluffy inside, and crispy outside.  The maple walnuts were just the crunch I wanted, and the little white chocolate chips did melt decently.  I did wish for more of both though, the fillings felt a bit lacking, and, as you can see from the underside, were just sprinkled on and cooked onto that one side (which really does seem like doing half white chocolate, half butterscotch would work fine ...).

I really liked it this time with syrup (nice quality real syrup of course), rather than butter, which, was a departure from previous times when I loved it with butter.  Regardless, it was a very good pancake.

I'll definitely get this again. ****.

Sauteed Spinach (off menu side). 

To go along with my pile of sweet carbs, I wanted a small savory something.  I almost got a sausage patty, but I knew they were still Farmland brand, rather than Vermont Country Farms as they used to carry, that I adored.

I also knew my mom would be having hollandaise, and I planned to steal some of it, so, I just asked for a side of spinach.  Steamed, sauteed, whatever.  I was met with some resistance from the server, but he checked with the cook, and she agreed to do it.

It was a decent portion.  It was ... fine?  I mean, it was just spinach, sauteed, which, after all, is what I asked for.  More oily than I wanted since I was adding hollandaise, but I appreciated having it for savory bites that I alternated before having more and more sweet carbs.  **+.

Bene Florentine. $15.

This was my mom's order, as she is a savory breakfast person, and hence, was interested in an entirely different part of the menu from me.

She selected from "Benedict Central", her favorite part of the menu, a huge line up of benedicts, with 2 eggs, hollandaise, grilled english muffin, and your choice of toppings, ranging from the standards to some fun ones like a buffalo chicken version, served with a choice of sides.  She's had many before in the past, as you've read about in all my earlier reviews (below).

This time she went pretty simple: florentine (sauteed spinach), with hash browns as her side of choice.

Of course I tried a bite ... or two.  The hollandaise was a bit too eggy for me, and it sadly was not very warm.  That was sad, but it was perfectly creamy.  She seemed happy enough with the entire thing.

The hash browns were super crispy, and a huge portion (she brought home ... 70% of it?).

All florentines are $15, but a smaller 1/2 portion is available for $9, or you can get a flight of multiple benedicts (3-10!), if you really want to customize.

Frozen Items

To further support the diner, and hopefully feed ourselves something delicious later, we also picked up some of everything had available frozen to take home: pot pies, chili, and soup.

Chicken Pot Pie/ Vegan Shiitake & Vegetable Pot Pie.  Deep Dish. $10 each.

Two kinds of pot pie were available, and we got both, a classic chicken version, and a vegan one, which I wouldn't normally go for, except that it features shiitake, and I love mushrooms.  That said, I didn't think about the fact that it meant it would be vegan in the crust and cream too ... and, um, I'm all about butter and cream ...

Both pies were *seriously* deep dish and stuffed high, and looked pretty awesome.  The fillings are cooked, but the crust is not.  I was instructed to cook both in oven for 45 min at 350*.

Chicken Pot Pie: Frozen.

I started with the chicken pot pie, even though I dislike chicken, because, well, I adore pie crust, and pie crust needs ... butter.  And I adore creamy rich pot pie fillings, and, well, that takes cream.

So, chicken-hater I am, I went for the chicken one first.  Here it was in frozen form, quite attractive looking, and as I said, *very* stuffed!

Chicken Pot Pie: after 50 minutes.

The 45 minute estimate didn't quite seem correct, at least for my oven.  Here it is at 50 minutes - it was smelling *wonderful*, but, the crust was most certainly not cooked yet.

Chicken Pot Pie: Fresh and ready!

Ok, after an hour and 15 minutes, I had this beauty.

The crust seemed to only be on top, I didn't find a side or bottom crust.

Crust was ... ok. Kinda floury-doughy.  Not quite as flaky nor buttery as I remembered from the sweet pie I had from Hartland diner before.

Chicken Pot Pie: Filling.

When I broke into it, at first I was confused, thinking it was mislabeled perhaps, and this was the vegan veggie one?  Because all I saw was veggies, not chicken, and the filling looked strangely ... curdled?

Undeterred, I dug in.

Chicken Pot Pie: So many veggies!

It really was loaded with veggies, sure the standard potatoes and carrot as you'd expect, but also little chunks of broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow summer squash ... the more I looked, the more veggies I found.  Kinda blown away by the veggie assortment.  I didn't find peas or corn or celery, which are more common in pot pie, or even onion actually, but, the summer veggie lineup was a nice change.

The veggies were all good, nicely cooked.  The only ones I didn't care for were the carrots - some large chunks, like you'd find in stew. They tasted like stew too!

The chicken was small pieces, which made it harder to avoid, and made it more infused with chicken flavor throughout, which, sadly for me made it less desirable.

It was decently creamy, decently well seasoned, just overall, decent, if you like chicken that is.  Almost like a really good chicken veggie chowder, I could see it working well as a soup.

I didn't want more than a slice, since, well, chicken forward, but it was a decent pie.

Chicken & Veg Soup / Beef & Bean Chili. Quarts. $8 each.

Next up, soup and chili.

The chicken & vegetable soup was not for me, but, I did snag a couple quarts of the chili, picking the beef & bean version over the vegan one, for myself and my father (if I shared, heh).  He loves chili, and sometimes I really do too.  And I had been seriously craving ground beef!

My mom had the chicken & veg soup, said it was "ok", but she really wished it had rice or pasta in it.

Beef & Bean Chili.

"Made with fresh ground beef, FIVE kinds of beans, sweet corn, local BEER, fresh squeezed lemon juice, plum tomatoes, fresh garlic, onions, bell peppers, cilantro, dill, HYPER LOCAL maple syrup and ALL the seasonings. This chili is meant to be served with rice or pasta."

I hadn't seen the details of the chili when I picked it up, but I was very excited once I did.   Although I was confused by the "with rice or pasta" bit, not the traditional way to serve chili, at least for me.

But once it defrosted, I understood.  This was a seriously loaded, hearty, thick chili.  There *were* 5 types of beans (larger white beans, smaller white beans, red kidney beans, little black beans, etc), large chunks of ground beef, corn, chunks of bell pepper, etc, etc.  Every bean was cooked perfectly, not too mushy, not too al dente.  The flavor was fantastic all around, a very, very developed chili.  A chili lover's chili, but, you have to like beans.  I don't like beans all that much, but I really appreciated the huge chunks of beef too.

That said, this wasn't the kind of chili you'd just heat up and eat as a bowl like this.  I could imagine it working great on top of fries with cheese, the ultimate chili cheese fries.  Or on top of a baked potato?  Or a split open faced biscuit?  And loaded with sour cream and cheese.  The pasta suggestion, perhaps with a elbow mac, as a tex-mex macaroni I can sorta imagine.  Not sure what other pasta would make sense.  And, as a non-rice person, I really dunno about that.  My father enjoyed it over tortilla chips, nacho style.

Overall, a very high quality chili, quality ingredients, and recipe crafted with care.  Definitely worth the $8 per quart. ***+.

Original Review, 2016

Like every good San Franciscan, I adore brunch.  Actually, no, I just love breakfast foods, but my normal life isn't one where I get to go out for breakfast.  I actually kinda dislike brunch, because I do always want something to eat sooner, but don't want to eat too much breakfast before going to brunch, and never know how long we'll need to wait ... 

Uh, oops, sorry, this isn't a rant about brunch.  This is about my love of breakfast foods, and in particular, breakfast from diners.  While I may eat at a lot of nice restaurants for other meals, for breakfast, a classic diner can do just as well as any fancy restaurant (and, frankly, often better).  Maybe my breakfast standards are just different?  Heck, I even love pancakes from IHOP.

While I don't go out to breakfast in "regular life", I certainly do when traveling, and when visiting my family on the east coast.  After a couple mediocre breakfasts at our regular breakfast place, Lou's, I decided it was time to do some research and find a new breakfast place.  And the Hartland Diner quickly rose to the top of the list, even though it was further away (nearly a 30 minute drive from my parent's house).

Hartland Diner FACTS.

The Hartland Diner is located in Vermont, in, you guessed it, Hartland.

It is a small diner, but, they really care about things like freshness and sourcing.  On the tables, on bright pink laminated paper, is a stand with a list of FACTS.

The first set of facts is about all of their local producers, listing out all the suppliers they use for items like their eggs, cheese, chicken, sausage, dairy, and coffee.  The next set of facts is all about how they make many things from scratch, aka, "properly".  This ranges from roasting their own turkey, to making their own veggie burgers and granola, to making their own salad dressings, spicy mayo, and gravy, to pancakes/waffles/biscuits and their famous pies.

Hyper local and even the mayo housemade?  If it weren't for the tacky pink sign, it would fit right in in San Francisco.

What We Are About.

The other side of the pink sign goes into more detail, with a little essay about local, fresh food, community, and how they are the best.

I found this signage all a bit odd, but, I appreciated that they cared so much about their ingredients and quality, and wanted you as the guest to understand it.

My first visit was absolutely incredible.  I was pretty upset that I discovered it on my last day in town, and quickly deemed it a new reason to visit the east coast (well, besides my family of course).   I made a point to go every time I visited the area for two years after that, and refused to try anywhere else for breakfast.  Sadly, no visit measured up to that first one (although none were bad, the food was always fresh, and the coffee always excellent).  Portions are huge, and prices are rather high for the area.  After four visits, I'll definitely still return, and hope for a repeat of that first visit, but I do plan to keep trying more places.

The Space

The diner is not large.  It has a counter, and 5 booths.  That is it.  Not a total hole in the wall, but, close.

Counter Seating.

The counter seating usually has a few solo diners at it, enjoying their meals, and chatting with the staff.  They have all seemed to be regulars, quite at home at the counter.

The staff are always reasonably friendly, although more so with their regulars.

Booths.

The rest of the space is made up of booths, only 5.  The padding of the booths matches the colorful, cheery, turquoise of the stools at the counter.

Specials Chalkboard.

Every single time I have visited, the chalkboard has featured amazing sounding specials (including their famous pies!), plus both breakfast and lunch specialities.  I've still yet to order any though, as I generally arrive with a set plan ...

Clouds.

It was hard to get a photo to really capture the ambiance inside due to the really fascinating lights.  It isn't nearly as dark as it looks here, but I couldn't focus on the cloud-lights and keep the rest of the room brightly lit.  Anyway, the ceiling panels have some of these cloud-lights, which totally amp up the already cheery atmosphere.

Condiments.

Every table has a slew of condiments to choose from, all the classics: French's mustard, Heinz ketchup, Frank's hot sauce, Tabasco, and not one, but two types of sriracha.  I didn't need any of these, but I appreciated that they were all there, easily accessible, no need to ask for them.  Still curious why they needed two different types of sriracha though!

More Condiments.

The other side of the table are sweeteners for drinks, toothpicks, jam, and huge salt and pepper shakers.  This theme of oversized items was going to be a recurring one, we just didn't know it yet.

I thought it was really interesting that the jam was small packages of Smuckers.  The Hartland Diner is all about making everything from scratch, so having very generic jam seemed strange to me.  In this one area, and this one area only, Lou's wins, as the homemade strawberry jam they have on the tables is absolutely amazing.

Visit #1: July 2014

My first visit was in the summer of 2014.  I had been really craving pancakes, did my research, and finally convinced my mom to go out to breakfast with me.

Fresh Brewed Iced Tea.

My mom ordered iced tea, as it was crazy hot out, and she wanted something refreshing.  We were both stunned when it arrived at the table.

It came served in a canning jar, which wasn't exactly the notable thing.  Many places in San Francisco serve drinks in jars, so that fact was barely something I noticed.  What was impossible to miss was the size: quart size!  It was absolutely massive.  It made the salt and pepper shakers look normal sized.

My mom made a comment about how she'd never be able to finish it, yet, somehow, she did.  I didn't try it, but she obviously liked it.  Fresh brewed, unsweet tea.  The massive size of this drink was just an indicator of what was to come ...

My water was also served in a jar, but it was a more reasonable pint size.  Both jar drinks came with colorful bendy straws.  I always use straws, so I appreciated this quite a bit.

Bottomless Decaf Coffee.

Since I was getting a breakfast item, I wanted coffee, decaf as usual.

Behind the counter were standard diner style pots of coffee, regular and decaf.  Pre-brewed, sitting there on burners to keep warm.  I didn't expect anything from the coffee, but I always like to have it with my pancakes.

I was blown away by the coffee.  Like all of the products used at the diner, it is locally sourced, organic, made by Vermont Coffee Company, a small roaster in Middlebury, VT.

The coffee had a really deep flavor, almost chocolately, mocha-like.  It was rich, but not too dark, as I don't tend to like dark coffee.  It came with a little pitcher of cream (from Thomas Dairy, in nearby Rutland, VT), and there were plenty of sweeteners available on the table, but I didn't want to add a thing to it.  Absolutely perfect as was, and some of the best decaf coffee I've ever encountered.  (Side note: for the zero calorie sweetener, they don't have generic Stevia or Truvia, but instead a product from Chef Mark.  I don't know a thing about this, but I was surprised to see that even the basics like sweeteners were non-standard).

Coffee came with unlimited refills, in which I gladly partook.  I think I had 4 while I was there.  It was just so good.  The waitress kept a good eye on my coffee mug once she realized how much I was drinking, and made sure I never went without.

Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, Homefries. $12.95.

After ordering sweet french toast at Lou's a few days earlier, my mom decided that she wanted to get a savory item, as she felt crappy after having such a decadent breakfast.  The Maple Walnut French Toast at the Hartland Diner sounded incredible, and she *almost* caved and ordered it: "covered on one side with a delicious layer of crushed walnuts, caramelized brown sugar, and organic cinnamon."  If I didn't have my heart set on pancakes, I definitely would have gone for it.

But instead, she opted for one of the many benedict preparations, smoked salmon.

I apologize for the bad photo.  I was too distracted by my amazing pancake experience to properly take a photo of her dish.  I paused just long enough to snap a pic, and take a quick look.  As I watched her cut into the poached eggs, I have to admit, they looked to be poached absolutely perfectly, a fact which she confirmed, and repeated several times.  The english muffins on the bottom were nicely toasted, the smoked salmon was a generous portion, and the hollandaise also garnered a couple mentions from my mom.  In particular, she said it was creamy, balanced, and didn't separate or break at all.  Her only criticism is that she would have preferred a dill hollandaise to compliment the smoked salmon.'

My mother was quite happy with her dish, fairly textbook benedict, a lesson in exactly how this dish is supposed to come out.  I tried a tiny taste of the hollandaise, but, the fact that I didn't demand any other bites of hers is a strong indication of how amazing my own meal was.  I always want to try a bit of everything, and she even offered several times, but I was in my own land of pancake bliss.

I did try the hashbrowns.  The Hartland Diner offers up both home fries OR hashbrowns.  I loved them for this.  I prefer hashbrowns, and I always get sad when places offer home fries.  I can't recall ever having the choice before.  Along with plain hashbrowns, you also have the option to have them covered in cheese, or have onions, peppers, mushrooms, ham, sausage, and/or bacon added.  She stuck with plain.  The hashbrowns were good, nice and crispy, but, just shredded potato, and not particularly seasoned.  I liked them with a bit of my maple syrup on them, but I'd skip them in the future and just focus on the amazing pancakes.

Of all the dishes we had at the diner, this is the only one that was even remotely normal sized.  Two poached eggs, a full english muffin, and a big pile of hash browns is a very *small* dish here.

Single Pancake: Maple Walnut Raspberry White Chocolate Chip! $7.95. 

After all that foreshadowing, I guess it is time to tell you about the pancakes.

First, let me describe the options for the pancakes.  Pancakes are listed as "Vermont Sized" with the tag line, "if something's worth doing, it's worth doing big".  They are sold as singles, or doubles.  It is mentioned on the menu several times that you shouldn't order three: "3 Pancakes - Don't do it!", or "Yes, you can have three if you INSIST", or "Yeah, yeah, we can make you three..." It turns out, this playful discouragement really is in your best interests.  But more on that later.

The pancake menu is divided into three sections: regular buttermilk pancakes ($5.95 for  a single, $10.95 for two), "Fun Flavors" ($6.95 single/$12.95 double), and "Super Special" ($7.95/$14/95).  The "Fun Flavors" are single flavor pancakes, and the "Super Specials" are a list of their recommended combinations.  And of course, you can create your own.

The options for mix-ins are extensive.  For chips, you can add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips.  Prefer fruit?  They have strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, and bananas.  There was also maple walnut, coconut, and a few other options.  As I said, you could get any single flavor, or go for one of their "Super Special" flavors, like banana peanut butter or blueberry white chocolate chip.

I of course had to design my own.  I thought long and hard about my combination.  Finally, I decided that I wanted one sweet component, so I went with white chocolate chips.  I thought the butterscotch might be a bit too sweet, and I didn't want chocolate, even though the waitress told me the chocolate chip were her favorites.

I also decided that I wanted a fruit component.  I'm not sure why I picked raspberries, I thought either strawberries or raspberries would combine best with the white chocolate, and I knew I'd be having strawberry shortcake the next day, so I went with raspberry.

And finally, I wanted something for crunch, so I added the maple walnut.

This turned out to be a killer mix, and it was exactly what I wanted: a bit sweet, a bit moist and fruity, and a bit crunchy.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I ordered a single pancake.  After all, it was only 11:45am, and I'd had a fairly sizable breakfast at 9:30 at home.  I wasn't starving.  And I knew the pancake would be large.

Even with this knowledge, nothing prepared me for what was to come.  When the waitress set down the pancake in front of me, I'm pretty sure I gasped out loud.  I've seen large pancakes in my life, and in fact, I commented on how large the pancake at Lou's was just a few days earlier, but no other pancake compares to this.  I couldn't even see the plate, but somewhere under that massive pancake there was a full size dinner plate.  Yes, my pancake was larger than a plate.  It wasn't a thin, wimpy pancake either.  This was a thick, fluffy monster.

A few days earlier, I had a cookie dough pancake at North Street Grille, and it didn't come with any butter.  After that, I had the blueberry peach pancake at Lou's , which also didn't come with any butter, although it did have a bit of whipped cream.  This one didn't just have butter, it had a massive scoop of butter (Cabot, of course).  It was melting in very quickly.  I usually don't add any butter to my pancakes, or if I do, it is a minimal amount, so this made my eyes bug out a bit.  At first I tried to push it aside to prevent further melting into my pancakes, but, as my entire plate was a pancake, there wasn't anywhere for it to go, and, as I dragged it across my pancake it all just melted in even more.  Oh well, go big or go home, right?  

A bit overwhelmed, I took my first bite.  I hadn't even gotten to the syrup yet.  My mom claims that my eyes rolled back in my head as I did so.  Um, wow.  This was an absolutely incredible pancake.

It was light and fluffy, everything that the Lou's pancake was not.  Yet the outside was a bit crispy, although certainly not burnt.  The North Street Grill pancake was crispier, which I did like more, but it was no where near as fluffy.  The Hartland Diner pancake wins on texture and consistency.

The flavor in the pancake base was incredible, with a lovely tang from the buttermilk (also Thomas Dairy, like my cream for the coffee).  My mix-ins turned out to be an even better combination than I expected.  The white chocolate chips were slightly melted and added a perfect hint of sweetness.  The walnuts gave texture and crunch.  The raspberries were flavorful little pops of moisture.  A wining trio, although next time, I'd choose a fruit other than raspberries, because I didn't care for the seeds.  That is just me and my quirky dislike of berry seeds though.

I was many bites in before I realized that I hadn't even tried the syrup, 100% real Vermont maple syrup of course.  My flavor combinations in the pancake were so good that it honestly didn't need the syrup, although real syrup is always appreciated.  They don't even have the fake stuff, only real, unlimited, and from a farm down the street.  You know me, I'm a sweet tooth and love adding syrup to things, but honestly, the sweetness from the white chocolate chips, the maple from the maple walnut, and the fruit was really totally sufficiently sweet as it was.  I ended up using syrup on some bites, but mostly because I felt like I was supposed to, not because I needed it.

Oh, and that mound of butter that concerned me originally?  I wouldn't say it was necessary exactly, but, I ended up easily using it all.  The butter itself was insanely good ... I guess I'll be on the lookout for Cabot butter in the future!  And not that the pancake was dry or needed it, but the melty butter just made the whole thing even more moist.

So overall?  Amazing.  It was impressive, visually, from the moment it was set down in front of me, and my sense of wonder continued as I stuffed myself full of it.  The largest pancake I've ever seen, by far, and also, I'm going to say it, the best pancake I've ever had.

I'll clearly be going back for another, although I'll force myself to try out more flavor combinations.  I want to try something with peanut butter (peanut butter, bacon, and banana perhaps?), and I think I'd like to try a butterscotch one.  And something with fresh fruit on top and whipped cream.  So many choices.  Must return.

Coconut Cream Pie.  $5.50.

"We’ll put our pie up against ANYONE’S pie out there. REAL, from scratch pastry creams so delicious you could just eat bowls of the filling without ever putting it in the flaky, of course, 100% from scratch crusts. Not to mention every kind of fruit, with a traditional double crust or yummy crumb topping."

Online reviews I read all raved about the pie.  People talked about visiting just to get pie ... for breakfast.  It seemed impossible NOT to try the pie, particularly as I'm such a dessert girl, but, we were stuffed.  I suggested getting pie, and my mom laughed at me.

Undeterred, I said we should get a slice to go, even though we'd already been given our check.  She agreed, I think mostly just to humor me.

The chalkboard boasted 6 varieties of pie, 3 cream pies (coconut, banana, chocolate) and 3 fruit pies (strawberry, triple berry crumb, and key lime).  It was the cream pies in particular that everyone raved about, so that narrowed down our choices easily.  Since I don't eat chocolate late in the day I ruled that out, and I didn't think banana cream would hold up well, otherwise I'd totally go for banana cream.  Thus, coconut cream pie it was.  (Side note: in the winter, they make a maple cream pie that people go crazy about.  I'll have to try that when I visit at Christmas!)

Since we got our slice to go, and mentioned that we'd be traveling back with it, the waitress asked for it to be packaged without whipped cream.  Of course, a cream pie needs whipped cream on top, but given that it was 90 degrees out, there is absolutely no way the whipped cream would have lasted.  We added our own later that evening when we got home.

It was a good slice of pie.  The crust was light and buttery.  The pie itself was pastry cream, loaded up with shredded coconut.  Very creamy, tons of coconut flavor, not too sweet.  Whipped cream on top helped complete it, and I think it would be strange without.

Overall a good slice, but, not something I need to go running back for.  If I was in the area and wanting pie, I'd certainly try another slice from them.  I really do have my eyes on the fruit pie.

I think the price was around $5.50, since it was a bit over $6 once tax was added, and my mom was shocked by the price.  A bit high, even for good pie.

Visit #2: December 2014

When I visited my family for the Christmas holidays, there was exactly one place on my list that I wanted to make sure to visit: The Hartland Diner.  I wanted another epic pancake.  I wanted to try the French Toast.  But ... my mother, the amazing woman that she is, had a house full of sweets waiting for me.  Literally.  There were Christmas cookies waiting for me on my pillow.  A whole pumpkin pie for dinner my first night.  And an entire tray of the most amazing pumpkin bread pudding just for nibbling on (it quickly became my breakfast of choice!).  And this was all my first day.  All my other favorites quickly showed up in subsequent days.

Thus, I didn't wake up craving pancakes at any point.  A rare thing for me, indeed.  But I really wanted to go to the Hartland Diner!  So, on my last day, we headed there, to try out the savory options (gasp!).

Service was friendly, and I really appreciated the waitress keeping my coffee cup full at all times.  The Hartland Diner again went on the top of my list of places to return to.

Fresh Fruit Cup. $4.95.

My mother wanted something healthy to start, so she ordered a fresh fruit cup.

When I saw the $4.95 price listed, I thought it was a bit high for the area.  And then I saw the fruit bowl.  For a winter offering, this was incredible.  The fruit was all clearly fresh cut to order.  The mix contained several types of citrus (grapefruit, oranges) with the pith completely removed.  There was kiwi, perfectly peeled.  Pomegranate seeds scattered throughout.  And bananas and grapes.

My mom loved her fruit, and it was clear that whomever prepared it put love into even something so simple, just a fruit bowl.  The price totally made sense once I saw the quality of the product.

Mason Dixon Bene.  $10.95.

"Grilled biscuit with bacon, sausage gravy, 2 poached eggs, and potatoes."

For the main attraction, we went for the Mason Dixon Bene.  This was a compromise between my mother and I, as we were planning to share a meal, having learned our lesson on portion sizes last time.

I had my eye on the sausage biscuits and gravy.  I knew they made their own housemade biscuits.  And sausage gravy.   I also love a good breakfast sausage patty.  But my mother wanted an egg dish, as that is her idea of breakfast.  I don't really care about eggs.  And the idea of gravy for breakfast was foreign to her.  Thus, the Mason Dixon Bene was perfect - she could get her eggs, I'd get the biscuit and sausage gravy.  And since I wanted even more sausage, we subbed out the regularly included bacon with a sausage patty.  When we ordered, I didn't realize quite how perfect of a compromise this would turn out to be - we both loved exactly opposite components of the meal.

The eggs, sourced from Maple Meadow, were again perfectly poached, but to me, they are just eggs.  I tried a few bites, and then gladly passed my egg over to my mom.

I adored the maple breakfast sausage patty, from Vermont Country Farms.  A bit crispy on the outside, perfectly cooked, incredibly well seasoned and flavorful.  My mother didn't want her whole portion, so I quite gladly snatched it up, in exchange for the egg.  I'll certainly seek out VT Country Farms products in the future.

The biscuit was also fantastic.  Super fluffy and moist.  Good buttermilk tang.  HUGE.  And I liked how it was grilled.  The other benedicts on the menu are served with english muffins, but to me, the biscuit is the clear winner.  So good.  My mother wasn't into this, and I again gladly took her portion.  As I staggered out of the diner after our meal, I somewhat regretted it.  It was a LOT of biscuit, but I really enjoyed it.

And, the gravy: there was tons of it.  When I saw the plate, I thought we'd never use it all.  Halfway through the meal, I found myself stealing the remaining gravy from my mom, since she was still a bit weirder out by the whole gravy-for-breakfast thing and wasn't using much.  Just like the sausage patty, it was super flavorful and well seasoned.  It was thick in all the right ways and incredibly generously loaded up with sausage chunks.

For the included side, we had the choice of hash browns or home fries.  Since we got the hash browns last time and weren't all that impressed, we picked the home fries this time.  The potatoes were again the only disappointing part of the meal.  They didn't seem quite fully cooked, a bit hard.  Not very seasoned.  Served skin on.  But, potatoes aren't generally something I'm super excited about anyway, and my mom enjoyed them, and ate my discarded portion in exchange for the biscuit and gravy.

This dish was huge. 2 poached eggs, an absolutely gigantic biscuit, a full sausage patty, a ton of gravy loaded up with more sausage, plus the home fries.  We both left stuffed - my mom had the eggs and home fries, I had the sausage, biscuit, and gravy that I wanted in the first place.  Two people can easily split a meal, although our waitress told us that she once had one person order this AND a giant pancake.  I can't imagine it.  The price was completely reasonable for a full breakfast for two.

If I was ever in the mood for a savory meal again, I'd gladly split this with my mom, or, I'd just get the biscuit and sausage gravy as I wanted in the first place.

Visit #3: July 2015

The next summer, it was time to return again, and, go back to the pancakes.

Crystal's Bene. $12.95. 

"3 poached eggs on Veggie Hash Browns with our own Hollandaise Sauce and an English Muffin."

I'm usually the one suffering from indecision, but at the Hartland Diner, my mom goes through it too.  The menu is overwhelming.  She went back and forth between getting a omelet special of the day, making her own omelet, or selecting from the massive list of benedicts.  In the end she went for a hybrid, "Crystal's Bene".

It wasn't a traditional bene, even though it was called a bene.  It came from a totally different section of the menu from the other benedicts, those were all part of the "Benedict Central Command" section of the menu, which included traditional bene with ham, the smoked salmon she had before, or options with corned beef hash, bacon, steak, buffalo chicken, black bean burgers, spinach, or tomato, all served traditionally over English muffins, with two poached eggs and hollandaise.

Hers came with the English muffin on the side, and was a bit more crispy than we'd desire.  Not burnt exactly, but certainly well done.

The eggs were nicely poached, fairly textbook, with yolks that oozed out just right.  It came with 3 eggs though, which just seems crazy to me.  I know big omelets are 3 egg omelets, but the normal benedicts are all only two eggs, which seems far more reasonable.  My mom couldn't finish it all in one sitting, and I'm really not sure who could.  3 eggs, plus tons of hash browns, plus a full english muffin?  Portion control!

The hollandaise wasn't as good as before.  It seemed too eggy, like it hadn't been cooked properly, or perhaps had separated a bit?  It also was too tangy and acidic.

Underneath this all was the hash browns, veggie hash browns.  I wasn't really into the plain hash browns before, but I tried them anyway.  They were loaded with peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and my mom was quite pleased, but I still wasn't into them.  She loved all the additional flavor.

My mom seemed to like her meal, but she didn't rave about it in the same was as our previous trips.

Create your own pancake: bacon, maple walnut, white chocolate chip. $9.95.

On this visit, I had my mind made up before I arrived.  I was ready for another epic pancake.

I did love the biscuit, gravy, and sausage for a savory option, but my memories of that first pancake were just too strong to resist.  And, on this visit, I went the very first morning I was in town, so I hadn't yet had a week straight of my mom's sweets, so I was ready for a decadent, sweet breakfast.

Deciding I wanted a pancake was easy (although that maple walnut french toast still sounds fantastic!).  Choosing what to put in my pancake was the hard part.  Did I try to just improve my last one slightly, keeping the maple walnut and white chocolate, and just change out the fruit?  Did I go for the butterscotch that I wanted to try last time?  Or ... what if I got totally crazy, and put in bacon?

Yes, bacon.  Sure, it wasn't listed as an option for a pancake ingredient.  But I follow the Hartland Diner on social media, and I know they put crumbled up bacon inside their pancakes from time to time.  I love combining a little sweet and savory.  Plus, a few days prior, I had an epic waffle dessert containing bacon (a S'mores Waffle Sandwich Wrapped in Bacon A La Mode to be exact, with double layers of waffle, stuffed with s'mores ingredients - fluff, chocolate, graham crackers, the entire thing wrapped in crispy bacon, and topped with huge scoops of ice cream.  Don't ask.), and I wanted to relive that insanity slightly.

So, I ordered a pancake.  I started listing my ingredients, "with bacon ..." I said, and the waitress confirmed, "Ok, a pancake with a side of bacon", and I corrected, "no, bacon bits inside."  Then I added maple walnuts because I loved them last time and the white chocolate chips to give a bit more sweetness.  I originally planned to do bacon, peanut butter, chocolate, and banana, a la Elvis, but I just wasn't feeling the banana, for some reason I didn't want chocolate, and peanut butter seemed too dry.  I knew my creation sounded a bit weird, but, I really wanted sweet and savory.  My other thought was to use butterscotch chips, but butterscotch bacon somehow sounded too strange to me.

Anyway.  The waitress confirmed my order, "Ok, a maple walnut - white chocolate chip - and bacon - pancake".  I laughed and said yes, and commented that it might be awful, and she was pretty polite about it.

The wait for our food was longer than expected, during which time I emptied my coffee cup many times.  The coffee (decaf) wasn't actually very good this time, but I added plenty of sugar and cream, and made it drinkable.  I was sad, since I had liked their coffee so much on the prior visits.  I also had to keep asking for refills, as the single waitress was busy and didn't notice my cup constantly running empty.

Finally, the waitress showed up, two plates in hand.  One was a small plate, with bacon. One was a large plate, with a pancake.  You can guess what wasn't in the pancake.  Yup, the bacon.  And she knew it.

She told me that the cook hadn't understood, and made me a maple walnut white chocolate chip pancake, with a side of bacon.  She asked if I wanted it anyway.

My heart sank.  I was there for my epic bacon pancake!  And, I don't actually really like just eating strips of bacon.  I didn't want a side of bacon.  And a pancake with just nuts and white chocolate wasn't exciting.  But we had waited longer than expected already, and were on a tight schedule (I was in town for my little sister's wedding, and getting my mom to take time for breakfast was pushing it as it was ...).  But I really didn't want it.  She could tell.  She said they would re-fire immediately.

Luckily, they knew better than to let my mom's beautiful poached eggs die in the window while mine was re-fired, and brought hers out momentarily.  My mom ate slowly, politely.  She finished one egg.  And another.  I was still waiting.  We both thought it took an unusually long time to cook my pancake the second time.  Maybe I was just starving, anxious about the time, and really anticipating it though?

When it finally returned, it came sans butter or syrup.  They normally put the butter on top, and I asked for it on the side.  The first time it arrive, my pancake was brought with both syrup and butter in little containers on the side.  This time, it had neither.  Sigh.  I still couldn't dig in!

And the pancake?  Well ... it wasn't great.  Some of it was certainly my fault, my combination didn't work quite as well as I hoped.

But some of it was execution.  The exterior wasn't crispy like on my first visit.  It wasn't nearly as fluffy.  Those were two elements that I really adored last time.  It was more just like any old pancake, far, far thinner.

It was however, still just as large in diameter.  Larger than the plate it was served on, which was a very large plate as it was.  This single pancake was again as large as at least 4 regular pancakes.  My mom estimated 5.  So daunting!

I quickly cut it into quarters, and stacked up 3 pieces, so I could just focus on one, and have some space on my plate for dipping.

The bacon bits were crunchy and a bit salty.  That part was about what I expected.  The maple walnuts were sweet, crunchy, and my absolute favorite component, but didn't really go well with the bacon.  The white chocolate chips were the real letdown.  In my previous pancake, they were melted, yielding little bursts of creamy sweetness.  This time, they were entirely unmelted.

So some of my dislike was that my flavor combination just wasn't ideal.  Yes, I had sweet and salty, and I had crunch, but, it wasn't a winning trio.  But really, I wanted a crispy exterior, fluffy interior, melty chip pancake like I had before.  I wonder if it was just cooked at a higher temperature trying to speed it up for me?  Or, a different cook?

Once I got over my initial sadness, it did grow on me, particularly when dunked in plentiful maple syrup.  But unlike my previous pancake, it really needed the syrup, and didn't stand alone.  I also was perfectly able to save part to bring home, whereas last time, even though I was beyond stuffed, I couldn't stop.  (It actually reheated quite nicely - I wrapped it in foil and threw it in the toaster oven.  Foil wrapping kept it moist and prevented it from getting dry, and then I removed the foil at the very end, which crisped up the outside, just how I wanted it in the first place).

I obviously wouldn't get this again.  If I really wanted bacon, I'd go back to the Elvis idea with at least the chocolate and peanut butter, and probably the banana.  But I think it is time to move on from the bacon, and just go for another sweet combination.  I loved the maple walnuts though, so I'd like to keep them.  Too bad they don't really go with the other things I wanted inside, like butterscotch and peanut butter.

Stay tuned, who knows what I'll come up with next ...

Coleslaw, side.  $3.95.

I wanted to take something home with me for later in the day.  I was originally thinking of pie, but sadly they were out of the pies I wanted.

Since most of the food didn't seem like what I'd actually want hours later, I went for the only thing that seemed like it would stand up: coleslaw.  Also, um, I love coleslaw.

The slaw however wasn't great.  It was only cabbage, and only one kind of cabbage.  No carrots, no red cabbage, nothing for a pop of color.  The cabbage was fairly crisp and fresh, nicely sized pieces.

It was more dressed than I'd like, not drowning in the dressing exactly, but, far more than I wanted.  If I had liked the dressing this would be ok, but, alas, I didn't.  I'm not sure why.  It wasn't creamy, although it looked like it should be.  It had a lot of tang to it that I didn't quite like.  The flavor just wasn't what I wanted.

Ojan ate it instead, and seemed to like it.  I still can't pinpoint what it was about it that I didn't care for.

The $3.95 price seemed high for a small side dish of just some cabbage in dressing, even if it was house made dressing.

Visit #4: December 2015

I was back in New Hampshire to see my family for the holidays, and of course, order of business #1 was going to the Hartland Diner with my mom, before the holiday festivities turned us into stress balls.  It was our chance to catch up and decompress, and then get to work cooking and baking ourselves.

As before, service was pleasant, the place had a homey, comfortable feel, and most diners seemed like regulars.

Grilled Biscuit ($2.50), Side of Sausage Gravy ($2.50), Side of Sausage Patty ($2.00).

As always, I had the hard choice between sweet (swoon, those pancakes! Seriously, best ever!) or savory.  But, also as always, I knew I'd be eating nothing but sweets for the entire upcoming week (my mom is a baking machine when I'm in town!).  So, savory it was.

I loved the biscuits, sausage, and gravy from my modified Mason Dixon Bene on my Christmas visit last year, but, as I noted then, I didn't care for the eggs or hash browns.  The menu also has a "sausage and biscuits" dish, which I assumed was just, well, sausage and biscuits, but, it also came with eggs and potatoes, and my mom had no interest in sharing with me this time around, to take the eggs and potatoes off my hands.

So ... I asked if I could order a la carte, and literally order just exactly what I wanted.  It was no problem.  So, I ordered a grilled biscuit, with a side of sausage, and a side of sausage gravy.  Perfect!

The biscuit was huge, and perfectly grilled.  I really love how they grill it, giving it a crust, but keeping it moist, light, and fluffy.  It didn't quite live up to my memory though, it was tasty, but, didn't quite have the buttermilk tang I remembered.

Of course, I wanted the biscuit as a vehicle for the insanely good sausage gravy.  And that is where things fell apart this time.  It didn't just not live up, instead, I really, really did not like it. At all.  It was thick and gloopy, which isn't necessarily bad.  It had tons of crumbled sausage, but, the flavor was just not good.  I'm not sure what went wrong.  I keep trying it, but, alas, I just didn't like it.  I couldn't force myself to eat much more.  This also meant I had an entirely plain biscuit on my hands, so I asked for butter.  The butter helped, but plain butter and plain biscuit isn't nearly as magically as tangy buttermilk biscuit and delicious gravy.  I only ate half the biscuit, and brought the other half home to enjoy with my mom's homemade strawberry jam.  That was much better (at the diner, they have only Smucker's packaged jams, which always seems strange, given how much pride they take in making everything else themselves.  The best jam at a breakfast joint in the area is definitely Lou's, where I don't necessarily love the food, but adore their jam!).

Anyway, the sausage patty was the highlight for me, although it too had changed.  Before it was a maple breakfast sausage patty, from Vermont Country Farms, and now it was just a basic breakfast sausage patty from Farmland.  It was a fairly thin style, but was still juicy.  It was well spiced, and quite tasty.  I really enjoyed it.  Lou's however wins in the sausage department as well, their breakfast sausage remains my favorite ever.

The prices for my cobbled together a la carte meal were great though, with the biscuit and gravy being charged at $2.50 each, and the sausage patty only $2.  I was a cheap date!

Benedict Florentine (plus Avocado & Tomatoes), Hash Browns.

"2 poached eggs over sautéed baby spinach on a toasted english muffin, topped with our FOR REAL Hollandaise Sauce. Served with your choice of hash browns or home fries."

My mom wanted to order the Crystal's Bene again, since she liked it last time.  I told her she wasn't allowed a repeat, and needed to try something else.  She voiced that she wanted perfectly poached eggs, hollandaise, and veggies, so I encouraged her to get one of the veggie benedict options instead (yes, they have multiple vegetarian benedict options).  But she said she wanted all the veggies: the avocado, tomatoes, and spinach.  I told her to just ask for that.  So she did, and got exactly what she wanted.

I didn't try her dish, besides a little bite of hollandaise, since I don't like eggs, but she again raved about how perfect the eggs were, which I could see as well.  They really know how to perfectly poach an egg!

Visit #5: October 2016

Another visit to the east coast, another opportunity to go out to breakfast with my mother.  I really adore breakfast and diners, and going together has become a tradition.  Over the years, we started close to home at Lou's, but eventually ventured to new places.  The Hartland diner was an instant hit the first time we visited, as you read about already.  My very first visit I had one of the best pancakes of my entire life.  We quickly returned, and I had amazing biscuits and gravy.  Sadly, over the next two visits, it didn't quite live up, so it was time to try somewhere else.  So we branched out again, and went to The 4 Aces Diner, where we again had mixed results over several visits.  Unsatisfied with any of our options, it was time to give The Hartland Diner another try.  I'm glad we did.

Very little had changed since our last visit, so, I suggest you start with my previous reviews, since I'll be skipping general details this time around.

We arrived at 10:20 am, midweek, which was excellent timing.  The breakfast crowd was clearing out, the lunch crowd hadn't yet arrived.  Two parties walked out as we walked in, leaving only one other table occupied.  Service was ok.  I did need to ask for refills of coffee, it was never offered, same with more tea for my mom.  But our server accommodated all our requests easily (I wanted a straw to drink my water, I wanted a second plate, my mom wanted only two eggs not three, etc), food was prepared quickly, and we were offered boxes once she saw us slowing down.

I'll return to The Hartland Diner again, as I have still yet to try their maple cream pie or cornbread, but I am always on the lookout for other excellent breakfast options in the area.

Water.

The first thing I noticed ... the water glasses changed!  No more cute mason jars, instead plastic pink cups with colorful bendy straws.

Crystal's Bene. $12.95.

"3 poached eggs on Veggie Hash Browns with our own Hollandaise Sauce and an English Muffin."

My mom went back to the Crystal's Bene, but she had found the portion to be far too large in the past, normally served with 3 poached eggs, so she asked to have it reduced down to only 2.  They happily gave her just 2 eggs, but still charged full price.

I tried a bite of the veggie hash, specifically a mushrooms, just because I figured I should have something savory.  As always, I didn't really like it.  My mom said it was too oily this time, really greasy, and made her stomach feel bad later.

She said the same about the english muffin, it was just too buttery.  Good, but, too much.  I suggest that in the future she ask for it to be lightly buttered?  I'm sure they could accommodate this.

The eggs looked nicely poached, but I didn't try any.  I had bigger things, literally, to get to.

Maple Walnut White Chocolate Chip Blueberry Pancake. $12.95.

This time, I decided to go with the same idea as the first pancake I tried and loved, only to make a slight refinement: blueberries instead of raspberries.

As always, the pancake was massive. Crazy massive. My mom and I both agreed it was equal to about 5-6 regular pancakes. It hung over the edges of the full size dinner plate on all sides.  I asked my server for a second plate so I could cut off a chunk and have a surface on which to eat … I literally didn’t know how to get started otherwise.

The blueberries were an improvement over raspberries because I don’t really like seeds in fruit. They were medium sized berries, likely frozen since it was mid-October.  Generous amount but not overwhelming.  Fine, but, not remarkable.  Maybe strawberries next time?

The white chocolate chips were mini chips, but didn’t melt at all. I love melty chips in my pancakes, so this was disappointing.

As for the maple walnuts, they were basically non-existent. I found only a couple little bits. The white chocolate chips and berries both came in good quantity, so, I’m not sure why these were so under-represented.

The pancake was nicely cooked, lightly browned, certainly not overcooked, not under.  I really wished the white chocolate chips had been able to melt some though, I wanted that gooey-ness.

I was provided with a small pitcher of real maple syrup on the side, but I didn’t use much of it.  The sweetness of the white chocolate was basically enough on its own, but really, I just wanted butter. More and more butter.

Oooh the butter. I’m pretty sure the butter is just Cabot.  But it is very good butter.  And, my pancake came with a huge chunk of it in the middle, already melting in.  I scooped it off as fast as I could, but, the center portion of the pancake was saturated.  In a very, very good way.  It was soooo much more butter than I’d ever put on anything, but wow it was good.

As always I wasn’t remotely capable of finishing my pancake, so I saved half for the next day. I know from past experience that these reheat fine in a toaster oven, and I imagine they freeze nicely too (as I always do with IHOP pancakes).  I did however finish the butter in that first serving.  Every last drop of it.  On just the portion of the pancake I ate.  Horrible, I know, but oh so good.

I enjoyed my pancake, but, it wasn’t life changing in any way.  I’d get another, swapping out the blueberries for strawberries perhaps, or finally going for butterscotch, peanut butter, or chocolate chips.