Breakfast menu

A Southern breakfast, cooked the long way

A soul food breakfast is not a continental spread. It is a full plate, built to carry someone through a working morning, and most of what is on it takes real time to prepare.

Grits are the foundation. Ours are cooked slow and stirred rather than mixed from an instant packet, which is why they hold their texture instead of turning to paste on the plate. Potatoes and onions go into a heavy pan and are left alone long enough to catch colour on the bottom. Country ham is salt-cured and intensely savoury — a small portion goes a long way, and it is nothing like the wet-cured ham most people know from a supermarket.

The salmon croquette is the item that surprises visitors most. Canned salmon is mixed with egg, onion and seasoning, shaped by hand and fried when you order it. It is a thrifty dish with deep roots in Black Southern home cooking, and at Silver Sands it appears on both the breakfast line and the lunch line. If you order one thing here you have never had before, make it that.

Bologna is worth a word too. Thick-cut and griddled until the edges curl, it is a breakfast meat that people either grew up with or have never encountered. Regulars order it on a biscuit with an egg and a slice of cheese.

What to order the first time

If you want the most representative plate on the menu, take the breakfast plate with country ham, grits and potatoes & onions. If you have a sweet tooth, the pancake special with sausage covers both ends of the table. And if you are in a hurry, a biscuit sandwich with egg and cheese goes out of the door in a couple of minutes.