Bites Nearby: Kumquat Mae Bakery Cafe

Kumquat Mae’s slogan “Baby, you’re in for a real treat!” is 100 percent truth in advertising. Drop in for breakfast and choose from “real” homemade bagels, cinnamon rolls, donuts and muffins. Choose from signature baked goods, such as spinach-garlic bagels, blueberry cream cheese muffins and spinach and sundried-tomato bread. The menu boasts not one, not two, but three Southern style pancakes: traditional, banana pecan and blueberry. Egg dishes abound, from the Kumquat Mae Breakfast Plate, the restaurant’s version of the “two eggs any way with grits or home fries,” to traditional, lump crab and veggie eggs benedict. Kumquat Mae takes the term vegetarian-friendly one  step further: SOYsage and fakin’ bacon get equal billing with sausage, bacon and ham steak. Egg dishes and the Breakfast BLT can be ordered with real or fakin’ bacon. Other breakfast selections include the Tofu Scramble, Belgian waffles, stuffed French toast and a smoked salmon plate. The cathead biscuits are a mainstay and can be ordered alone or served with milk sausage gravy.

The lunch menu offers crisp seasonal salads, including the Asian spinach salad and hot and cold sandwiches. Choices range from a Philly cheese steak to a nut burger with sweet potato fries. “My Mama’s Pimento Cheese,” the restaurant’s take on the house pate of the South, is worthy of the name. Kumquat Mae now has a pouring license and will be serving dessert, tapas and beer and wine on Friday and Saturday evenings. When you feel like you deserve a treat, head over to Kumquat Mae and you will be rewarded.

18 Barnett Shoals Road. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. 706-769-1105. Pricing: Reasonable.