Entering Bourne

Waffle War!!

Choose Your Side In The Imminent Cranberry Highway Breakfast Battle!!

The former Barry's Lighthouse on the Cranberry Highway is being converted into a Persy's Place. Depending on which local I ask (some of the locals don't listen that well, and may be confusing it with the recently-torched Penner's Place), they will actually be returning to Wareham.

http://www.persysplace.com/

They have a few of these around Plymouth County and Cape Cod (Mashpee and Hyannis), and I've spent quite some time at the Kingston and Plymouth ones. Cornbread and baked beans with every meal! They keep it very down-home. It's about as close to being fed by some large-family Mom as I've felt anywhere south of Arthur and Pat's in Brant Rock.

They're taking over a building that, according to my grasp of the local gossip, has been a lobster pound, a Thai joint, a clam shack, another lobster pound, and a contemporary dining place that may or may not have been run on Bolivian Marching Powder. The building has been unoccupied for the better part of two years.

They fall into a fierce local breakfast rivalry, going head to head with The Breakfast Nook, Cup Of The Bay II, Leo's, Flip-Flops, Crack Of Dawn, that diner in the old railroad car that I forget the name of, Friendly's, and the mighty rotary IHOP. All of these places are on pretty much the same street, within 5 miles of each other.

You have to stand in line at the local breakfast places in the summer, so maybe the year-round economy (or the hyperinflated summer one) can support another player in the Omelette game. If not, someone may have to go.

It's interesting to bet on the contenders, as you figure IHOP has the location and the corporate backing. Can an expanding local institution wedge itself in between the Nook and Leo's, or maybe even knock one/both out of contention? Money, jobs, benefits/disadvantages to other nearby businesses, scrambled eggs... there's a lot on the line.

Never a dull moment here.

The Cranberry Highway region has been depressed for some time now. What used to be the main road to Cape Cod became a sidestreet when the bypass went in. Buzzards Bay and Wareham have since suffered a notable lack of traffic that even a Wal-Mart couldn't straighten out.

Businesses have failed, or are currently failing. Quintal's tapped out, right around when I moved here. Burger King abandoned it's Tugboat Rotary digs to be closer to the Wally in Wareham. The addition of a new franchise-friendly mall (Wareham Crossing) on the other side of town has further stepped on the throat of the local business owner.

Granted, Persy's will be in Wareham... but it's about 150 yards from the Bourne border, and will be an immediate player in the local breakfast economy. The Persy's people have obviously taken a look at the local scene, and have decided that they can make a go of it here. Leo's and The Breakfast Nook better start featuring larger portions soon, because a Reckoning is coming.

By special request, for Piggie!