Bob’s Diner in Watervliet is 46 years old. The luxe Scarlet Knife, located 1.4 miles up the hill in Latham on the same road, turned 3 last month. Bob’s never closes, meaning it serves 168 hours a week; Scarlet Knife is open for 33. A large garden salad at Bob’s costs $9.05 less than either of the salads at Scarlet Knife.
Both offer eggs Benedict. Given how vastly different the restaurants are, does it make any sense to compare them?
Actually, yes. It proved to be an intriguing exploration of the subjective nature of perceived value in a restaurant meal. And since I found a sidekick willing to eat two similar breakfasts two hours apart on a Sunday morning, we had eggs Benedict at both places as well as breakfast hash: corned beef at Bob’s, crab at Scarlet Knife.
The tale of the tape
Bob’s Diner eggs Benedict: $12.95. No menu description. Shapely eggs, ideal poaching, noticeably salty Canadian bacon with a hard sear on the edges, widely varying doneness on small-cube home fries that needed more seasoning, good toasting on English muffin, glossy and buttery if standard Hollandaise…