Mokka

Leaving town one Saturday morning, we paused for breakfast at Mokka, located in Newport. We'd been hoping to use our Entertainment book coupon for some time, and this gave us our opportunity.

Mokka is a hole-in-the-wall sort of place, with two doors only one of which works (the left one -- we wandered from one to the other to figure it out). Inside, the wall color and decor suggest a trendy, hep, possibly even frou-frou spot with nooks and such things. But the crowded tables, professional (as opposed to student) wait staff, the loud sizzle of grease from the half-wall-enclosed kitchen -- all of this undermines the frills and lets you know you're really in an honest, dineresque joint, just with earthtone paint and some pretty (and local) art. A combination of authenticity in atmosphere and a lick of polish on top? I like it.

As Cincinnati USA and AOL Cityguide note, Mokka is known for its Mokka french toast, which I tried. Forthwith, then, a rundown of some digestibles.

• Mokka french toast is, as advertised, battered in cornflakes and topped with "creme brulee pastry cream" and bananas. The "three slices" are three half-slices, or 3 smallish triangles. The "creme brulee pastry cream" (not creme brulee, as one site puts it, which is a thick custardlike dessert) is a thin sauce drizzled over the top -- quite sweet, with a pleasant vanilla-custard flavor, making the syrup bottle completely unnecessary. The "Texas toast" is more 1/2-inch thick, not 1-inch thick. But these caveats aside, the french toast was delicious and, with its accompaniments, sufficiently filling. A nice item, and pretty reasonable at $6. The dish comes with a choice of meat (ham, sausage, bacon or goetta) and a choice of breakfast potatoes or fruit cup.
• The three-meat frittata, which Lisa tried, blends ham, sausage and bacon with three cheeses (not sure which, but including cheddar) in a sort of omellete which is cooked in a flat, pancake shape, rather than rolled. Meaty, cheesy and creamy, this dish was very good, and also cost $6. The frittata comes with a choice of breakfast potatoes or fruit cup.
• Breakfast potatoes at Mokka are fairly typical squares (a bit larger than most, though). What makes them unusual is their puffiness, their lightness. They are crispy on the outside, but light and fluffy inside. I'm no food scientist, but I think this may come from high-temperature deep frying. Anyway, it makes the potatoes quite good. (Note: neither of us tried the fruit cup; the diner-ish aspect of Mokka made us suspicious about the quality to expect. . . .)
• Goetta is a local meat I'd heard about, read about, seen, but never eaten. So I decided to try it. (My understanding is that goetta blends meat and seasonings, including onion, with pin oats mixed in.) The goetta was a nice, thin, rectangular slice, fried brown. It was quite good indeed!

All menu items seemed reasonably priced. While the selection is small -- one side of one page -- it seemed sufficient for breakfast. As we were there for that, I didn't pay any attention to the sandwich selection on the bottom half of the menu. We decided Mokka was worth another visit, even without another coupon.

Rating: 10 (3, 3, 4) (What's this?)
Lisa's rating: Sandals, a newspaper, a summer day