Tip Top Meats European Delicatessen(Carlsbad)- Meaty Breakfasts (and a meaty dessert)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog with some 'regular' people who post.  Today, Cathy is posting while Kirk is working and Ed(from Yuma) is out and about (in Yuma).

I saw an advertisement that Tip Top Meats (which I've posted about many times) was going to serve Thanksgiving dinner for $12.95 beginning at 1:30 that day.  Trying to keep with our now non-tradition of going out for our Thanksgiving meal, The Mister and I planned our day around this time, but so did many other people; the line was to the door when we walked in.  We turned around and did something non-traditional ( same as Kirk's Thanksgiving Day).   A few weeks later, we drove North to Tip Top for breakfast. The breakfast menu is to the left as you approach the cash register, where you order and pay (food is brought to your table; you get your own beverage and water).
 The Mister chose the 'Big John' breakfast($7.98).  Three eggs, potatoes, toast (rye) and -all you can eat- meat.  Bacon is a choice, but because some people have been overly greedy in the past, now you can only have a single order/it's not all you can eat.  Because we like but don't go crazy over bacon, the breakfast sausage and ham were part of the first order, with a return trip requesting the Polish sausage (bratwurst is also a meat choice).  The sausages are made here; the breakfast sausages are large and have a hint of spicy red pepper as part of the ingredients.  The thick slice of ham is quite wonderful and the Polish sausage is garlicky, peppery and smoked.  All in all a great tasting meal.    My 'Continental Breakfast' ($8.99) consisted of two thicker slices of cheese along with two quite large, crusty fresh fluffy rolls and two slices each of liverwurst, an in-store deli meat made in aspic with ham, mustard seeds and peppercorns (it's not head cheese, but a milder flavored, pleasant deli meat), two types of salamis and two thin slices of a wonderful Black Forest ham. This was a perfect breakfast for me.    Walking through the store, we checked out the refrigerated section, countertops filled with fresh breads and pastries and the freezer area.  Then, there were shelves just past the cash registers where you pay for the store purchases.  That rack is for the Tip Top brand baked items.  Mincemeat- made with beef suet-real mincemeat!   The fresh, buttery and flaky pastry filled with the mixture of apples, raisins, currants, lemon and orange peel, sherry wine, brandy, citrons, spices and beef suet just tastes like Winter.  Only made until December 31, it's a favorite holiday treat. 

Tip Top Meats and European Delicatessen  6118 Paseo Del Norte Carlsbad, CA 92009 Website open daily 6 am-8 pm

Comments

[Sandy]

I haven't been to Tip Top in years, so it's time for a visit soon (but not on a holiday). Years ago, we decided to have dinner there only to find the line out the door; it was St. Patrick's Day.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Great looking breakfast! So if you get bacon are you done or can you additional meat of a different variety?

[Cathy]

We figured out that Tip Top was open at 6 on Thanksgiving and served breakfast and lunch until 1:30 when the turkey (or prime rib) dinner for $12.95 started, Sandy. Next holiday, we will go in for a breakfast/lunch overlap and leave before the crowds. So many choices and no need to do a 'traditional' meal.

All the breakfast choices are good here, Soo. You can only order bacon one time so they tell you to do that first-as one of your initial two meat choices; they don't want people coming up asking for a 'refill' of bacon. It's a thicker, smoked here, quite meaty bacon, which I liked in a BLT ordered here a few years ago, but the other meat choices make for a great breakfast also. I've seen people return for refills up to five times(that means seven meat servings!), but just can't eat that much (especially after the eggs and potatoes and toast).

[Faye]

I have been wanting to come here forever - esp for their breakfast. Thanks for the heads up on the bacon - that would have been amazing AYCE option to try out. I heard it gets packed for breakfast - did you ever feel rushed to eat and leave?

[Cathy]

You can still get one order of bacon, Faye (it's four or five slices of a very meaty, thick, homemade-smoked in house- bacon; not that thin, crispy flavorless stuff usually seen for breakfast) and really, since Tip Top is a meat store, it's great to be able to try a good selection (of all you want ham, breakfast sausage, kielbasa and bratwurst) along with three eggs, all those potatoes and toast for $7.98. We try to go everywhere early and since Tip Top opens at 6 a.m., have never a problem with seating. My receipt shows we paid at 8:19 a.m. last Saturday and there wasn't a long line waiting to order and pay then find a seat when we left (which had to be after 9 a.m.).

[Caninecologne]

What a great variety of meats and for a fair price too. Well,winter break is coming up for me,so I can head there in the early morning hours so I can beat the crowds. It also helps being anti social.

[Loren]

It might be a german place but that picture of your continental breakfast was so 'murica that it should've come with an eagle and fireworks. :)

Since discovering this place thanks to you, i try to make it to tip top at least 1x/month to indulge my carnivore side (and do some grocery shopping).

[Cathy]

I think you'll like it here, cc. Some of the foods or sides may be a bit different for you but not crazy weird; interesting and tasty to try and then explore the store shelves after. We like early too, it seems calmer.

Liverwurst, Loren, liverwurst...and Black Forest ham..and those fresh, soft insided, crispy crusted rolls: not that much 'murica as toast and eggs and a fruit cup is. I'm so glad you know about Tip Top and can enjoy it.