Black Lotus

Update: We think Black Lotus is closed.

In a word: Leftovers of the United States.

The specs: #0217
Address, hours & details via Isthmus.

JM ate the biscuits & gravy with ham.
Nichole ate the buffet.
The bill was $12, or $6/person, plus tip.
JM gave Black Lotus an A-; Nichole gave Black Lotus a B (see our grading rubric).

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JM likes to tell the story of the truck stop at Exit 4 on I-94. He does not remember its name, only that he went one night after close at Burger King with some good work friends for ridiculously greasy breakfast foods. Good times but not very good food. Oh well. Black Lotus was his first A to Z chance to relive those memories.

Our first impression of the Black Lotus was dominated by the BP-ness of it all.

We thought the decor, heavy on the mystical fountain thingys, was classic.

 

The menu offered breakfast all day. In an effort to be international, wraps, omelettes, and skillets had multicultural themes, including Lebanese, Russian, Chinese, and Mexican, the main difference being which vegetables were included.

That the "half & half" was fat-free was something Nichole noticed all too late. But the coffee was about exactly perfect for a truck stop: hot, cheap and plentiful. Black Lotus also gets bonus points for having raisin toast.

JM's biscuits and gravy were very good, mostly because of the very light biscuits. What he got was certainly better than the specimens left on the buffet. The ham, however, was kind of dry and eewww despite the appealing grill marks.

From a distance the buffet looked like it left a lot to be desired, but in the spirit of the place we figured one of us should try it. Nichole found the soup tureens empty, and there was no fruit to be seen. The only pastry was grocery-store variety pseudo-danish. What the buffet did offer was 5 or 6 chafing dishes with egg, meat and potato dishes (no pancakes or waffles) and biscuits and gravy.

Next to the buffet, there was an attractive setup for what may have been an omelette bar. The mise en place included little bowls of chopped vegetables and meats, covered in saran wrap, and a big bowl of eggs, sitting next to two frying pans on portable burners. After waiting for a while, Nichole screwed up her courage and decided to try cooking her own omelette, but as it turned out there was no sterno with the burners. So that was moot.

She managed to scrounge up a full plate of some sort of egg-bake, bacon, a bit of danish, and a biscuit fragment for comparison purposes. It was all pretty bland and only moderately warm.

But here's the payoff: free long distance at every (smoking) table. You heard right. And though we do understand that our enthusiasm for this perk stems from the fact that we're non-cell-owning freaks, you have to appreciate the gesture.

All in all, Black Lotus is just what you'd expect for a truck stop, and a decent value at that.