I’m now on out my third stop in an attempt to eat my way through Tanya Tandoc’s favorite Wichita restaurants. This week: breakfast.

I’m a huge breakfast fan, but not a fan of eating it during the typical breakfast hours. So when a restaurant has a sign in their window that reads “breakfast anytime,” I know that’s my kind of place. The Beacon is just that place. It seems like Sundays are usually the day when my boyfriend and I decide we want a brunch-like meal. On our list of possibilities was Granite City; they definitely a great brunch, but we both weren’t hungry enough to justify paying that amount to indulge in four plates of tasty brunch or drive half across town one way or the other. I had heard amazing things about The Beacon, so off we went.

Tanya reccommends getting the vegetable plate (since she’s not a fan of breakfast food), but I decided I would venture outside her suggestions.

The Beacon (909 E. Douglas) is located right next to the Wichita Eagle building, and for the three and a half years I’ve lived in Wichita, it’s been invisible to me. The restaurant is nothing fancy from the outside and not really fancy when you walk in the door either. But just you wait; your taste buds will think it’s fancy enough.

The menu consists of everything from pancakes, french toast, omeletes of many varieties, and chicken fried steak. There’s also a list of specials on the wall so be sure to check that out as part of the choice as well.

I quickly spotted the biscuits and sausage gravy on the menu decided on that. The boyfriend had his eye on the french toast with eggs and bacon. After ordering, take in all the sights around you. Lighthouses and similiar art line the wall, most even for sale. With a location in the heart of downtown, The Beacon attracts quite the range of demographics, especially Sunday mid-morning. You can people watch to your heart’s content with the crowds of after-church goers, families, and the “I just rolled out of bed still drunk” types.

Okay, back to the food. When it arrived, I seriously thought that the bisquits and gravy were going to eat me. The server even commented, “You’re eyes got pretty big.” No lie, folks. These portions are huge. I learned on my second trip there (yes, I went two Sundays in a row) that the owner makes sure the cooks are putting food all the way to the border on the dishes for a complete large portion. No skimping here! My plate was full with 4 bisquits and topped with a sea of sausage gravy. I also had a side plate of hash browns. Note: those of you who don’t like everything covered with gravy make sure to tell them no gravy on top of the potatoes. I learned this as my hash browns were covered with a miniature sea of gravy. And the total for all of this goodness?  $5.

The boyfriend’s meal was just as large with eight pieces of French Toast. Eight! You didn’t read that wrong. All of them were deliciously coated in a heavenly cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. He enjoyed his eggs and bacon as well, but I was more focused on my B’s and G’s and the sea of gravy.

People that know me can definitely say I drink my fair share of coffee. And I may or may not have said I was going to try to cut down on my coffee drinking intake. But all that aside, the Beacon has the most fantastic coffee I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I repeat, most amazing coffee! It’s definitely not your frilly three shots of espresso, one pump of caramel, non-fat milk kind of coffee. It’s your basic black coffee that has a little bit of heaven mixed in somehow. I tasted it two weeks in a row to confirm this thought and it stayed true. And the servers aren’t stingy about filling your cup back up if you are even a tad low.

I have been conquered by the bisquits and gravy two weeks in a row and thought a 5 mile run might be in order before the next trip, but then I realized running that much in one sitting scares me a little. So the server told me an important tidbit: they serve half orders of biscuits and gravy! Problem solved. Now I won’t have to wear the stretchy pants on my next visit.

Anyone out there have a favorite at The Beacon? Let me know what your usual is.

Related posts:

1. [eat] Lunch with Liz: Caffe Moderne
2. [eat] Best Places to Cure a Hangover
3. [eat] Breakfast at Copper Oven
4. [eat] Lunch with Liz: Lawrence Edition
5. [eat] Lunch with Liz: The Donut Whole