Julie's Restaurant-Albany, Illinois

For the last several weeks I have been taking off one day a week (since our business is a little slow this year) and it gives me a chance to pick a day when the weather is decent and get in a long ride to help my training for the Colorado mountains. Today the weather was going to be excellent and I convinced Patti to go with me on the tandem.

Last week I did a breakfast ride to Gin's Bar & Grill in Lone Tree, IA to try their $1 pancakes. You can read my entry on June 4th for the details of that trip. Today I decided to head in the opposite direction to my favorite breakfast location, Julie's in Albany, IL. The ride to Albany is all on the bike path-so we didn't have to worry about highway traffic and the trail is not very busy on week-days. We were on our tandem at Sunset Marina in Rock Island at 6:30 this morning and headed east and north on the bike trail. The wind was out of the northwest 5-8 mph with the temps in the mid-50's.

We had a good ride to Albany and were ready for a hearty breakfast when we arrived. Of course we ordered their special pancakes with eggs and coffee. The cost is a little higher than Gin's, but the pancakes are bigger and tastier. (this is a 14" pancake-ok I may have coaxed Julie into pouring a little more batter on this one)Upon leaving I talked to Julie's husband about the status of this landmark restaurant in Albany. I have been coming up here 3 or 4 times a year on my bike for the last 6 years and I learned 2 years ago that they were trying to sell it. They had no viable offers and have decided to retain the restaurant and keep it open. It used to be open 7 days a week and this was detrimental to their family life, since Julie did all the cooking; so now they are only open Monday through Friday. Last September they were still open on week-ends and our Savanna ride stopped here.

After our appetites were taken care of it was back on the tandem. The wind had shifted to the north and we had a tailwind coming back until we got to Moline where the trail veers west. We ended up with 73 miles for the day, which was a new personal best for Patti.

Gin's vs. Julie's:
Gin's is cheaper and closer for the Muscatine group.
Julie's has a better view (overlooks the Mississippi River) and their pancakes are better and bigger.

I like my pancakes--so if anyone has another good place for a breakfast ride, let me know!