(MANDEVILLE, La.)  In the heart of Old Mandeville there is a groovy diner that is known for their mouthwatering made-from-scratch breakfast and lunches. Liz’s Where Y’at Diner at 2500 Florida St. in Mandeville has been the best breakfast spot on the northshore for longer than I can remember.

The owner Liz Munson, who is a New Orleans native has a deep love for the music and culture that surrounds New Orleans. When she first started working at a snowball stand in her early years, she immediately fell in love with talking to and serving people. After her last job as a waiter at a Vietnamese restaurant, she was tired of suppressing her Yat background, so she quit her job and decided it time to open her own place. She headed to Florida to get inspiration for her menu and design, which is where she met an artist named Wendy Grantham. Wendy’s bright, positive and funny signs caught Liz’s eye, and their meeting sparked a friendship that is still there today, as Wendy’s signs cover the bright yellow walls of the diner, bringing the beach vibes right here to Mandeville. You know you have arrived when you see the funky graffitied mural covering a side of the building, completing the fantastic design.

When you arrive at Liz’s, expect to wait a short amount of time, because they are never not fully packed on a weekend morning (but trust me, it is fully worth the wait). After waiting my 15 minutes, I was seated at the bar and browsed the menu trying to decide from the multitude of delicious items, including where yat shrimp and grits, four different types of french toast, a large selection of egg scramblers, and my personal favorite, eggs benedict. I ordered the mix ‘n match eggs benedict, which is where you chose two egg benedicts and get one of each. The two I chose were The Crabby (a grilled tomato with a crab cake, egg benedict, and cajun hollandaise sauce) and the fried chicken benedict with sausage (a biscuit with fried chicken, eggs benedict, smothered in country sausage gravy). Their two choices of sides are spuds (thicker hashbrowns) or grits; I went with the grits, but added cheese and debris.

After a tedious ten minutes of waiting, my food came out in a blaze of glory. The colors of The Crabby were all spectrums of the rainbow from the maroon grilled tomato, the crispy brown crab cake, and the contrasting light yellow hollandaise with the  fresh green onions topping it. My first bite was a good texture combination of crispy from the crab cake and soft from egg and tomato, plus the thick savory taste of hollandaise paired perfectly with the subtle saltiness of the crab cake. I then started on the Fried Chicken Benedict. The biscuit was incredibly fluffy, and the chicken was incredibly hot and crispy with a fantastic country gravy. All of this topped off by cheesy, debris grits is more than enough to fill you up.

The beachy atmosphere is a 10/10. The friendly, well-chosen staff is always a pleasure, and the food is out-of-the-park good. It was a little pricey, so I give them my rating of 8 out of 10.

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