Ellington

Good Dog’s new breakfast menu doesn’t look anything like the North Shore restaurant’s regular lunch and dinner offerings.

There are no hot dogs.

“I love hot dogs. They’re my favorite food, but there are no hot dogs for breakfast,” said owner Susan Paden. “We know that in addition to hot dogs we do sausages and potatoes really well, so we said ‘Let’s do a breakfast.’”

Taking some of the ingredients Paden was already using in different lunch and dinner variations, she and her staff set out to create a morning menu that highlights Good Dog’s hand-cut potatoes and cased-in-house sausages in a new way for a different meal. The new offerings feature breakfast sandwiches and hash plates that include different combinations of baked breakfast potatoes, poached eggs, breakfast sausage, chorizo, a new chicken-apple sausage, vegan or vegetarian options, cheeses and lots of different veggies.

“I think the food is excellent and people will be surprised,” Paden said of the new menu. “If you believe in us for a dog, sausage and fries, then believe in us for breakfast too.”

So far the staff favorite has been the “Chorizo,” which combines Good Dog’s own chorizo sausage, cheddar, jalapenos, tomato and avocado with sides of lime crème and salsa. The “Chorizo” can be served on a bed of baked breakfast potatoes or in a Niedlov’s bun.

With so many other great breakfast restaurants in the area, Paden said she wanted to make sure her restaurant filled its own niche and was true to itself. She didn’t want to reinvent the wheel or duplicate some of the same menu items other restaurants were already doing really well, she said.

“I feel like the more options there are, the better it is for all of us,” said the owner. “We wanted to do breakfast our way so that it’s a complement to what’s already being done around us.”

Good Dog now serves breakfast from 7-10:30 daily and prices range from $4-$9.50 for a full plate with sides included.

In addition to the new food items, the restaurant has also created some new beer cocktails that can be served with breakfast or all day long. So far, one of the favorites have been the “Brass Monkey,” which combines a Shock Top beer in a glass with orange juice. The “Buddy Mary” and “Shandy” have also been big successes.