Meet the members of the Sacramento Breakfast Club

You've probably been wondering something like, "Who are these folks?" and what motivates us to write reviews on various restaurants that serve breakfast in the greater Sacramento area. Why would four middle age guys and a couple of their wives be such fans of breakfast, a meal that most folks take for granted, or think that the meal should merely consist of a bowl of cold cereal, or a pop tart hurriedly thrown in the toaster, and eaten as you dash out the door to get into your car on the way to work.

Photo: Core Breakfast Club members, from left to right: Brad Holther, Eric Rench, author, photographer and webmaster, David DeMario, Dan MacLeod, Matt Donnelly, Latasha Banks, and Mark McIntire.

The Sacramento Breakfast Club consists of core members David DeMario, Mark McIntire, Brad Holther, Matt Donnelly, Brian Gardiner, Bruck Coulter, Dan and Bev MacLeod, and Eric and Sharlene Rench. With the exception of Bev, who is a homemaker, and Sharlene, who is now retired from A.T.& T., all of the club's core members work together for A.T.&T., in the major network surveillance center in Sacramento, California. Bev and Sharlene join the group on a regular basis, and we enjoy guest appearances of other friends and co-workers as well. It's really a lot of fun for friends to get together and chit-chat about stuff that you can't discuss at work.

Photo: March 28, 2008 at Railroad Cafe. Left to right: Mark McIntire, Mike Collins, Eric Rench, Dan MacLeod and David DeMario. Thanks to the charming Sherry Jones, co-owner of the restaurant, for snapping our photo.

Photo: Club photo from February, 2009, from left to right: Dan MacLeod, Brad Holther, Sergio Ganoa, David DeMario, Bruce Coulter, Mark McIntire, Matt Donnelly, and Eric Rench.

With the exception of I.H.O.P., as we just had to review their Colorado omelet, The Sacramento Breakfast Club prefers to go to mom and pop, locally owned and operated restaurants, unique to the Sacramento area. We prefer to sample the cuisine preferred by the locals, which is unique to the great central valley of California. We love to dine on such exotics as linguica and eggs, and biscuits and gravy, fine delicacies unique to the west coast that you won't find in New York City. We shun national chains, as who wants to eat food that's institutional in nature and is the same from coast-to-coast? In addition to our preference of the cusine of the local area, we prefer to patronize the small, unique operations. There is no better way to get to know an area than to visit a local restaurant or bar, where you get to meet the locals and dine with the locals.

Photo: April 02, 2010 at Pancake Palace, in North Highlands, we enjoyed a large and diverse meeting of club members. Left to right: DeeAnn Harris, her daughter, Sydney, DeeAnn's charming mom, DeeAnna, Brian Gardiner, Mark McIntire, Eric Rench, Sharon Angelo, Matt Donnelly, Sergio Gaona, Bev MacLeod, Dan MacLeod, and Latasha Banks.

Believe it or not, these restaurants are not chosen at random, as a lot of thought and discussions occur in the week leading up to our dining at the week's chosen establishment. We usually choose Friday, as it gives us something to look forward to and discuss during the week. Even if one of the hard-core members have a Friday off, we will come in on our own time, as we take our breakfasts seriously. During the week preceding the blessed event, we spend many hours discussing what restaurant to try, and the pros and cons of various restaurants that we've eaten at, read about, or heard about. The local paper, the internet and a prominent local magazine often feature reviews of various restaurants, which we eagerly read and discuss during the night, sometimes for hours at a time. Many of our co-workers chide us in a friendly way, as when we get discussing food, breakfast and restaurants, some will shout, "Here they go again, talking about food!" The Sacramento Breakfast Club takes breakfast seriously!

Photo: May, 2008 members of the Sacramento Breakfast Club, enjoying breakfast at Waffle Barn, from left to right: David Demario, Bev MacLeod, Dan MacLeod, Brad Holther, Sharlene Rench, and your author and webmaster, Eric and Rench. The photo was cheerfully taken by or charming waitress, Lisa, at the Roseville location.

Photo: June 22, 2011, we're enjoying breakfast at Pacific Street Cafe, in Roseville. Left to right, Toni Fenton, Mike Casela - Toni and Mike are brother and sister - Eric Rench, Sharlene Rench, Dan MacLeod, Bev MacLeod and David DeMario.

Photo: September 30, 2011, we're enjoying breakfast at Jim Denny's Cafe, in mid-town Sacramento. Left to right: Bev MacLeod, Dan MacLeod, Gerry Townsend, Betty Townsend, Eric Rench and David DeMario.

Photo: March 01, 2013 at Uptown Cafe in Sacramento. Left to right: Sean McCloud, Bev MacLeod, Sharlene Rench, Teri McCloud, Dan MacLeod, Melissa Cabral and Eric Rench. Melissa Cabral was a special guest today, as Melissa is a reporter for the popular morning television show, "Good Day Sacramento," and she joined us for breakfast today, and aired portions of our breakfast meeting on live Sacramento television.

Photo: January 31, 2014, breakfast at Legends and Hero's in Roseville. Left to right: David DeMario, Jeff Brown, Eric Rench, Sharlene Rench, Carolyn Gamble, Robert Kipperman, Teri McCloud and Sean McCloud, who is proudly flashing his Carmichael gang sign, as he does in nearly every photo.

Photo: The last meeting of the Sacramento Breakfast Club happened on Friday, June 06, 2014 at Kim's Country Kitchen, located in Lincoln. We really didn't anticipate it to end, but over the 8 years or so, it had seemed to run it's course, and meetings never happened after this. Left to right: Eric Rench, Jeff Brown, Teri McCloud, Robert Kipperman, Sharlene Rench and Tessa McCloud.

As a natural outgrowth of the creative process, when the Sacramento Breakfast Club visits a restaurant, the author brings his digital camera and his digital recorder to record the sights and sounds for posterity, and to publish the information on this web site. If he can manage it, he interviews the staff in an offhand manner, as the author feels that if the readers are provided with a bit of background about the restaurant, it leads to a more enjoyable experience.

So there you have it. Now you know as much about The Sacramento Breakfast Club as we do. Bon appetit!

Update: Visit other restaurants in the greater Sacramento area by clicking HERE for NorCal restaurants, and HERE for Placer County restaurants. The Sacramento Breakfast Club lives ON is spirit!