I’m not so wedded to a single diner that I’m willing to fight over it. I think Bowling Green has a number of really good places to start the day, a number that aren’t so good, and a fair number that are overrated. So in that sense I’m pretty nondenominational; I’ll go anywhere that serves good food.

So I’ve been to quite a few diners around town. I think Teresa’s is one of the friendlier places at which I’ve eaten. There’s a homey, country atmosphere to the place that feels like an oasis, especially as the city slowly devours the surrounding area. The patrons talk between tables, even to strangers. As we sat down, the waitress immediately asked if we were ready to order. When we asked for a menu she kind of laughed, as if she didn’t hear that very often. It was endearing.

The smoking section is well-separated from the nonsmoking area, so if you want to eat your meal in a haze of stale nicotine, benzene, ammonia, mercury and lead, you can. On the other hand, if you want to enjoy every aspect of your food – the smell, the sight, the taste – without coughing up a lung or going home smelling like a cheap bar, the air in the nonsmoking section is pleasant, clear and the best way to get everything out of your meal.

But the atmosphere is not the reason to go. Plain and simple, Teresa’s makes a pretty darn good breakfast. The restaurant serves chops, steaks, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, and eggs cooked in a variety of ways.

I started with a sausage patty, a pancake, a biscuit with gravy and a pair of eggs over easy. This was a delicious pile of food. The eggs were perfectly cooked – just salty enough to support the flavor without burying the taste of the eggs.

If I’m not reviewing a breakfast of this type, I like to break up my eggs amid the hash browns, making a salty, mucky, eggy pile on which I pour some kind of hot sauce. Inexplicably, in the middle of a table full of good, home-cooked food, the hash browns at Teresa’s are a McDonald’s-style square patty of prepackaged potatoes. I think Teresa’s can do better than this, given that the food made in-house was all excellent.

The plate-sized pancake was fluffy but thick, chewy and filling. The syrup was sweet without being overwhelming. On its own with a rasher of bacon, two of these would be more than enough of a meal.

The biscuit and gravy was kind of hit-and-miss. Thick with flour and milk, but without much else to round out the flavor, the gravy was a bit bland and heavy. The biscuit, however, was fantastic, and my dining companion and I slathered them with jelly and scarfed them down. Wonderful stuff.

I also had a western omelet, which was incredible, and I think I could eat one of these every day and never get tired.

The western omelet is traditionally filled with bell peppers, onions, and ham, although it is one of those dishes that every restaurant puts its own stamp on. The omelet I had at Teresa’s was a huge mass of eggs wrapped around bacon, ham, and onions, with liquid cheese flowing out the ends. The whole thing was about the size of my forearm. As if that wasn’t enough, it had a great flavor.

My only suggestion for improvement would be to replace the processed liquid cheese with some kind of shredded cheddar. Although this dish was fabulous, there’s just something about liquid cheese that reminds diners of cafeteria nachos. This is a minor, minor point, though. I ended up making a pig of myself over the omelet. It was a bit embarrassing.

I don’t want to get in the middle of a religious dispute, but I think that taking into account the atmosphere, friendliness and food, Teresa’s is certainly one of the best breakfast places in Bowling Green. I’ll be back.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235 or via e-mail at malexieff@bgdailynews.com.

TERESA’S RESTAURANT

509 Gordon Ave.

• 782-6540

Hours: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Saturday,

7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Diner food

Price range: $1.25 to $7.95 for breakfast

Libation situation: None

Smoking: Yes