Crackings in Uptown Grayton Serving Scrumptious Breakfast, Brunch & Lunch

This past March a new sign appeared outside a familiar Uptown Grayton eatery. “Crackings” is the new name - superior breakfast, brunch, and lunch is their game.

When they sold most Another Broken Egg Café’ locations, Clayton Green and his family decided to go in another direction, re-naming the Grayton Beach and Destin locations “Crackings.” Clayton and wife Kristy Green are “all in” with their “new” restaurant which took over where Another Broken Egg Café’ left off.

The engaging couple have been together long enough to finish each other’s sentences and are truly bubbling over with their shared excitement concerning Crackings Grayton.

“Clayton and I dove in head first with him continuing his efforts in the ‘back’ of the house, and me taking charge out front,” says Kristy.

The Crackings menu has undergone a complete revamp with the new offerings attracting lunch crowds that rival the usual breakfast enthusiasts. The Chicken Pot Pie Biscuit Bowl is so beautiful you won’t want to cut into it, but once you do, there won’t be any left for taking home! The buttermilk biscuit bowl is brimmed with scratch- made chicken pot pie filling and served with a side of fresh fruit.

The new Lobster Gouda Grits has taken on a life of its own with customers raving about the creamy gouda cheese grits topped with lobster sautéed in Crackings’ coastal butter.

Breakfast customers can still rely on the Crackings classic Two eggs, Country Potatoes and an English Muffin. Eggs made the way you like them, benedicts, omelets and scramblers, French toast, pancakes, sweet rolls, and lox and bagels are just a few of the popular breakfast items.
A new sweet breakfast menu item is the Praline Pecan Pancakes that fill up the entire plate…two huge sweet cream pancakes filled with sweet crunchy praline pecans, drizzled with scratch-made cinnamon cream cheese icing.

Having their own restaurant gives the couple the flexibility to experiment with innovative ingredients that they like to try out on their regular customers.

“They just come in, and rather than ordering from the menu, our loyal regulars will just say ‘put something on me,’” laughs Clayton. “If they really like it, the meal will make it to our out front Specials  chalk board."

It’s hard to think of any Crackings menu item as “standard fare.” Only the freshest of ingredients will make it to the kitchen with Clayton and staff ensuring that every plate out is the best. Kristy laughs when she describes Clayton as the “avocado babysitter” as he spends an inordinate amount of time making sure they are “just right” for inclusion in the now-favorite Avocado Flats offering, a “Lighter Side” item featuring crushed avocado, cherry heirloom tomatoes, and a balsamic glaze drizzle on toasted organic muliti-grain bread.

“We have a lot of folks who are very health conscious and ride their bikes here to enjoy our Lighter Side offerings such as our Quinoa Berry Bowl,” says Kristy.

The Bowl consists of house-made granola, blueberry quinoa, honey-infused coconut milk, strawberries, and blueberries.

Heartier offerings include the Crack Down BLT, NOT your run-of-the-mill BLT! Fried green tomatoes, lettuce bacon, pepper jack cheese, all over medium eggs, and scratch remoulade on toasted organic multi-grain bread will surely fill up your empty tank. Crackings country brand bacon is exclusively smoked over corn cobs. Other lunchtime favorites include their Ranch Hand Burgers, Casa Quesadillas, the Crackings Club, and Bacon Shoulder Sandwiches.

On the “Cheery” side, mimosa’s, bloody marys, champagne and beer are available. Quenchers include fresh-brewed coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice, epic chocolate milk, hot chocolate, hot tea, raspberry iced tea, and sodas.

Like so many “light bulb went off” moments, the name Crackings came to Clayton’s mother, Marcia, in the dead of night when she awoke with the name, logo, and font revealed.  She wrote it all down for safekeeping, offered it up to the family and whala! Crackings was born!

Clayton and Kristy seem to be most excited about their children, Walker (5) and Karter (7), continuing in the family business. The kids have been exposed to the workings of their restaurant almost since birth and have garnered their own following as they busy themselves bussing tables and greeting customers on weekends.

“It’s really cool to have them here…. they are eye-level with the tables and they can be seen smoothing out the table cloths and making sure they are clean, all the while greeting customers as they come in. They see how hard we work and want to do the same thing,” says Kristen.

One aspect of their former restaurant that the couple has kept in place is their “No Wait” system, a free app that allows customers to be notified of their place in line so that they can arrive at the restaurant just minutes before they are seated.

“Our customers love this, especially during tourist season when they would normally be facing a 45-minute to an hour wait.  They can use the “No Wait” app from their home and watch as their place in line moves up.”

This is not the first rodeo for Clayton and Kristy and all they’ve learned in their restaurant experience (at such a young age) has kept them on the map here in SoWal. The local restaurant business is a very competitive one and they thank their local staffers and the local community for supporting them in their transition. Crackings is open from 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Location: 51 Uptown Grayton Circle, across from Grayton Seafood Company. Phone: 850-231-7835, www.crackingsfl.com.