Do you love Philadelphia? Us too. Let’s be friends. Sign up for Billy Penn’s newsletter today.
The Morning Glory Diner made a name for itself in the behind schedule 1990s as the place that “made brunch cool again” and paved the way for many other trendy breakfast spots in South Philadelphia and beyond.
Decades later, the Bella Vista restaurant is celebrated for its made-from-scratch pancakes and cookies, signature homemade ketchup and year-round covered patio, as well as long lines on weekend mornings.
But the restaurant may be even more celebrated for the loudly left-wing, anti-Republican messages it spreads from its handmade window signs and, er, colorfully titled special menus.
“Our first was “Scalia Is a Douche,” owner Carol Mickey recalled in 2023, “which was right after he wrote a dissent in the gay marriage debate.”
The dish, a frittata with andouille sausage, tomato, onion and Monterey Jack cheese, sold out in record time. The racy name and many others that followed it attracted the attention of the entire establishment, as well as furious attacks from those who opposed Mickey’s policies.
“They interfered with our phone service. They called, ordered food and never picked it up,” she said. “They would do anything to torment us… And the last thing they did was interfere with our Facebook, our Instagram and our Google websites.”
Despite this, the restaurant remains extremely popular, and Mickey is as vocal as ever in opposing his beliefs and constantly updated dish titles.
Delicious French toast, polarizing ketchup
Samantha “Sam” Mickey opened Sam’s Morning Glory Diner in 1997 after bartending and waiting tables at several restaurants, including the equally successful Down Home Diner in Reading Terminal Market, which inspired her menu.
Among the often gloomy and lifeless restaurant breakfasts available at that time, the recipe for success turned out to be serving really good, home-made food in a charmingly decorated nearby restaurant.
“At a time when so many of our old-fashioned diners are moving on to the age of microwave convenience,” raved Inquirer restaurant critic Craig Laban, Mickey’s eatery “has breathed new life into the genre, pouring heart and soul into comfort food that’s still a shame to make at home.”
Although at times it betrayed her inexperience as a chef, the menu made good apply of fresh, local produce and meats and included many favorites, such as challah French toast with strawberry compote and fluffy pan-baked frittatas filled with baked potatoes and smoked ham, Laban wrote.
The critic also mentioned ketchup, a polarizing condiment that has been compared to marinara sauce. Initially, it was made in a 12-hour process of mixing apples, cloves, ginger and tomato.
After the success of Morning Glory, several other more or less “funky” brunch spots followed, such as Honey’s Sit and Eat, Sabrina’s, and Green Eggs.
Mickey battled brain cancer, and her death in 2012 at the age of 44 was mourned by the restaurant community and beyond. Her mother, Carol, who is a lawyer, took over the management, and a few years later she began giving the restaurant her own distinctive imprimatur.
“You have the biggest lips”
Since Scalia frittata, the daily menu has continued to feature up-to-date dish names that reflect Carol Mickey’s disdain for President Donald Trump and conservatives in general, as well as her sympathy for Democrats – particularly District Attorney Larry Krasner, a longtime regular, and Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The menu included “Hate Makes You Hungry” tacos and “Gov Shapiro is pro-life” scrambled eggs, as well as dishes that said Krasner or Shapiro “eats for free.”
Others include “Ban Guns Not Pastrami Scramble,” “Read a Banned Book and Then Eat a Breakfast Quesadilla,” and current titles such as “The King’s Castle Needs Scrambled Eggs” (with turkey sausage, spinach, shiitake and smoked mozzarella), “Secy Duffy is a Douche Chilaquiles” (referring to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation), “Shapiro 2028 Sausage and Sauce eggs” and “Enact the 25th Amendment, then eat Eggs Benedict.”
In 2018, Shapiro, then the state’s attorney general, visited Morning Glory to highlight his opposition to a Trump administration proposal that would allow employers to accept tips from employees. “After the press conference, I told him, ‘Why us, not from everywhere in Pennsylvania?’” she said. 34th Street Warehouse. “He said, ‘You have the biggest mouth.'”
Staff also designed window posters with messages on topics ranging from supporting democracy to supporting aid for Ukraine, as well as political messages on a board inside. An image of Trump regularly appears at the restaurant’s entrance, and a handwritten pro-choice poster with an image of a crossed-out clothes hanger hangs in the window.
Mickey’s outspoken politics still occasionally infuriates right-wing critics, but the restaurant remains a favorite among brunch lovers, especially those who lean left.
“People tell me it’s like paradise,” said Cotton James Mcgowan, Mickey’s grandson and the restaurant’s manager. “For every person who doesn’t like what we do, there are three more who love it, support it and tell everyone else about it.”
