Motto

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, get your breakfast first.

--Josh Billings (1818-1885)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Brunch Cafe, 935 Rt. 22, Fox River Grove, Illinois

Friday night tailgate on the South Side and White Sox baseball has to be followed by late Saturday morning breakfast. Close by. Hearty. Not too heavy. This is when I like coffee--well, slightly less sweet, slightly more coffee-flavored, slightly warmer milk.

The Brunch Cafe is within walking distance of my house. The skillet I ordered was generous, and the coffee was mood-altering. I'm sure anyone who is a coffee aficion would say this was pretty good stuff. Most of all, Shelby was with me. Any breakfast with great company is better than every one without. Lots of chuckles about funny things said and done the night before. Inside jokes.

Along with foggy-headed snickering, I needed needed the taste of comfort, so I order the Meat and Potatoes Skillet from the Eggsquisite Skillets section of the menu--simple, hearty, and hot. Not much need for elaboration here--ham, bacon, sausage, and cheddar cheese with two eggs, served over what the Brunch Cafe calls brunch potatoes with either toast or pancakes. I ordered the eggs over easy and wheat toast. Coffee, of course. The skillet was $8.99.

The restaurant has only been open a couple of years, and it has become a popular place. Lines out the door on many Sunday mornings. The dining room is spacious, comfortable, clean, and very simply and tastefully decorated. I enjoy eating here two or three times a year.

For me, the Brunch Cafe misses, however, on a very important detail--community. That's what great breakfast places have, regardless of the decor or the cleverness of the menu. That sense of community is created by the people, and even though I'm not awarding any Penalty Points, I'm also not awarding any Perk Points for some very simple reasons. I had to wait for coffee. I had to ask for butter. Our server said when she handed us the bill, "Well, that's it for you boys," never pausing to ask if we needed anything else.

The Bottom Line: $8.99

Not a particularly good score for a good restaurant. The Brunch Cafe does many things well and has expanded to two new locations. I wish them well. I also wish they had the human touch.
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Scoring Guide

The best score a breakfast can receive is, of course, The Perfect $4.00. A base score is determined by the cost of the entree. That score could rise if the other factors that contribute to breakfast (service, atmosphere, and food quality, for example) warrant a penalty, scored in penalty pennies. The worst score a breakfast can receive is $10.00.

Theoretically, a breakfast could score better than a $4.00 if we walked in, were given the best seat in the place, got called by our names, were served pancakes, two eggs, bacon or sausage, and hash browns for $3.95 with great coffee or ice cold juice. But, if that happens, we won't tell a soul about it because we don't want a horde of other cheapskates messing up the place.

Let's say that Shelby ordered a plain Belgian waffle, a side order of bacon, and orange juice. Since the waffle cost $5.25 and the bacon and orange juice were sides, the breakfast's base score begins at $5.25, and Shelby could opt to begin the score at $5.00 if the conditions warranted it. If the service were bad, then Shelby might add a quarter penalty. If the seats were uncomfortable, he might add a dime, and if his syrup had that icky film on the top, he might add a nickel, resulting in a final score of $5.65. I have to say that $5.65 is a very respectable score.

Let us know how well the scoring guide works for you.