[Note: I’ve been a reader of the Little Red Bike Cafe blog for quite some time. This post caught my eye, and they graciously agreed to let me post it here]
Long before we ever started a breakfast cafe, Evan and I were addicted to the breakfast experience. We loved nothing more than casually arising, and waking up next to one another over hot plates of food, which often ended up supplementing the majority of the food we’d consume for the rest of the day. More than dinner, Evan and I cherished the opportunity to spend time together chatting in the morning, exchanging tidbits about our upcoming day or from the newspaper over salty skins of potatoes and sweet slurps of orange juice.
Nowadays it seems nearly impossible for us to take in breakfast. If we’re working service at the cafe it’ll be nearly 3pm before we even consider sneaking in a bite of food, relying heavily on a steady intake of caffeine from the moment we awake. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of this habit because like I mentioned, Evan and I absolutely love breakfast. And quite honestly, I miss spending that time with him. Since opening a breakfast cafe, dinner is now the meal we spend together. Which has certainly had it’s perks over the past three years. We now have plenty of places to bring friends and family when they come in to town and we want to show off our city’s impressive dining scene. We’ve found that dinner in Portland provides the easiest opportunity to accomplish this. But breakfast. What can I say? It’s a special time for us, whether we’re eating the meal together or dishing it up for others. Suffice to say our life revolves around it.
I’ve heard many people scoff at the breakfast scene wondering why someone would pay for the meal that is most easily prepared at home? It doesn’t get simpler than eggs, potatoes, and toast. Right?
My take on the notion (you know you can trust me): Finding a kitchen, home, or otherwise that consistently respects the delicacy of an egg for example, is actually harder than one might think. Grisly, burnt eggs abound in the breakfast scene, and as a place that touts itself as an “egg sandwich house”, and cooks 1000+ eggs/week, we have experienced just how difficult it can be to pass that respect and knowledge on to everyone who attempts to cook one.
Besides, there is also something to be said about breakfast and its simplicity, not to mention the intimacy it can provide between two diners. I don’t know about you, but I consider myself to be at my most fragile when I’m first coming to in the morning, and having the ability to begin my day with the man I love, dunking bits of buttered toast into thick black coffee, certainly takes the edge off when it comes to facing the rest of my day.
When I’m at work I’m often asked where we like to eat breakfast when we travel outside the confines of our own menu. Naturally, we have our favorites around town. Here are a few we hold near and dear to our hearts, and the dishes we feast on during that special time of day.
Broder
2508 Southeast Clinton Street
Portland, OR 97202-1239
(503) 736-3333
Addicted to: black coffee, grapefruit mimosa, seasonal breakfast bord, Broder club, aebelskivers
Coffeehouse Northwest
1951 West Burnside Street
Portland, OR 97209-1918
(503) 248-2133
Addicted to: Espresso, coffee, cappuccino, iced 5 oz. Americano, cups of granola with soy (and sometimes regular) milk, and an assortment of locally made pastries
Tasty n Sons
3808 North Williams Avenue
in the Hub Building
Portland, OR 97227
(503) 621-1400
Addicted to: black coffee, pork cutlets, toast & jam, the house bacon burger
Genies
1101 Southeast Division Street
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 445-9777
Addicted to: black coffee, orange juice, huevos rancheros with sunny-side eggs, vegetarian benedict with garden sausage, huckleberry pancakes
wine&dine says
LOVE THIS!! I’m one of those “why eat breakfast out” kind peeps…..that is until I moved to Portland. The whole scene is a cool, social, intimate, bracing for the day, kinda thing. Go it alone, with family, friends or your dog, it starts the day off with a whole new energy picked up from people happy to get their first cup coffee.
Lovely piece thanks for sharing.
livetoeat says
I too am in love with breakfast. I don’t care how late in the day it is, if I haven’t eaten breakfast (even if it’s only ciabatta toast and tea) I’m just not ready to eat anything else. I’ve been to all of the places listed above with the guitar player in my photo. We actually just tried Tasty and Son’s for the first time yesterday. Every place we have been I hear him say, ” It was good, but not as good as Little Red Bike.” We even had a discussion about the big space at Tasty and Sons and whether it would be too big for Little Red Bike which has grown out of their small space. You can tell that the owners of Little Red Bike love breakfast. It’s obvious from the care they put into their food. I still have not gotten over a little side of key lime butter that came with french toast I had there last summer. Simply the best!
Cuisine Bonne Femme says
I’m not a “breakfast” person by any means (coffee. Maybe a bagel. If I’m getting really fancy maybe some Pho or French Onion soup. The end). That said I love, love, love Little Red Bike and I love their blog even more. It’s good writing. And they are geniuses. Portland is lucky.
Rg says
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I say yes to that. If I can put my social skills together early on the rest of the day is a snap! If the meal sucks however, it can be an indication of the way the rest of my day unfolds. That is why it is so important to nail breakfast and why we all have fav’s. Those places that make help us start the day with confidence, vigor and often times from what I see around me, less of a hangover! Yes, we are very blessed to have as many options for great breakfast meals as we do.
Concrete Jungle says
This is a great post. I’m relatively new to the Northeast and now I’m curious about Tasty N Sons. I would add the Bakery Bar on Glisan to your list (I know you didn’t ask!). Also, I am definitely headed to your place. If your food is as delicious as your pictures are tempting – I’ll be in for a treat.