Cup & Saucer Café

Cup & Saucer Cafe
3000 NE Killingsworth

Date: 4/15/07
Arrival: 10:30am









Okay, so I've already reviewed this particular Cup 'n Saucer, but it doesn't hurt to check for consistency of awesomeness, right? Right. Plus this breakfast was completely in honor of the lovely Sara moving back to Portland the night before. The poor girl has been craving corn cakes for months while living in NYC. She was finally able to put that craving to rest this past Sunday morning. Our wait time was rather long (almost 30 minutes), but that's to be expected when you arrive at a popular breakfast spot after 10am. It was worth it in the end because we lucked out with the best booth in the back and an extremely friendly waitress who was not shy about refilling the coffee cups.

As I mentioned, Sara ordered corn cakes, or should I say corn CAKE, as one cake is definitely plenty! She gave it two thumbs up, wayyy up.

I can't recall the name of Kara's meal, but it was some sort of awesome potato scramble with eggs, green onions, cheddar, garden sausage, and maybe a couple of other mystery ingredients that I am forgetting. She was happpy with it, I was happy looking at it.

I just realized that I have neglected to mention in this blog one of the strangest things that Kara does during breakfast time. She creates these weird little Kara concoctions on the side of her plate. Usually it's ketchup with half a bottle of black pepper mixed in. This time it was ketchup with aardvark sauce swirled together. It looked quite disgusting, but she assured me that it's delicious. I'll be sure to document this next time with the camera.

I think I'm becoming somewhat of a predictable breakfast person. French toast, again? Well, I'm sorry but I've become a sucker for French toast on Challah bread (holllaaaa!). It's pretty much the best thing ever. The fruit cup on the side was also delicious.

In exciting breakfast news, Jay will be making a triumphant comeback to the world of breakast in the next couple of weeks due to a work schedule change. You may remember Jay as Kara's bearded fella who ordered biscuits and gravy quite often. He'll be back in full force soon (sans beard!).

Wait Time Inside: 30 minutes
Wait Time For Food: 15-20 minutes
Service: Friendliest out of all of the Cup 'n Saucer locations
Food: totes awes
Options: lots of scrambles, very vegan/veggie friendly.
Price: $7-8
Atmosphere: Busy, friendly, nice art on the wall

Juniors

Juniors
1742 SE 12th

Date: 4/7/07
Arrival: 9:30am









Juniors is an old favorite of mine and has a special place inside my withered old heart. It is nestled inside a cute neighborhood on SE 12th. In my past breakfast life, I always arrived at Juniors at around 11am with about a 30 minute average wait. On this particular morning I was up early and so was my roommate, Mandy. We managed to arrive at 9:30am, beating the crowds and landing a cozy booth in the back of the restaurant. Juniors is not huge, there are only a small handful of green, sparkly booths and a couple of tables.

To prove just how early we were there - take a look at this cute old couple that was sitting next to us. I immediately fell in love with them (my apologies for the dark photos).

I convinced Mandy to order the Country Scramble (mushrooms, garden sausage, parsley, jack cheese, and black pepper). She gazed at the sausage with a suspicious eye, but I took a bite and reassured her that it was not real pork sausage. She ended up enjoying her meal a lot, thankfully.

I ordered the Greek Scramble (spinach, tomatoes, feta, and garlic). It was delicious and Juniors has great toast. I’m not sure why their toast is so good, it just is. I remember their potatoes being better about 4 years ago, but that’s okay.

This was yet another great breakfast experience at Juniors. Out of the 5+ years I’ve been eating there, I can’t remember a single time I’ve been disappointed. The wait staff also earns bonus points for having the same music taste as me, it’s nice to be serenaded by your favorite bands while eating an amazing scramble.


Wait Time Inside: 0 minutes
Wait Time For Food: 20 minutes
Service: Very friendly Food: Great scrambles, vegan and veggie friendly
Options: There are many options, sometimes I have a hard time deciding.
Price: $7.25 – 8.50
Atmosphere: fun, old school décor, great music!

Bijou Cafe

Bijou Café
132 SW 3rd Ave

Date: 4/3/07
Arrival: 8:00am







I’ve already written a proper review for Bijou, but I just wanted to write a quick note to say that this place has become my new work hangout. It’s convenient for those who work in Old Town/China Town. Luckily I have co-workers that are breakfast fans. Robin and I ate breakfast at Noon a few weeks ago and I tried the French style mushroom & cheddar omelette. It was a mediocre omelette with not much flavor, but it did the job. The sautéed potatoes were great. Then a week later I had my 60-day performance review at Bijou with my boss. I ordered the Brioche French Toast that I had had before. It was just as delicious as I had remembered. There are only a small handful of decent breakfast locations downtown. Bijou’s service is always fast, I’ve never had to wait for a table. My only complaint is that there isn’t a good scramble on the menu, but I can always count on their French toast.


Wait Time Inside: 0 minutes
Wait Time For Food: 15 minutes
Service: Fast and Friendly
Food: Omelettes are just okay, French toast is great
Options: Hash, omelettes, pancakes, French Toast, oatmeal, but no scrambles.
Price: $9-11
Atmosphere: Classy & friendly

Sagittarius

Sagittarius
2710 N Killingsworth St

Date: 4/1/07
Arrival: 11:00am








This NoPo bar quickly became a favorite for my friends and I when it first opened. The décor is fun, yet hard to describe – a mixture of 1960’s mod and Japanese design with old school diner flavor.

The staff at Sagittarius are all friendly. Perhaps that can be attributed to the owners, Mike and Robin Clark, who are two of the nicest people you will ever meet. I wouldn’t consider myself an official “regular”, especially since I live nowhere near the Overlook neighborhood, yet Robin always manages to remember my name. Her husband Mike’s second “job” is working as a full-time member of The Jicks, aka Stephen Malkmus’ band. This might explain why there are a couple of Pavement-themed drinks on the menu.

Recently Sagittarius added Sunday brunch to their menu. When a couple of Lurvely London Ladies came to Portland, we decided to take them to Sag to try out their new meals. The “Late Riser Brunch” does not begin until 11am. They were clearly catering towards people who were out partying the night before, as there was a drink on the menu called “hangover helper”, which Lynsey quickly ordered. Each meal came with tater tots, a fun alternative to the usual hash browns. I believe we got to witness history in the making when both Lou and Lynsey had their first ever tater tot. It was a beautiful moment.

I ordered the Rising Sign Scramble (spinach, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, basil, and parmesan cheese). It was good, but I’m thinking it would have been better with cheddar instead of parmesan cheese. The tater tots were delicious, but I found myself wanting potatoes and/or hash browns instead. I really shouldn’t complain because this was the cheapest breakfast menu I’ve seen in quite some time. I ordered a mimosa to wash everything down, because it just didn’t feel right to be inside the Sagittarius without alcohol by my side.

Kara was impressed with her Siesta Scramble (black beans, cheddar ‘n jack cheese, topped with salsa and sour cream). She was very excited to have tots on her breakfast plate.

Lou ordered scrambled eggs with toast. I think she was secretly wishing that she had some tots on her plate as well, especially after trying some of ours.

Lynsey was happy with her Rising Sign Scramble without parmesan cheese. She described the “Hangover Helper” drink as tasting like cough syrup. Don’t let it stop you from ordering it though, as it is a delicious cough syrup!

If you find yourself hungover at 11am on a Sunday, Sagittarius is the place to be for a quick and cheap breakfast. Even if you arrive before 11am, there are Tuffy Toilets outside to save the day.

Wait Time Inside: 0 minutes
Wait Time For Food: 15 minutes
Service: Fast and Friendly
Food: Tater Tots for breakfast!
Options: Not a lot of options, just a few scrambles.
Price: $5-6, cheapest breakfast ever
Atmosphere: fun and hangover-friendly

Noah's Bagels

Noah’s Bagels
3541 SE Hawthorne

Date: 3/17/07
Arrival: 10:00am







Noah’s is a good place to stop for a cheap and quick breakfast bagel, especially when you are busy shopping on Hawthorne. If you are an observant Portlander, you'll probably notice that the picture up above is not the Noah's on Hawthorne but instead is the one on NW 23rd. I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the outside, so this one will have to do for now.

I could’ve easily gone to the Cup ‘n Saucer across the street, but did I want to wait alone for 5 hours to get my food? No way. Noah’s is fast and reliable. It is most definitely not the best breakfast in town, but if you are on the go, it is a perfect power meal. All you need to do is stand in line for 5 minutes and voila, breakfast bagel. It’s like fast food without the guilt of eating at a fast food chain (that only makes sense in my brain). Their “egg mits” are pretty tasty. I ordered the egg mit with spinach, mushrooms, and swiss. It could’ve used a bit more flavor flave (perhaps garlic), but that’s okay. I was happy, satisfied, and able to move on to more important things like shopping for a birthday present.

Wait Time Inside: 5 minutes
Wait Time For Food: 5 minutes
Service: Fast! No table service, just stand in line.
Food: Not the greatest, but always reliable.
Options: “Egg Mits”, breakfast paninis, and bagels with shmears, of course.
Price: Egg Mit + bottled water = $5.48
Atmosphere: fast, lots of seating, nice windows for prime people watching