Orange -- 75 W Harrison
 

Yesterday morning, Wendy, Nick and I met up at Orange (on Harrison) for a late breakfast. Wendy had the pancakes, Nick had the French Toast Kabob (leaving them to comment on theirs) and I had the Pancake Flight of the week -- this week's theme is Italy.

Willie, we were thinking of you so I snagged the card so could do a description...the four mini stacks (3 each of plain silver dollar pancakes -- my pancakes by themselves were "okay" in taste - but I certainly wouldn't order the plain pancakes there on future visits based on this sampling) were: Canoli (a sweet mousse made of ricotta & mascarpone cheese, garnished with crushed peanuts, lemon zest & powdered sugar), Tiramisu (Coffee mousse and marsala wine reduction, garnished with cocoa powder and lady finger cookies), Venezian Sabaglione (OMG>>>this was my favorite>>>marsala wine infused sweet pudding served over sliced cantaloupe, mango & strawberries), Panna Cotta (Vanilla flavored flan garnished with caramel sauce -- my #2).

I had a side of the chicken-apple sausage which was "okay" - wouldn't order it again on future visits.

Nick & I split an order or Frushi -- two had red grapefruit, the other two pieces had pineapple & kiwi (sorry, forget what the rice was infused with). While Nick wasn't impressed with the frushi (see his comments above), I really did enjoy it and will order on future visits. It was $2.50 per person which covered two pieces/person. We didn't ask, but given their negative reaction to Nick's request to leave off a peanut garnish on the pancake flight due to food allergies, I doubt they'd let you make any changes to the pieces they bring out (i.e., since Nick didn't care for grapefruit, sub an extra kiwi/pineapple one for a grapefruit one).

Their reason for "no substitutions" (which I didn't notice on the menu or card) was because it gets so busy in there on the weekends. While it was full, I didn't notice at any point a line of more than 1 or 2 parties waiting to be seated....not like the Clark St location. In short, if you have food allergies, don't expect them to accommodate your needs, you'll have to find something else. :td: Aside from that, I'm looking forward to future visits and have a few things in mind I look forward to trying ^

Clarke's in Evanston & Various Walker Bros
 

Enjoyed Clarke's frequently when I was in grad school oh so many years ago. Still open.

Never gone wrong with the various Walker Bros. Frequented Wilmette, Glenview, Highland Park and the one on Waukegan out in some north 'burb. Favorite was the sourdough flapjacks.

Egg Harbor Cafe in Arlington Heights has consistently good breakfast.

My absolute all time favorite traditional breakfast spot in Chicago is the Golden Nugget. I usually frequent the one on Clark but they're all about the same. Hardly a fancy place but I dream about the 4x3... I've been known to arrange for long layovers at ORD now that I don't live in Chicago anymore just to make a stop at the Nugget.

Hilton has a good buffet breakfast on the weekends. I forgot the restaurant name but it was within the Hilton Hotel on Michigan. It was tad expensive, $18 for breakfast buffet. But you get unlimited freshly squeezed OJ and lots of other good stuff.

Most Hiltons seem to have pretty good breakfast buffets. The European Hiltons generally charge about 30 Euros for their buffet breakfasts - and often have OJ that is little better than orange colored Hi-C. Keep that in mind and it will seem cheap! :)

As a result, I was amazed at how awful the Crystal City (DC/VA) Hilton's buffet was. About what you'd find at a small city Holiday Inn.

But I digress. We need to get back to Orange, maybe some Sunday when I have a 2pm White Sox game to attend.

But I'm still looking for a place that can rival the kind of southern-style breakfasts that I used to have as a teenager; really good bacon and sausage, biscuits, gravy, grits, country-style hashed browns, etc. Of course, I used to cheat because I had access to a full restaurant kitchen, but every once in a while I want to have that kind of heart-attack breakfast not in a hotel buffet setting. I have to go try Wishbone some morning for that, but I don't want to go alone.

In the suburbs, I have to agree with the people who recommended Walker Bros. In the city, Ann Sather's is a great place for breakfast. Also, in Wicker Park there's a place called Bongo Room. It's on Milwaukee ave and they have really good food. Also, Victory banner on Roscoe was mentioned, another good choice.

Can't forget Valois in Hyde Park--where the book Slim's Table was set. The food isn't spectacular, but the crowd and conversation is.

A review of two more places for breakfast:

Andersson's
Westfield North Bridge
520 N. Michigan Ave.
(312) 222-0559

The sign on the door calls Andersson's a patisserie and chocolate shop, but beginning at 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday, it also serves some classy breakfasts to go.

A made-to-order granola parfait ($6), mixed with sliced fresh peaches, blueberries, watermelon, organic milk and yogurt, was a great way to start the day. So was a cup of hot fresh-brewed lotus green tea ($2.50), selected from 38 imported loose-leaf varieties. (Coffee lovers beware: For java, you'll need to go elsewhere. Andersson's, oddly, doesn't serve coffee.)

Both orange and grapefruit juices ($3) were amazingly good. Management buys them fresh-squeezed from First Season, a company that makes daily deliveries to several of the city's most posh hotels. Pastries and quiches come from 28 different sources. Breads are brought in from three bakeries.

The crust on the asparagus quiche ($7.50) was a bit soggy, but the filling was delicious, and so was an almond croissant. Cinnamon muffins and Scandinavian sticky buns ($3.25 each) looked great but tasted as if they were from the previous day's order. Cheese blintzes ($8.50) were too doughy.

Classical music plays softly on the sound system, and the welcome is friendly. The employee on duty greeted me like a regular on my second visit, suggesting that in the future, I call ahead so she could have my order waiting.

I may just do it.
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Fox & Obel Café
401 E. Illinois St.
(312) 379-0112

The cafeteria-style cafe at the rear of the upscale Fox & Obel Food Market offers a lengthy breakfast menu. Some, but not all, would transport just fine.

Forget truffled eggs Benedict ($10) and pick the lox platter ($11) instead. Our order contained plenty of lightly salted smoked salmon garnished with generous slices of cucumber, capers, leaf lettuce and the best tomatoes I've been served yet this summer.

Sturdy steel-cut organic oatmeal ($3.50) with raisins, bananas and maple cream syrup tasted delicious back at my desk. So did chicken sausage ($4), flavored with apples and sage, and a granola parfait ($6) with vanilla yogurt, strawberries and blackberries. Orange juice ($3.99) and grapefruit juice ($2.99) are squeezed fresh each morning, then sealed in plastic 16-ounce bottles that make them great travelers.

Breads and pastries are baked in-house daily. You won't go wrong with the orange Danish ($1.89), speckled with orange zest and glazed with marmalade, the buttery croissant ($1.69) or the feather-light blueberry muffin ($1.69). But nothing about the sweet angel food muffin ($1.69) says breakfast. It should be renamed a cupcake and moved to the noontime shift.

The cafe opens daily at 7 a.m., but even an hour later, when I arrived for three separate visits, the unsmiling staff could have used a wake-up call. Outside, the weather was steamy. Inside, there was a chill in the air.

This is a little bit of a backhanded compliment, and probably not one that will go down well with the purists. But...

If you like a good, tasty, decent breakfast, and you hate to wait and search for parking as I do, I suggest:

Noyes Street Cafe in Evanston.

Another reluctant admission is that while the service is fine, I've found it to be a bit surly depending on the particular member of the waitstaff.

I know, that doesn't sound like much of an endorsement, but I actually like to eat on a Saturday or Sunday morning rather than drive myself nuts looking for parking, or stand around waiting for over-hyped food.

Does anyone else think those Ann Sather rolls/sticky buns/whatever they are called are soooooooooo overrated? I think they are awful.

Yeah, nothing worse than a warm gooey, frosted cinnamon roll. :mad:

Yes. I've never seen the fascination with them, or for that matter that entire class of breads. I might do Cinnabon once a year at O'Hare if I am taking an 8pm flight and want dessert, but that's because I'm stuck at O'Hare.

Ditto on Michael's so long as you stay with the breakfast menu. For 24 hour joints, I go to Michael's and the Hollywood Cafe on North and Ashland. Before work, I go to Nookie's at about 1700 North Wells and a place by the Howard Johnson's at 700 North LaSalle, which actually has free parking. (I can't remember the name of the place, and I don't think it matters.) Tempo on State Street is good and always gets good reviews. The Pancake House on Bellevue in the Rush Street area is very, very good so long as you only want pancakes and don't mind standing in line. For Tempo and the Pancake House, you have to be in the neighborhood for some other reason because parking is horribly expensive.

Needless to say, I like going out for breakfast!

There is an Andersson's in our office building. Great place, especially for feeding the 3pm chocolate cravings which many of my colleagues seem to be afflicted by. I haven't had anything disappointing there yet, but have heard a few comments around the building about them being a bit too pricey for the 'hood. I've been wanting to try one of their quiche.