So first of all, I’m the “regular” person and I’ll let you guess who’s a bit of a “food snob.”
I’m not much of a breakfast person. I enjoy breakfast foods but not enough that I want to cook first thing in the morning or even go out. I’ll make a big breakfast about a dozen times a year for my husband and me but I really have to be in the mood. And when I do eat a “big” breakfast, which I consider to be eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns and more bacon, I tend to lose any self-control about portion size and eat till I feel like bursting, which makes me feel groggy for the rest of the day, which is why I don’t usually eat breakfast. In fact, when it comes to dining out for breakfast, I never do, unless we’re on vacation, which even then, I tend to skip.
Recently though, I’ve had several friends mention Over Easy, A Daytime Eatery located in downtown Colorado Springs where I heard the lines are super long every single day. My friend Sarah and her family have gone several times, just to leave when they heard the wait was 45 minutes plus (the days they went were Saturdays and Sundays and they had a 1-year old with them who doesn’t necessarily want to wait that long.) A friend of mine, who works downtown, said he can see the line of people waiting to eat every morning when he looks out his office window. Then I looked up reader reviews on Over Easy and out of hundreds of comments, I read less than a dozen bad ones. And the negative comments were more about the wait than the quality of the food or prices. So even though it meant I’d have to put my makeup on earlier versus later in the day, I told my husband we HAD to go check it out. I mean, how good could breakfast foods be that so many people were willing to wait in long lines…even in the cold weather we’d been having.
*Note…Our pictures don’t do justice! We had a new phone and used that for the first time that morning when taking the pictures.
My husband and I went on a Friday morning, thinking it might be less of a wait on a weekday. We got there around 9:20 and were told there was about a 25 minute wait. Now let me just say, my husband doesn’t want to wait 25 minutes for dinner, much less breakfast, but he humored me and we decided to wait. It’s a good thing too since I had gone to all the trouble of getting dressed and fixing my hair and that hour of getting ready was not going to be wasted on an Egg McMuffin. We waited in the very small foyer with a lot of other hungry people but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the wait. In fact most of the conversations I was hearing were from repeat diners, talking about what they were going to order and what they had ordered in the past and they were excited about their upcoming meals. There was free coffee and fruit-infused water for those who were waiting too.
My first thoughts as we waited were of how cool the interior was with its exposed brick wall, dark wood and eclectic art. It had an “urban loft feel” that made me feel more like I was in Boulder than the Springs. I loved the ambiance, which was warm and welcoming, filled with the low hum of happy chatter. Now while I was getting more excited about trying the food, my husband was getting impatient and began walking around to check things out. One thing we discovered was that Over Easy is sister to Sonterra Grill, which is located right next door and closed during lunch. Space in Over Easy is narrow and doesn’t seat many but they use the dining area of Sonterra Grill too, which is a good thing or the wait would be twice as long. My husband was a bit irritated when he meandered over to the Sonterra side and saw over a dozen empty tables which weren’t being utilized. My thought was perhaps the kitchen was so busy, they would rather you wait in line longer versus being seated quicker and having to wait longer for the food to be delivered. His thought was they should have more staff if they are that busy. (He’s worked in the hospitality business, in “fine-dining” his entire life so he has certain expectations and notices things the average diner, like me, doesn’t notice.) So maybe he’s not really a “snob” but just more experienced? Or different-experienced?
Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar…
Ok, so let’s be honest here. I was more interested in checking out the Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar than the food! If you like a good Bloody Mary, you won’t be disappointed. Crop Organic Tomato Vodka, 3 different levels of spicy tomato juice, tons of ingredients and seasonings offered. I made mine with the most spicy tomato juice, horseradish, celery, olives and a wedge of lime. And that’s exactly how I made my second one too. If you don’t know how to mix a Bloody Mary, you can ask for help from the bartender. If you order a cocktail during Happy Hour (7-10), all drinks are $1.oo off. (Normal price $6.00, $5.00 during Happy Hour.) There’s also four different Mimosas, including the Maui Waui which includes pineapple vodka, fresh orange juice and champagne. (The couple next to us ordered seconds of this and said it was delicious.) Next time we visit, and there will be a next time, I think I’ll have to try the Organic Morning Margarita. Other offerings include Fresh Screwdriver, Salty Dog, and Colorado Sunrise.
I didn’t personally try the coffee since I had already had a pot that morning and didn’t need caffeine to kill the pleasant Bloody Mary feeling I was experiencing but they serve fair trade coffee that’s locally roasted by Barista Specialty Coffee. All of their Barista Favorites range from $2.50 to $3.50. My husband had the cappuccino which he said was quite good and I think the prices are better than most of the big coffee chains.
The Food…
I’ve said before that I’m not a professional “food critic” nor do I have the expansive vocabulary of a food critic. When I dine out I want great food at good prices in an atmosphere that’s welcoming. If it’s not as good or better than dining at my own home, it’s not worth my time or money. But everyone’s tastes are different and these are just my own personal opinions (as are any critics.)
I ordered the 3 Egg Scramble (Or Omelet) $8.99 that came with my choice of two fillings (cheeses, veggies, meats), hash browns, choice of toast and choice of breakfast meat. After my first bite, I was sold! On everything. The freshness of all the ingredients was noticeable and really made a difference to me. The menu says they use local, Colorado-Proud ingredients, (a lot of it is organic) and I could tell. The eggs (Eggland’s Best Cage Free Eggs) were cooked perfectly, fluffy and light without being too hard or soft and I swear it tasted and looked like they had just picked the jalapeno I chose as one of my fillings. My bacon was crisp, loved the hash browns and I thought the serving size was right in line with the pricing. I thought the filling choices were imaginative and not the typical selections you see. They include, among many, fresh basil, roasted garlic, Portobello mushroom, Pico de Gallo, Havarti and Gorgonzola cheese, spiced chorizo, Polidori Sausage and Applewood smoked bacon. Yes, as my husband pointed out, “It’s just eggs, how much different can it be?” but they were fresh, ample, delicious, and I didn’t have to cook. “They’re GREAT,” I told him, with a “shut-up and let me enjoy this” look.
My husband ordered the Classic Benedict ($9.49) which came with Shaved Hickory Smoked Ham, Housemade Hollandaise, and Hash Browns. They also have Very Veggie, Southwest, and Tuscan Benedicts. The Tuscan looked amazing with its fresh basil and balsamic drizzle. I read and heard comments describing the Hollandaise as rich, decadent, and heavenly. My husband said, “It was an average Hollandaise which lacked zest and tasted like an average Eggs Benedict.” He did add he thought the eggs were “well executed.” I’m sorry to say I totally forgot to even taste his because I was so busy scarfing down my own meal, plus we had to try a few other items.
Now my husband is actually a very nice person even though he sounds like a grouch at this point… but he just has different opinions and expectations than me and we really did enjoy our time together. (Just saying…Love you honey!)
Oh My Gosh Pancakes…
I usually don’t eat pancakes, just because they are so filling and make me super sleepy (maybe because I eat too many?) But when we read through the descriptions, we both agreed we had to try at least one. For $6.99 you can order the Traditional pancakes (all of the selections come with 3 really big pancakes.) Or for a dollar more, there’s Strawberry Cheesecake, Colorado Blueberry Streusel, Pancake of the Day or the one we chose, Fred’s Hawaiian. There’s also the pancake Flight, which gives you the choice of 3 different pancakes for $8.99. All pancakes are also available gluten-free. Since we each ordered a breakfast, we ordered a “side” pancake which is $3.99 for one. How did our Hawaiian variety taste? Like the best damn pancake I’ve ever had! And my husband enjoyed it too. He appreciated the flavor combination and said he thought it unique. Think Caramelized Pineapple Chunks, Toasted Coconut, Housemade Vanilla Cream Anglaise, and Cinnamon Butter. YUM!
And The Buttermilk Biscuits & Sage Sausage Gravy…
I love biscuits and gravy but can’t make them. I am a horrible gravy maker and quite frankly, knowing me, if I was any good at it, I’d gain 20 pounds in one week alone. I always read the menus online before we visit a restaurant and when I saw Buttermilk Biscuits & Sage Gravy, it was the one item I was most excited to try. To me, this was worth the 25-minute wait we had to be seated. Simply put, I can’t imagine a better sage sausage gravy. Perfectly seasoned with a bit of savory slathered all over scratch biscuits…oh my. I think I used my finger to get the last bit of gravy up. A side order will cost you $2.99 and to be quite honest, my stomach would have been perfectly content and full had I ordered just this, well, and the Bloody Mary. Our waitress, who was also the bartender since we sat at the bar, gave us an extra biscuit with the side in place of the breakfast bread with my eggs, which allowed each of us to have our own. And there wasn’t a crumb or bit of gravy left (as I mentioned.)
When I leave a restaurant I always ask myself would I go back?. That’s how I critique places. There have been occasions where I’ve experienced an epic meal but wouldn’t necessarily go there again because I either thought it over-priced (even for an epic meal,) or the ambiance was off or the wait staff uncaring. Would I return to Over Easy, even with a 25 or 30 minute wait? In a heartbeat. Friendly staff, an imaginative menu, fresh, well prepared food, with a fun and relaxing, hip and causal, family friendly feel. They have been named #11 on Urbanspoon’s list of 101 Great Breakfasts in the U.S. and voted Best Breakfast Restaurant AND Best Biscuit & Gravy in the Independent’s Best of Colorado Springs 2013. I asked my husband if he would go back and he said yes so even though he wasn’t as infatuated with the place as I was, he still enjoyed it.
If you’re in a hurry or have a limited amount of time, this probably isn’t the place for you to eat breakfast. Had we been in a “vacation” state-of mind, I don’t think hubby would have minded the wait though, looking at it more as a dining adventure. And that’s how I felt when we left, like I had been on vacation, meaning I was relaxed and full, and as if I had stepped into a more “urban/farm to table dining establishment that I wish Colorado Springs had more of. As I mentioned in the beginning, I have no self-control sometimes, which was the case with this visit, having consumed ALL of my egg plate, half the huge pancake and of course the biscuit and gravy and two Bloody Marys. I had to take a nap when we got home.
There’s a second location in the works so once that’s finished, the waiting time might be less for the downtown location.
For hours (they are also open for lunch and I can’t wait to try the lunch menu) and more information about Over Easy, A Daytime Eatery…