Sunday breakfast in the Loop

It's been a while since we've done a good Loop breakfast thread, so I thought I'd start one. I'll be shepherding a group of six around this weekend that'll be staying at the Hilton Chicago on Michigan, and this meal would be before an O'Hare run.

I'd like to stay away from the touristy stuff like Lou Mitchell's, but as I virtually never eat breakfast I'm not sure if spots like Wishbone and Le Peep are still the go-tos for the area. Has anything new opened in the last couple years? Specifically, does anyone have thoughts on Crepes Cafe on Clark, near Printer's Row?

Thanks, all!

Crepes Cafe
410 S. Clark St., Chicago
http://www.crepescafe.net/menu.html

Slightly out of the Loop, but I would suggest Meli Cafe, in Greektown. It's pricey for breakfast, but of very high quality, including housemade jams and such.

Meli Cafe
301 South Halsted Street, Chicago
(312) 454-0748

Just south of the Hilton:
Yolk
www.yolk-online.com
1120 S. Michigan Ave.
(312) 789-9655

Mike G wrote:Slightly out of the Loop, but I would suggest Meli Cafe, in Greektown. It's pricey for breakfast, but of very high quality, including housemade jams and such.

Meli Cafe
301 South Halsted Street, Chicago
(312) 454-0748

I like Meli. Plus, it is close to the expressway and parking shouldn't be awful. The menu is pretty standard breakfast stuff.

I also like Ina's a lot. She is just west of the loop, but just a few minutes drive away and in the direction of the expressway.

See http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=14994

Ina's
1235 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60607
312-226-8227
www.breakfastqueen.com

Atwood in the Burnham, puts together a pretty good breakfast and is convenient to the Loop. You could also probably reserve a table if you've got a group; a little pricey as would be expected in a Loop hotel.

Bongo Room is the usual go-to place for breakfast-foodies in the Hilton area, but since it's the usual go-to place it draws a crowd on Sunday, and may not be the best place if you're pressed for time. (Opens a little late, too: 9:00 or thereabouts)

Crepes Cafe is spotty. Not bad at all, just not long on atmosphere or creativity. For cheap and good, Cafecito does Cuban-style breakfast sandwiches and has great Cuban coffee (espresso/latte too). They don't open until 10. The Gage is more upscale and very good, but you'll be spending $20/person at a minimum.

Thanks for the recommendations. We ended up at Yolk, and they all really enjoyed it. I'll have to make a point to try some of the others listed here, though that could take a while as I'm not really a breakfast guy.

Given the scale, the bustle, and the somewhat manufactured whimsy of Yolk, I was surprised at how good it was on my one visit. Very efficient service, and everything we had was noticeably better than average. Good to hear another recent good report.

Must try Meli. Sounds very nice.

Make sure to try Meli - it's currently my favorite breakfast in the city.

We had brunch at the Halsted location of Meli today and I wasn't impressed. $40 for a Benedict, omelette, side of CB hash and 2 coffees. If everything had been executed well, I wouldn't complain, but my experience today was one in which style trumped substance.

First of all, the coffee is fantastic!

Donna said her $13 omelette was tasteless. Didn't help that the side of new potatoes was limp and tasteless. Barely touched the griddle. Had the potatoes been properly browned to develop some flavor, they could have been good. Benedict - eggs were nicely poached, hollandaise needed salt, but that can be adjusted at the table. My problem was the thick slices of Canadian bacon, which again, barely touched the griddle at all. They were rubbery, and hard to cut with a knife. It was a natural loin Canadian bacon product, but none of the great smoky flavor of Neuske version. CBH - touted as house made. Meat was pulverized to a paste with those small, perfectly "brunoise cut" potatoes that the Armour and Libby's canned versions contain. Hmmm...And again, no browning or crispness whatsoever. I didn't try the homemade jams, but was a bit surprised by the skimpiness of the serving portion in the ramekins.

Worst part of all was the obnoxious, hip music that wouldn't stop. I guess I'm showing my age here, but I prefer a more sedate, quiet setting for brunch.

I can see though, that the hip crowds love this place, which is evident by the number of people waiting to get in on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

There is a closer Meli cafe on Wells to the loop than the one on Halsted.

Meli Café & Juice Bar
540 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654

Yolk has since become my go-to spot. Love the Works omelette.

I've been meaning to try Waffles, but I hear it's drastically overpriced with wildly uncomfortable seating.

Waffles
1400 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
http://www.waffleschicago.com/

On the theory that we'll add to this thread over time, how about Eleven City Diner? A deli, a little over the top decor-wise. But the food was good and the portions tending toward large. It's also in the south loop, which appears to have been the OP's request (yes, I know the OP wrote in a year ago). Just adding another "data point."

Eleven City Diner‎
1112 South Wabash Avenue
(312) 212-1112

I work Sunday mornings in the South Loop. Panozzo's opens at 10am. With their table set-up now, they could accommodate a party of 6 (like the OP's group).

If you're anywhere near Roosevelt in the South Loop, I find it much more easy and worthwhile to just get on the Red Line for one stop to Chinatown than to stand in line for something like Bongo Room. Ditto for just hopping on the Orange Line there to go to Zaragoza (Pulaski stop).

Well, part of the decision is whether to eat breakfast foods, or lunch/dinner foods. When I'm looking for breakfast (or brunch), I'm looking for breakfast specialty dishes, rather than an everyday lunch/dinner menu. Fortunately, we have quite a few restaurants that specialize in serving breakfast all week long as well as weekends, and many of them are very good indeed.

In the Loop itself, I like Atwood Cafe for weekday breakfast and weekend brunch. But it's a bit pricey - not surprising for a restaurant in an upscale hotel.

Another place you can go in the Loop is Heaven on Seven, whose Wabash location is open for breakfast on Saturdays (closed Sundays) and also serves breakfast during the week, but starting at 9 am. I had read about their French toast, which is deep fried, so I went there to try it; I've had some good fried versions of French toast, but I thought theirs was rather dry.

Of course, the Loop itself is surrounded by adjacent neighborhoods which offer many many more choices for breakfast. Including, starting with the South Loop and proceeding clockwise...

Bongo Room, in the South Loop, is terrific for those who enjoy sweeter dishes for breakfast. They specialize in pancakes topped with sauce, such as their pretzel pancakes with white chocolate caramel sauce. I think Bongo Room is fantastic; it's easily my favorite breakfast specialty restaurant in the areas comprising the greater downtown Chicago.

Yolk has several locations, including the South Loop, River North, and River East. I'm not a fan; I find it to be ordinary breakfast fare, eggs and pancakes and such, competently prepared but nothing all that unusual.

I tried Waffles last week and I was mostly disappointed. The cheddar waffle with short rib consisted of a tasteless waffle accompanied by a nice portion of very good short rib. Their Liege waffle was undercooked and gummy in the middle. (Go to Baladoche in Lincoln Park for a good one.) And their hot chocolate flight was overpriced, three tiny portions of mediocre bland hot chocolate with powdered flavorings that didn't do anything to help. The seating (since it was questioned above) varies; there are backless barstools at the bar, some of the tables have backless benches, while others have standard chairs with backs that are just fine.

A good place in the South Loop that no one knows about is Little Branch Cafe, on the ground floor of a residential high-rise. It looks like a coffeehouse but they cook excellent breakfast foods to order.

Moving on to the West Loop, I'm not a fan of Lou Mitchell's, near Union Station. It's been there forever, it's convenient for commuters, but it's just ordinary diner food. Meh.

I like Meli Cafe, which (as noted above) has one location in Greek Town and another in River North. They have a terrific selection of different kinds of French toast, and it's pretty good.

Continuing in River North, XOCO has a nice selection of hot chocolates but the food menu at breakfast is very limited (although their fresh churros are good). To me, it's a good place for a morning snack, rather than a complete breakfast.

I really like the Original Pancake House, the nationwide chain that has Chicago locations including the Gold Coast (on Bellevue) and Lincoln Park. The six locations of their Walker Brothers take this franchise to a supremely high level of quality, and other Chicago locations seem to offer a higher and more consistent level of quality than in many of the other locations across the country, possibly because of what Walker Brothers offers. Their big puffed-up cinnamony apple pancake is great, and I love their omelets and crepe dishes too.

Another place I like going for breakfast is the cafe in the rear of Fox & Obel, where they have a menu of breakfast specialties they prepare to order. I am especially fond of their Cobb omelet. I also love their rich cinnamon swirl rolls, which are usually available at the bakery counter as well as the cafe.

I have heard good things about LB Bistro in the Sheraton, which is run by a two-time World Pastry Chef Champion, but I have yet to go there.

I'll also add that some of our best breakfast specialty restaurants are outside the Loop. My favorites include Walker Brothers (mentioned above) in the north and northwest suburbs, Bongo Room (mentioned above) which has a second location in Wicker Park, M. Henry in Andersonville and M. Henrietta in Edgewater, Southport Grocery in Lakeview, and Jam which recently moved to Logan Square.

My mom LOVES the pancakes at Meli and notes that their coffee is particularly good. We've only been to the Halsted street location.

I just had breakfast at Meli yesterday and it was great. I had the asparagus and gruyere omelete -- quite tasty. Will defintiely go back. We wanted breakfast before an early movie at the ICON theater on Roosevelt. This was fairly close and both cars easily found nearby parking. It would be kind of far to walk to from the loop but it worked really well in this situation.

I forgot to mention Shaw's in my previous post. Their Sunday brunch buffet is superb, with terrific breakfast specialties (great caramelized thick-cut bacon), terrific seafood (crab cakes, king crab legs), and terrific desserts (creme brulee, chocolate pots de creme). Shaw's is in River North, just across the river from the Loop.

nsxtasy wrote:I have heard good things about LB Bistro in the Sheraton, which is run by a two-time World Pastry Chef Champion, but I have yet to go there.

Last week I had the breakfast buffet at LB Bistro in the Sheraton, and it was very good as well as somewhat unusual. This hotel is just north of the river on Columbus Drive, so technically it's not in the Loop, but it's an easy walk from the Loop.

LB Bistro offers a la carte options as well as the buffet which I chose (for $23.95), and both are available seven days a week. The buffet had the usual stations where they prepare items to order, including not only the commonplace omelets, but also pancakes and French toast. I had both of the latter, which were excellent, with no problems of them sitting around on a steam table. They also have several hot items already prepared including pancakes, if you don't want to wait for them to be made for you. These also included excellent thick-cut bacon, and also shirred eggs over corned beef. Cold items included a fruit bar and cereal, including creme brulee topped oatmeal. I was particularly impressed with their juice bar, which included unusual freshly squeezed/made juices like watermelon-mint, apple-fennel, mango-banana smoothies, cherry smoothies, and a couple of other unusual ones I didn't get a chance to try. Servers bring fresh OJ to the table. The pastry station was more along the line of breads rather than desserts, featuring things like croissants, danish, mini apple turnovers, muffins, and the like. Everything was very good and very well prepared, and the ability to have multiple items made to order meant that the freshness was excellent. The big assortment of unusual juices was also a nice touch.

cleanplateclub wrote:I just had breakfast at Meli yesterday and it was great.
...It would be kind of far to walk to from the loop but it worked really well in this situation.

Meli Cafe has two locations, and which one is closer depends on where you're coming from. The one on Halsted in Greektown is west of the southwest corner of the Loop; the nearest el stop is the UIC-Halsted stop on the Blue Line, and it's convenient to the Union and Ogilvie Stations serving Metra. The other one on Wells in River North is north of the northwest corner of the Loop; the nearest el stops are the Merchandise Mart stop on the Brown and Purple lines, and the Grand stop on the Red Line.

I'm going to be in the Loop this Sunday morning. I'm taking the metra in from the burbs and getting in around 8:15 am. I have a rehearsal at 10, so I can't stray far from the Loop proper. Some of these suggestions in the west and south Loops sound great, but I don't think I'll have the time. Aside from Lou Mitchell's, are there any other worthwhile suggestions open that early? Thanks!

If 11th and Wabash isn't too far out of your way, Eleven City Diner would work.

I would strongly advise you not to do Lou Mitchell's. Never understood what folks saw in this place. If not too far off track, I think the weekend brunch at Sable is terrific. It's on North State in the Palomar Hotel.

Pursuit wrote:I would strongly advise you not to do Lou Mitchell's. Never understood what folks saw in this place. If not too far off track, I think the weekend brunch at Sable is terrific. It's on North State in the Palomar Hotel.

Ditto and then some: Lou Mitchell's isn't worth a trip. I do love the Bongo Room at Wabash/Roosevelt (just South of the Loop).

A few months back, my family and I needed to meet someone friends in the Loop for a Sunday breakfast. Believe me, there are not a lot of great options (and the last time I was at Lou Mitchell's, I nearly cried from the loss of such a fav). We ended up at Eggy's, which is very far East. It is, if you have not been in this area, like being in an entirely new city. Like nothing you know. The food was decent enough for Sunday.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Pursuit wrote:I would strongly advise you not to do Lou Mitchell's. Never understood what folks saw in this place. If not too far off track, I think the weekend brunch at Sable is terrific. It's on North State in the Palomar Hotel.

Ditto and then some: Lou Mitchell's isn't worth a trip. I do love the Bongo Room at Wabash/Roosevelt (just South of the Loop).

I don't really want to end up at Lou Mitchell's, but it was the only thing I could think about in the area. Eleven City Diner looks promising and it's definitely a style of food I can't get in Central Illinois. I might have to cab it to rehearsal, but it will be worth it! My husband will probably not forgive me if I go to Sable without him, so I may have to save that for another visit. We've been to the Bongo Room in the past and I would like to try someplace I haven't been.
Thanks for the help everyone!

Atwood Café, being a hotel restaurant, should be open then. Awfully handsome space and good food:
http://www.atwoodcafe.com/chicago-loop-dining.php