Egg Factory, Mt Prospect

Egg Factory
100 E Kensington
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056
(847) 253-3333

Today I did something I rarely do when I'm not traveling, but I paid for every meal. Lunch and dinner were just-to-eat-something meals, picked for time and location (Burger King and Baker's Square), but breakfast was a place I hadn't been to before. Egg Harbor is the big barn-like space at the south-east corner of Randhurst's property, formerly occupied by East Side Mario's, which died a very timely death.

Since Thing 2 had to be at football practice just after 7, and his game was at 9 (supposedly, but it didn't start until 11), MrsF and I treated ourselves to breakfast out -- something very rare in our household. Living near Randhurst, we hadn't tried this place yet, but had been meaning to -- the perfect opportunity on a cold, cold morning. We're happy to go out for dinner for breakfast (or is that the other way around), but they're only open breakfast and lunchtime.

MrsF had a 1-egg breakfast, poached (very runny the way she likes it), a short stack of pancakes, and country potatoes. The spuds were excellent: 1/4" matchsticks, with lots of crisp spots.

I ordered cheese blintzes. These came as a large plate of three, rolled like crepes, with a thin filling of sweetened cottage-cheese and nutmeg, topped with more of the same. The crepes were crisp on the edges, and overall very tasty and filling.

I also had hot chocolate, which came as a pot, with a separate mug filled with stiff whipped cream, enough for two mugs of chocolate total. Very rich and dark, I was very pleased.

The menu was mostly your typical pancake-house standards, plus the Original Pancake House specialties of German and Apple pancakes. I was tempted on the apple, but had neither the time nor gullet space for it (I got my baked apples later at Baker's Square, just not the same). Several varieties of crepe plus the blintzes (fruit toppings available). Skillets, omeletes, pretty much what you'd expect. They also have some $4.95 specials, including a bacon, egg and avocado burrito.

Egg Harbor is at the corner of Arl Hts Rd and NW highway.

I always get the two mixed up. Isn't Egg Harbor the more chi-chi one?

HI,

You know I was thinking this review was about Egg Harbor ...

Egg Harbor is in Lake Forest and a few other places. I guess it is what you refer to as chi-chi, though I always consider it the place with the long wait.

Regards,

I've eaten at Egg Factory (the one on the outparcel at Randhurst Mall) a few times when i was out that way. It reminds me very much of the Original Pancake House. I ususally opt, in my too frequent forays into Atkins for the Stroke on a Plate- a four egg omlete with bacon cheese, ham and sausage.

The menu items which really called for a cardiologist included a 1/2lb skirt steak or 10oz of "chopped steak" with 3 eggs and hash browns.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

You know I was thinking this review was about Egg Harbor ...

Egg Harbor is in Lake Forest and a few other places. I guess it is what you refer to as chi-chi, though I always consider it the place with the long wait.

Regards,

I think he missed that one, and yes Egg Harbor here in Arl Hts always has a line outside.

My usual breakfast is half an hour's extra sleep. However, yesterday I had to be out early and then had a wait before I needed to do something else, so I dropped into Egg Factory.

Bleh.

I'm not sure how anyone can take orange juice, ham, eggs sunny side up and fried potatoes and remove all the flavor from them, but they managed. Unutterably bland.

The orange juice is supposedly fresh squeezed but I heard the waitress explain to someone else that they squeezed all the oranges for the day in a big machine first thing in the morning. The ham claims to be off the bone, but I guess they cut it off before they cooked it. The potatoes were hard little cubes. I think everything must have been cooked without any fat.

The only kind of toast available was thick and white, with sesame seeds. I'd describe it as Greek toast, but Greek white bread doesn't taste like cotton. The butter, if butter it was, was whipped to airiness.

I was feeling hungry and might have had some kind of "big breakfast" combo with a couple of kinds of meat, but they don't offer that. Nor could I find extras offered as sides. The waitress was so pushy in trying to get me to order that I didn't bother to ask her. She kept coming by asking "Do you need anything else?" in a way that made me want to ask "Do you need this table?" (The place was 75 percent empty at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday.)

The coffee was the only thing that had any flavor. Not a lot, but like an American diner, circa 1975.

And my breakfast, with tip, came to $15.

Next time I will go on up to Walker Brothers. Or does anyone know of a decent diner in the Randhurst area? It occurs to me as I write this that Steak 'n Shake does breakfast. I'd forgotten that, since they only serve it in the morning. Perhaps I'll try that next.

Egg Factory
Randhurst Mall
100 E. Kensington
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
(847) 253-3333