Breakfast In Columbus

3133 North High St (Clintonville); Phone 265-9012
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After closing up last year, Nancy’s has re-opened.   This little, and I do mean little, diner has had extremely loyal fans for many years, and it has often been voted as one of the best breakfasts in Columbus.  If you like small, neighborhood greasy spoon joints, then this one may delight you.

I was not fond of Nancy’s in it’s previous life.  I never understood exactly why it got so many rave reviews (much like Jack & Benny’s a few blocks to the south on High Street).   I felt it was a duty to go back since they re-opened, though, and I’m glad I did go back.  In my opinion, the food was better and the place was cleaner than in years past. I also like the fact that they have now have a menu you can look at, instead of just having one menu painted on the wall.

The usual small diner midwest breakfast food: bacon, eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, french toast, pancakes.  I had the Western Omelet this time, and my buddy had bacon, eggs, and potatoes.   The potatoes were tasty redskins, seasoned nicely, a tiny bit on the greasy side, but pretty good.  My omelet was cooked skillfully, with plenty of diced ham and green pepper, and it tasted quite good.   The eggs and bacon plate wasn’t fancy, the food was cooked properly and tasted fresh and was inviting and satisfying.

The toast was ordinary food-service-grade white, wheat, and rye.  I did like the fact that the default serving style was dry, with butter on the side.

The coffee was decent diner coffee, but apparently this isn’t the place to linger over coffee while talking with friends.  The diner’s motto “Eat it and beat it” is everywhere – on the walls, on the menu, and on the workers’ shirts.  I get the impression that they mean it.  There aren’t a lot of seats here, and I think  they need the empty spaces as soon as they can get ‘em.

For the two of us, the total was $16.  Not bad value.

3420 Indianola Ave, 43214;  Phone (614) 262-2233

(Click for map)  Website: http://www.wildflowercafe.biz/

See breakfast menu online.

On a special day because I was setting out on a day trip with my best friend, we wanted to go to breakfast someplace we knew we liked.  It was easy to choose the Wildflower Cafe.  Since it has been more than a year since I visited this place and wrote about it, I thought it would be suitable to write about it again – sort of see if it’s still as good as ever.  It is.

We enjoyed delicious, healthy, fresh, attractive food for only slightly more than the cost of going to a mediocre diner, and a lot less than the cost of up-scale, uptown, up-sell trendy foodie places.

Good coffee – better than average diner coffee.

It’s a homey place, kind of like eating in a large farmhouse kitchen.  There’s outdoor seating.

I enjoyed the Huevos Rancheros.  I rolled up the black beans and eggs and salsa in the warm corn tortillas – ruining the beautiful presentation, maybe, but having a lot of fun.  My friend had skillet scrambler and added salmon to it.  The salmon added $2 to the bill, but even with that the whole cost was about $20 for both of us.  You could pay less for breakfast, but it wouldn’t be as good.  This is a good value.

(If you want to see the pictures full-size, click on them, then click on them again.)

46 E Columbus St, Pickerington, 43147

Phone: 837-9364

Formerly M’Lee’s Diner

Cozy neighborhood diner with 10 tables and a very dirty carpet.  Popular local hangout with the usual Midwest breakfast items and average diner coffee. The coffee is listed with two prices:  “single refill cup” for 94 cents, and “multiple refills” for $1.39.

I had “Mom’s Special” omelette, with fresh mushrooms, onions, tomato, green pepper, and the homefries in the omelet  – I chose the sausage as the meat in the dish.  It was good.  I liked the freshness of the vegetables, and there were plenty of fillings in the omelet.  Very nice.  There was pasteurized-process cheese foodlike product, both American and Swiss, even though the menu did not mention cheese.

My total was $7.79, a very nice value.  The store accepts only cash, though – so you won’t be able to use credit cards here.

1144 N High St, 43201

Phone: 291-8512

A tiny, classic diner with stainless steel counters; no tables or booths. Outside it looks like it’s falling apart, even with the improvements and paint put into it over the past year or so — you shouldn’t seen it BEFORE they spruced it up! It’s cleaner inside now.

You’d think the place would be cheap from the looks of it.  It’s not particularly cheap.  But it’s a fair value because, hey, the food is good.

The coffee is decent diner coffee; maybe a little better than average.

I got the spinach omelet with tomato, onion, and mushroom.  The veggies were plentiful and fresh, even the mushrooms.  It was delicious.  It had real cheese on it, and in it.

The potatoes were very tasty.  The toast wasn’t artisan, but it wasn’t crap either; it tasted good.

Friendly service from both the waitress and the cook.

The bill was added up wrong today; when I looked at it it said $12 – that would have been too much.  I pointed it out and they added it up again, and it came to $9, which is a decent value.

If you like classic, neighborhood diners, this is a place you’ll want to have experienced.

12998 National Rd SW
Pataskala,  (Wagram)  43062
Phone: (740) 964-2665
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Small diner with typical eggs and bacon, home-fries and gravy kind of food.  The place recently changed hands, and one of the new owners was waiting tables this morning, with friendly service, and they kept the coffee cup full with average diner coffee.

I had the menu item called “Our Mess,” with mushrooms, green pepper, choice of bacon or sausage, and onion, topped with diced tomatoes and cheese.  The onions were canned, I strongly suspect the green pepper was frozen, and the sausage was overcooked and terrible.

The potatoes were very bland; not very good.

I overheard another customer say her bacon was overcooked, too.

Overpriced -  $11.28 for my breakfast – poor value.

2932 E Broad St,  in Bexley, 43209

Phone:  236-1959

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The epitome of a neighborhood diner, Frank’s is very small, warm and cozy, with plenty of regulars chatting away,  and typically Midwest food. People really like this place.

I enjoyed my experience here very much.  The eggs tasted fresh, the smoked sausage was tasty, the toast was good. The home fries were shredded very, very thin – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so thin. It took me a couple of bites to get used to it, but I really liked them.

Average diner coffee.

At less than $7.50 for my breakfast, it’s a very good value.

Inside the Ohio Statehouse

60 E. State St.,  43215

Phone: 728-9231

Menu online at: http://www.ohiochannel.org/content_files_user/102199/108914.pdf
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For a good value and a fun experience, try the Capitol Cafe, in the basement of the Ohio Statehouse. You can see the new Statehouse museum while you’re there, and say “Good Morning” to legislators and aides as they pass through the cafe. You could even go upstairs and watch representative democracy in action if the legislature in is session.

The cafe is very clean, and the bright, warm lighting and friendly service almost make you forget about the dungeon-like architechure.

It’s cafeteria-style, with mostly traditional Midwestern breakfast items. The online menu doesn’t seem to list quite everything; there are also omelets and “The Scrambler,” which mixes eggs, fresh vegetables, choice of meat, and potatoes, with gravy and cheese on top. The Scrambler I had this morning was very good, with actual cheese, delicious gravy, fresh vegetables, fresh mushrooms, very nice hash browns, and it smelled terrific.

The coffee is very good, and it’s cheap.  There is Starbucks coffee; and there is the house coffee, which is quite good, just not as bold and bitter as the Starbucks.  The house coffee is only 60 cents for a regular size.

The whole thing is really quite a good value.  My total today was $8.15 for a very large “Scrambler,” a cup of fruit, and coffee.

Check out this place;  you can get to know Ohio history a little better, and maybe even go upstairs and watch the legislature in session.

5916 Westerville Road, Westerville – 43081

Phone: 776-5788

Web Site: http://thebestrestaurant.info

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A big Thank You! to zingster for the tip on this one.  I don’t think I would ever have seen this one from the road; I know I have driven past it several times, looking for breakfast.

Choose your own omelet ingredients;  BIG omelet, fresh ingredients…  Delicious!

Potatoes very nice, good seasoning.

I had the best corned beef hash I’ve had in Columbus.  Very nice, homemade!  Absolutely nothing like the alleged corned beef hash I had the day before at another place.  This was real corned beef hash. Fat trimmed out, corned beef cut into chunks and cooked on the grill with potatoes.

Coffee a little better than average diner coffee.

BEST TOAST AWARD!  As John put it, “Intense toast.”  I’ve had breakfast at specialty bakeries where the toast wasn’t this good.  I do believe this is the best toast I’ve ever had at a breakfast restaurant in Columbus.

Friendly, efficient service — enthusiastic, even; these people seem to actually care about what they are doing.

At $20 for two, The Best Breakfast & Sandwiches is a very good value.

Hey, this little place is pretty good!

6275 Us Highway 40 West Jefferson OH, 43162

Phone (614) 879-9321

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About 10 miles West of I-270 on Broad Street, just on the other side of West Jefferson, is a cozy little gem of a  country diner — Henry’s Restaurant.  It looks like an abandoned gas station, and I must have passed by it several times over the years even as I was searching for restaurants in the area.  It’s easy to miss, and frankly the outside appearance is not inviting.  Even after you go in the first door it still looks like an abandoned gas station; but turn to your right and go through the second door.  If you like small, friendly places where the locals go for good food, you must try Henry’s.

Henry’s is known for pies. Pie isn’t on the breakfast menu, but ask for it anyway. The last time I went there the pies were just coming out of the oven and I had the blackberry pie after breakfast, when it was just ready to serve and still warm. This morning the fruit pies were in the oven and available pies were apple, butterscotch, and custard — I had the apple.  Mmmmmm… oh MAN, that’s good pie!  Along with a cup of decent coffee (better than average diner coffee), it’ll make you feel good to be alive.

Besides the pie, there’s typical midwestern breakfast food: pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, omelets, home fries and sausage gravy. I had the combination they call “Anita’s Breakfast,” with two blueberry hotcakes, 2 eggs, and sausage. The eggs were fresh, the sausage was delicious, and the hotcakes were loaded with big, luscious blueberries. (When the plate first came out, the hotcakes looked ordinary, but I put my fork to it and then turned the cake over and discovered the treasure.) The pancake itself wasn’t wasn’t bad, but really you can’t get a bite without plenty of those great blueberries so they were really good.

Very good value.

1275 Brown Rd, Columbus 43223

Phone: 308-0173

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The Breakfast Barn seems to be pretty popular with local regulars in its blue-collar neighborhood. This morning there was a police officer eating there, who was on first-name terms with the server — I consider that a good sign.

There’s traditional midwest breakfast fare, nothing fancy or unusual – eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage gravy and the usual omelets.  It’s very cheap.  The coffee is not bad, and the waitress kept the cup full of hot coffee.

There’s a nice variety of toast: sourdough, cinnamon, biscuit , english muffin and raison in addition to the usual white, wheat and rye.  Too bad the jelly is  cheap stuff, though.

I had the steak and eggs.  The hash browns were good and crispy, and there was plenty of food.  The steak was cooked to properly to the medium-rare temperature I ordered.  The gristly, fatty, steak had kind of a peculiar taste, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was; maybe it was meat tenderizer.  It did seem to have that mushy surface texture that tenderizer causes, though the funny taste wasn’t exactly what I remember Adolf’s tasing like.  It wasn’t peculiar enough to keep me from eating it all, but of course I eat almost anything.

Good value.  Apart from today’s steak, the place is all right.