Frugal Floozie Friday - The Broken Egg

Craig and I enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment lunch at The Broken Egg the other day, when my office closed early and I had some free time in the afternoon. Comfort food was calling; and so we enjoyed a meal at a place which excels at it, and which serves breakfast all day.

The Classic Belgian Waffle was Craig's choice - huge and fragrant and wonderful. Unfortunately, it just exceeds our $5 per person budget at $5.50. It's large enough to share, but I know how folks get a bit testy when I divvy up dishes. We did split a side order of bacon for $3.25.

For $4.75, I ordered The Light Side: 2 eggs, an enormous quantity of hash browns, and a generous serving of toast. I chose to have my eggs cooked "over easy," and I picked the rye bread. Although I'm a good eater - Craig and others can attest to this! - the plate was more than I could finish. It was very good - perfectly cooked. But a lot of food for a tremendous value.

Other breakfast options that qualify for our project are the thick-cut toast, either studded with raisins or with cherries and walnuts. Oatmeal, bagels, and sides of sausage or bacon or ham are other suggestions.

If you're not interested in breakfast, chili and soup both qualify for our mandatory frugal budget, as does the House Salad. Sandwiches are generous, and are served with chips and pickles; they could easily be split, and all come in at under $9 total, for a per person share of $4.50 or less.

We arrived at the restaurant around 2:15 p.m., and were warmly welcomed despite having gotten there just a short time before closing at 3 p.m. We weren't rushed or pressured, and the staff was wonderfully friendly, making us feel like old friends.

The Broken Egg is just the sort of place you'd want to be a regular, with its wide variety of fabulous menu items, many of which are readily affordable on a frugal budget.


The Broken Egg
221 N. Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-665-5340
Monday - Saturday: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Sunday: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.




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Our First Anniversary

Tom and I corresponded for a long time before we finally met each other face-to-face; he first contacted me on November 20 of last year, after some intervention from our guardian angel -- his sister Anne. But we didn't officially meet until after Christmas, several weeks later. We had breakfast at The Broken Egg, a comfort-food breakfast/lunch restaurant of supreme excellence, on December 26, 2009 ... which means that this past Sunday was the first anniversary of our first date.

So, of course, we went back to The Broken Egg for breakfast!

Neither of us could decide what to eat last year, and ultimately went to opposite extremes: Tom ordered a huge plate of bacon, poached eggs, toast and fried potatoes which was too enormous to finish, and I ordered oatmeal with fat, juicy raisins after he mentioned it as we perused the menu and it just sounded good.

The menu is extensive, God help me, with everything from standard pancakes and waffles to 4-egg omelettes and specialty items. Sunday's features ranged from Elvis French Toast (the famous peanut butter and banana sandwich immersed in custard and fried 'til golden) to the Devil's Breakfast (eggs and vegetables with spicy chorizo and jalapenos). What is an indecisive girl like me to do???

Tom indulged in a repeat performance of last year's feast, as I debated the merits of the Peruvian Breakfast Stew featuring chicken and green olives. But knowing that the portions are huge, I vetoed this excellent-sounding dish; I can't bring fleishig ([FLAY-shig] = flesh, literally) to work because of Jewish dietary laws and the potential mixing of meat and dairy. Therefore the inevitable leftovers would have to stay at home, and we still had plenty of cinnamon rolls and fish pâté and deviled eggs and roast beast and potatoes and gravy and cookies and candies from Christmas. We didn't need to contribute further to that cause.

So I chose the Vegetarian Breakfast Stew, which isn't really a "stew" (but that doesn't matter because it's delicious): scrambled eggs sauteed with red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, sweet caramelized onions, and hash browns. Oh, and both meals came with multi-grain toast, because stingy portions are not something The Broken Egg offers!

Tom ate everything but a few of his potatoes and the fattiest parts of the bacon (he's very conscientious about such things, always checking fat and sodium and sugar contents while I'm shoving anything into my mouth that tastes good!). I, on the other hand, despite a truly noble effort -- and anyone who knows me knows I'm an excellent eater who can consume far more than most people believe I can -- still had enough of the stew staring back at me to provide lunch for the next two days ... and we all know, I don't do stingy portions either!

So, here's to the first of many anniversaries, and to Tom's and my 2nd Annual December 26th Breakfast at The Broken Egg ... :)