the right staff are the secrets to fast service at Breakfast on
Broadway, and, says Erpelding, “It helps to have the owner
on the line.”
MAKE THE MENU YOURS
Coffee, juice and milk. Eggs and pancakes. Bacon and sausage.
Throw in some French toast, waffles and ham for good measure.
And don’t forget the muffins and sweet rolls. “You can never put
enough sweet stuff on the menu,” Baird says.
Your guests could write the breakfast menu for you, but that
wouldn’t make you any different from anyone else in town.
To set yourself apart, you have to turn breakfast staples into
signature dishes.
With its French countryside theme, it’s no surprise that quiche
is a menu item at Mimi’s, and a popular one. Offerings, baked
every day, include quiche Lorraine, cheddar and broccoli
quiche, and the latest variety, quatre fromages quiche made
with Swiss, brie, feta and Parmesan cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes
and hickory-smoked bacon. Seasonal pancakes include chocolate
for Valentine’s Day and pumpkin with caramelized apples in
the fall. Brioche cinnamon rolls and brioche cinnamon roll
French toast also are popular, as is the restaurant’s crabcake
Florentine Benedict.
The menu also has an assortment of two-egg dishes, three-egg
omelets and a line of sweet loaf breads and muffins. Among
them are a low-fat blueberry muffin and a Nature Valley
granola muffin. Such items appeal to women, who represent
68% of Mimi’s customers, Baird says, and want breakfast items
that are made from scratch and are fresh and healthful.
Ashley’s prides itself on using local purveyors and offering an
updated touch to traditional Southern dishes. The breakfast menu
reflects this commitment, as do the kitchen’s many housemade
ingredients. Among the restaurant’s signature dishes is a
chocolate French toast with applewood-smoked bacon, peanut-butter butter and sauteed bananas. The Irish Breakfast of two
poached eggs over smoked bacon/cheddar grits served with bread
and housemade preserves and local sorghum butter is another
popular item, as is the steel-cut oatmeal.
Additional breakfast dishes are buckwheat sourdough
pancakes with bacon or sausage, Arkansas Black apples and
cinnamon/orange whipped cream, and buttermilk biscuits
with sausage links and spicy sausage gravy. Two eggs any
way with traditional accompaniments, a ham/cheddar omelet,
and a fruit, cheese and bakery plate also are on the menu.
Breakfast on Broadway guests have a wide variety of choices
when it comes to breakfast, the restaurant’s specialty. Whether
customers want huevos rancheros or biscuits and country
gravy, stuffed French toast made with Cointreau cream cheese
and served with syrup and whipped butter, or steak and eggs
with pico de gallo, they’ll find it on Erpelding’s menu.
Benedicts are a signature item and come in seven varieties,
including the Benedict Champignon made with poached
eggs, sauteed mushrooms, hollandaise sauce and truffle oil,
and the Carnitas Benedict, a creation featuring poached eggs
with braised pork and green chili hollandaise.
Other menu items include a large selection of pancakes made
with rice, cornmeal, buttermilk or butternut squash, W.P.K.’s
Irish Oatmeal (named for William Peter Kinsella, father of
co-owner Carolyn Kinsella), served risotto-style with brown
sugar, candied pecans and golden raisins, and two varieties
of French toast.
YOUR VENDOR’S ROLE
Vendors can help put high-quality, often innovative breakfast
items on the table quickly by providing trend information,
recipe advice and value-added products.
PHOTO CREDIT: La Brea Bakery
La Brea’s Davis notes, “Bread is increasingly being seen as
a versatile ingredient. Historically a fine-dining offering,
ABOVE: Breakfast sandwiches, such as this open-faced version with eggs, spinach
and goat cheese, continue to be popular.
