Today's choice off the Breakfast Menu was a Veggie Omelet and half Waffle from The Echo in Hyde Park.
Today I went looking for a new breakfast spot, the Village Kitchen, but I got turned around, and then discovered that they don’t serve breakfast on weekdays. So I went to an old fallback spot, The Echo in Hyde Park. It’s a quaint little diner near Hyde Park Square. I thought about ordering something called a Flying Pig Sandwich, but I chickened out and instead went with a standard meal, a veggie omlette special and a half waffle.
Restaurant:
The Echo is a nice little Diner. You seat yourself when you walk in. The tables are clean, and it has two seating area, one separated by an entrance way. It also has a bar for seating near the entrance. According to their website the Echo has been in that location since 1945 and has gone through several owners. They still make homemade pies based on the original owners recipes.
The place was full when I came, mostly because it was just after the lunch hour. There were many elderly people eating there, and having a pretty good time. I overheard the customers and waiters calling each other by name, which made it seem like there are many regular diners. I could hear the staff talking about television shows in the back and the two gentlemen next to me were reminiscing about high school days. I really liked the atmosphere in the Echo. I love a place where I can be among people and listen while they live their lives. It felt like there was a real community alive in the restaurant.
The menu at the Echo was pretty good. It offers several breakfast meals with interesting names like Gliers German Greats, Steph’s Sampler, and The Businessman. They offer several omelet options as well as something called the Flying Pig Sandwich, which the menu says is French toast stuffed with ham, bacon & Swiss. I have always wanted to eat that particular dish, but I have always hesitated. Service was pretty slow for me this visit. I was there about 5-10 minutes before the waitress came around for me. It took her a while to bring me water, but the food came quickly.
The Food:
I ordered the Veggie Omelet which was a special for the day, and a half Belgium waffle.The waitress told me that the omelet had broccoli, onion, zucchini, mushroom, tomato, spinach and mozzarella cheese.The menu does not say anything in particular about the omelet or the Waffle.
The verdict:
Unfortunately it was not my best visit to the Echo. The food was pretty bland. The Omelet was not very flavorful. The best way to describe it was a thin layer of egg wrapped around way too many warm vegetables. The vegetables did not seem to be seasoned in any way and the egg did not have a particular flavor to it. The vegetables did not appear to have been cooked prior to inclusion in the omelet. I have had some pretty good omelets at other places like the Original Pancake house, and more recently at the Keystone Bar and Grill. This made me not want to order the Omelet at the Echo again, but I think I had told myself that in the past but forgot on this visit. If I do return any time soon, I will probably just stick with my usual: two scrambled eggs with cheese.
A surprise was the cinnamon toast. I usually don’t eat the toast that comes with the breakfast but the cinnamon butter was delicious and I enjoyed it in spite of my issues with the omelet. Also the fruit cup was pretty good. Sometimes they give you fruit cups that are mostly made of melon, but this one was more grapes and blueberries, which I liked.
There waffle was pretty good. It was a little crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It went well with the syrup they gave me. Immediately upon biting into the waffle I wished I had ordered the full waffle, and maybe gotten it with fruit. I would definitely order this again.
Overall Experience:
I give the whole experience 2.5 out of 5 broken eggs:
It was a pretty bad breakfast experience since I really didn’t like my main entrée. The waffle was pretty good but I only got half of that. The sides were good but they weren’t awesome, and weren’t nearly enough to elevate the whole meal.
For more information on the location:
Hours:
Monday - Wednesday: 6 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Thursday: 6 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 6 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday: 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Thursday: 6 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 6 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday: 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Website: http://echo-hydepark.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TheEchoHydePark
Twitter: http://twitter.com/EchoHydePark
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