The Crew Family Restaurant and Bakery
3810 E. Cork StreetIt’s been quite a while since J and I have went out for breakfast on a Sunday morning. She’s been letting me sleep in a little longer since L has been a better sleeper recently, so by the time I crawl out of bed, it’s closer to lunch time than breakfast.
That was the case again this past Sunday, but J wanted to go for a family walk. We debated between the Kal-Haven Trail and and Celery Flats. We ended up deciding on Portage because the trail is paved and would be easier to push a stroller.
I sort of bargained a little bit with J before going for a walk. It was a little rainy anyway, so I suggested going out to eat first. I’ve been wanting to go to the old Perkins restaurant since they reopened a month or so ago and it was sort of on the way to Celery Flats.
After the Perkins Family Restaurant closed down a few years ago, the employees went their separate ways, but they stayed in touch and eventually, a group of them decided to, to steal a phrase from my favorite movie, “get the band back together.” They reopened the old Perkins as The Crew Family Restaurant and Bakery.
The Crew sits on the corner of Cork and Sprinkle in Kalamazoo’s Milwood Neighborhood. J and I only went to Perkins once…on Christmas Day in 2010. We were really happy to find the restaurant open that day and from what I can remember about our only previous trip, The Crew isn’t a whole lot different.
The restaurant is pretty large and the parking lot was pretty full just before noon on a Sunday. The entrance leads to a counter with a hostess stand and a display case of pies. We did our best to ignore the sweets and let the hostess take us to a booth in the back of the restaurant near the private party room.
The menu is pretty large for both breakfast and lunch. Even though it was lunch time, we both were in the breakfast mood.
As soon as I opened the menu, I found a heading titled “Eggs Benedict.” Yay!
I ordered the Original Benedict which is pretty standard. Two poached eggs on top of shaved ham, English muffins and topped with a Hollandaise sauce. The Eggs Benedict at The Crew was one of the best Eggs Benedicts I’ve ever had. The salty ham was in perfect balance with the tart Hollandaise. The breakfast comes with choice of potato or fresh fruit. I chose the potato and picked the hash browns. The potatoes were a little under cooked for my liking. There wasn’t much of that delicious crispy crust I prefer with hash browns and the potatoes were a little bit on the raw side.
J did the “Create Your Own Breakfast” option. She picked the fresh fruit as their first option, but the waitress told her they were out of fruit. That’s a little disappointing considering fruit is a pretty popular breakfast option. They were really busy the morning we were there, so it’s a little understandable.
In lieu of the fruit, she settled on Oatmeal, bacon, wheat toast, and yogurt. The oatmeal came with brown sugar and raisins on the side. The bacon was just on the cusp of being the crispy bacon J really likes. One of the pieces was a little too fatty for her which worked out better for me because I got an unexpected half a slice of bacon. The yogurt actually turned out to be most of L’s meal. J shared with her and L loved it. I don’t know how much J actually got to eat.
We attempted to get L her own meal and actually ordered a lunch item for her thinking it would go over better. We got her the Mac & Cheese which came with fries. For whatever reason, she wasn’t interested in the Mac & Cheese at all, but J and I both really liked it. I kept taking bites of it hoping L would want it, but when she didn’t, I greedily ate the corkscrew pasta. She did really enjoy the skin on fries though. We took about half of them away hoping she would eat something else, but she really wanted the fries.
Our bill, with two drinks, was right around $24. I really liked The Crew Family Restaurant & Bakery. My Eggs Benedict was delicious even though the potatoes fell a little flat. J said she liked her meal, but I know she would have been happier if she’d been able to get some fresh fruit.
I’m excited for this group of new owners. They’re in a large space and they’re serving up a pretty ambitious menu with a lot of down home classics. If we still lived closer, this could become a regular stop. Even with the distance between us now, I would still throw it out there occassionaly when we’re looking for a solid breakfast joint.
Original Benedict w/Hash Browns
Create Your Own Breakfast w/Oatmeal, Yogurt, Toast, and Bacon
Kids Mac & Cheese w/French Fries
SW Michigan Dining 