East Egg – Milwood
2814 Portage RoadFor more than a few years now, I’ve had a pretty awful schedule. I worked Friday and Saturday nights and had Sunday and Monday off. After four and a half years, that finally changed. Now, I have Friday and Saturday off and don’t go in until 2:00 on Sunday. J, L, and I finally have some time to be a family.
After a great weekend that included knocking some things off my to-do list, a trip to the Allegan County Fair, and a late night grilling session, J let me sleep in a little on Sunday morning, but wanted to go to breakfast when I got up.
There are a number of new breakfast places opening in the area. One just opened yesterday so I didn’t want to try to get in yet, one is opening soon, and another opened recently, but I’m not sure when.
The recently opened one is yet another East Egg. This new location took over an old Wendy’s on Portage Road in the Milwood Neighborhood. I noticed a while ago that they were moving in, but was unsure if it was open yet. I mentioned it to J and she said she drove by the other day. There were “Now Open” signs proudly displayed then.
This location of East Egg is a little different from all the other locations. It is still very obvious what this building used to be. From the outside, it looks like a Wendy’s and inside, it still retains some of the look of a fast food restaurant. It’s not a fast food restaurant however and the food is much better. While many of the other restaurants are in more heavy commercial settings, this one is tucked nicely into the neighborhood on a very busy street.
The order counter for the Wendy’s is now the kitchen window. The old menu boards have the plastics fronts off of them and the metal casings are used as storage. The dining room has been repainted and the chairs and booths have been reupholstered in brighter colors. The space is a little on the small side, but they pack in as many tables as possible and all of them were full the entire time we were there.
As we were walking in the door, a busser was cleaning off a booth in the middle of the space. Most of the seating options are chairs, but there is a brick of booths in the middle of the space. The sign said to have a seat, but the lady bussing asked us to give her a second and she’d get the table wiped down for us. Once she was done, she grabbed some new silverware and led us to the table.
Our waitress had a big table right behind us and it seemed everyone had questions on menu items, so it took her quite a while to get to us. The busser brought us some water then took drink orders after she brought L a page from a coloring book and some crayons to keep her busy.
It was quite a long wait before the waitress finally got to us and by then, we were more than ready to order. I went back and forth on my two usuals. The Eggs Benedict or the Steak and Egggs.
The Steak & Eggs eventually won out. The plate is a 6 oz. sizzler steak with two eggs, toast (or pancakes) and potatoes. The only place you will ever hear me say this is at an East Egg. The potatoes are pretty awesome. I mean, they’re pretty simple hash browns, but they are cooked so well. So many places cook the tops and leave every thing else raw. The East Eggs cook them brown all the way through. They have a great saltiness to them that comes through the layers of browned potatoes. It was the first thing I ate on my plate and I wanted more.
The steak was cooked a little more than I like it to be. I asked for it medium and it came out more on the medium-well to even well-done side of things. it still had the nice char from the griddle and with a little bit of runny yolk from the two over-medium eggs, it actually tasted pretty good.
J ordered herself a three-egg omelet with peppers and bacon. The eggs are so light and fluffy and the mix in the ingredients in to the eggs, so you get a little in each bite. Her plate also came with the potatoes, which she also gobbled up as soon as the plate was set down, and toast.
For L, J ordered a pancake, one scrambled egg, and bacon. That sounds like a lot of food for a little kid, but you don’t know L. She ate damn near the whole pancake. J asked me to cut it up for her and I looked at her like, “why?” L eats pancakes at home all the time and she eats them without syrup. In fact, she usually refuses to eat them if we put the syrup on, so I cut off a little for her then just let her use her hands. She ate over 3/4 of the pancake, almost all the eggs and both slices of bacon before telling me her “belly’s full.”
Our bill for the three breakfasts was just under $25. The meal took a little longer than it typically does at an East Egg, but the combination of this place being fairly new and the large group sitting right next to is probably what caused that. I can honestly say I’ve never had a bad breakfast at an East Egg and the new location on the East side of town is no exception. Another great offering from the EDR Restaurant Group.
Steak & Eggs w/Potatoes and Toast
Three Egg Omelet w/peppers and bacon w/potatoes and toast
Pancake, Bacon, and Scrambled Eggs
SW Michigan Dining 