The Morning Dish

• 100 W. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor
• Kalamazoo, MI 49007
• (269) 226-3155
• Website
• Menu

If it feels like it’s been ages since I wrote a blog post actually about a place in Southwest Michigan….you’re right.  There hasn’t been a lot of new openings and we haven’t eaten out much when we’ve been home.

There have been a few recent openings that I’ll get to in the next few weeks, but this blog is about a place that’s been around for a while…it’s just a little hidden so it’s not a place we think of often.

The Morning Dish is inside the Radisson on Michigan Avenue and Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo.  The restaurant is on the second floor at the top of the escalators.  For many years, this spot was known as Burdick’s For Breakfast.  I don’t remember exactly when they rebranded but it’s pretty similar to what that restaurant was. 

The set up of the restaurant is very similar to Burdick’s for Breakfast.  This is the main breakfast spot for the hotel so they have a large and very diverse breakfast buffet right inside the door.  The full buffet will run you $15/person.  There is an option for a continental buffet for $11/person.

It’s been a while since we ate at Burdick’s for Breakfast but the restaurant felt a little different.  Same basic layout but it felt to us like there was a refresh on the furniture.

There were several different table options for dining from pub tables, to four tops to booths.  A hostess took us to a booth with pretty high dividers which is always a good thing with our kids.

J was very excited to start with drink called Green Machine.  This juice had apple, pear, ginger, banana, spinach, pineapple and cucumber.  She said it was delicious.  The kids each took a sip because they thought it looked cool….I don’t think they were as big of fans.

I ordered a Pepsi, and being brutally  honest here, this was disappointing from a Greenleaf restaurant.  They brought me a can with a glass of ice…..so no refills.  I spent quite a bit of money on breakfast (I’ll get to that in a second) and getting a can of pop like this is a James Beard award winning restaurant was incredibly disappointing.

We all passed on the buffet although the price was not as big of a turn off as you’d expect.  Almost everything on the menu was priced pretty closely to that $15 so there was very little advantage to ordering off the menu other than the food was unique and quite tasty.

I ordered the Chicken Biscuit.  This looks like a sandwich but it’s really a knife and fork thing..at least it was for me.  The plate is a buttermilk biscuit stuffed with fried chicken, sharp cheddar cheese, a fried egg and a honey hot sauce.  The honey hot sauce made this sandwich.  Everything about it was delicious.  The chicken was super crispy but soft, tender, and juicy.  The biscuit was warm and flaky.  The egg was oozing a soft, warm yolk….but that  honey hot sauce took this sandwich to another level.  I got hash browns with my meal.  They were served in a bowl on the plate.  I dumped them out to get easier access to them.  Pretty standard hash browns.  Could have been slightly more crunchy but still tasty.

J ordered the Chicken & Waffles.  This plate had an aged cheddar waffle topped with buttermilk fried chicken an apple compote and that delicious honey hot sauce.  J said the same thing I did.  The honey hot sauce is the thing that really stood out from this meal and made it super memorable.  The waffle was fantastic as was the chicken…and J really enjoyed the apple compote..but the honey hot sauce is the thing both of still remember several days after stopping by The Morning Dish for breakfast.

J went with the other side option.  I don’t remember what this was called but it was cubed potatoes with bacon and fresh greens.  All of the potatoes were nice and crispy.  They were dripping with bacon grease  which added another layer of flavor. I knew right away I made the wrong choice when I saw these sat down in front of her.

L ordered off the kids menu and got the Confetti pancakes and a side of bacon.  The pancakes came three to the plate and had sprinkles mixed in to the batter.  She got a side of maple syrup alongside them as well as the very crispy bacon.  She ate probably two of the pancakes and shared one with her brother.

B didn’t really want much.  He just asked for some bacon and a single scrambled egg.  He ate a little bit of the eggs, some of his sister’s pancake and all of the bacon.  There were only two slices on the plate and he wanted more but there was no more.   He didn’t really eat much but he keeps asking to “go back to the place in the hotel.”  He really liked his breakfast and wanted more.

Our bill for breakfast was a little over $52…so it’s not a cheap breakfast.  The thing I will say as a justification is that it’s really good.  This isn’t diner food.  This is high quality breakfast.  Like I said, the kids keep asking to go back but we can’t spend that much on breakfast every week.  It’s a delicious option and a great once-in-a-while spot.  There’s no price advantage to ordering off the menu so indulge yourself and go for what you want.