The Crew Family Restaurant & Bakery
5200 Portage RoadEarly morning and long days. That’s been my life for the past couple of months.
Last Friday was one of those days. My work day started at 6 AM and ended a little before 11 PM. The check is always nice but doing this pretty regularly for the last few months has been draining.
I had to start my day around 6 AM but I got a little bit of a break after checking in at my job site. I was hungry and knew that I was going to have to go long stretches of the day without.
I was near the airport so I had some options.
I chose The Crew Family Restaurant and Bakery on Portage Road and Fairfield Road just to the south of the I-94 interchange in Portage. This building has been several breakfast joints over the years including Cafe Meli and Callahan’s Family Restaurant. The Crew is new to this building but it’s not new to Kalamazoo. The restaurant operated for a little over 10 years on Sprinkle Road and Cork Street after the Perkins closed and “The Crew” of that chain restaurant went out on their own and kept the space a restaurant.
I got the restaurant a little after 7:00 on Friday morning. The host stand is right inside the front door and there was a sign to wait for a hostess. There seemed to be only one person both seating people and taking orders but it was still pretty early in the morning and there were only a few other people in the restaurant at the time so it wasn’t an issue.
Right next to the host stand/cash register is a small bakery case. There were some delicious looking giant cookies and whole pies available for take out.
The dining room is pretty much just one big open room. I’ve been in the building before when it was other restuarants but it was so long ago that I wasn’t taking pictures of the spaces yet so I only have a vague recollection of what the set up was then. The restaurant was remodeled before Cafe Meli moved in in 2014. The look now is wood floors and neutral wall colors. The majority of the space is filled with solid wood chairs and tables but there are a few booths along the walls towards the back of the space..
I quickly found an Eggs Benedict on the menu and went right for that alongside some hash browns.
It really didn’t take long for the Benedict to come out. The dish is pretty simple and pretty standard breakfast fare. The toasted English Muffin is topped with griddled ham, poached eggs, and a Hollandaise sauce. The sauce was a pretty loose and became even more runny with the yolk of the eggs mixed with it. It was tasty though and something I have been craving. We haven’t been out to breakfast in a while and there are a few dishes I really miss. Eggs Benedict is one of them.
The hash browns were also standard diner hash browns. The top layer was nice and golden brown and the potatoes underneath them were soft and warm. The potatoes picked up a lot of the extra hollandaise and yolk. A little hot sauce goes a long way on these kind of hash browns.
The cost for my breakfast was a little over $14 before tip.
The Crew Family Restaurant & Bakery has always been a solid breakfast spot and that didn’t change at all with the move a little further west. My only expectations at diners like this is that the food is cooked and it tastes good. I’m never looking to be blown away. The Crew meets and exceeds this expectations. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals to eat out and it’s nice to have places like this that deliver every time.
SW Michigan Dining 