Blink once, and you’ll miss Daybreak Diner on Weber Road. It’s in a teeny, little inconspicuous spot in a small building with its own parking lot right out front.
Inside the diner, it’s all cuteness – but not the sort of cuteness that inspires nausea. Rather, the decor keeps your eyes super busy with all of its charm. It’s built like the typical diner: centered with counter seating that offers a spectacular view of the cooking action. Covering one wall of the restaurant is an epic collection of sketches of vintage Hollywood stars. There’s also a zone for old-school tin signs.
All of these trappings make it feel like the quintessential diner, down to the shiny tablecloths and ketchup on the table, right along side the old-fashioned golf-tee game to pass the time.
The menu takes some time to go over. There’s nothing terribly odd or complex about the big plastic laminated sheets, but it still takes a few minutes to consider all of the diner’s offerings.
Ultimately, the breakfast bowls are the offerings that scream the loudest from the menu. Any old establishment can fry an egg; it takes something special to pile a whole bunch of breakfast stuff together in one messy bowl of goodness.
There are two bowls on the menu, and the table favorite was the Daybreak Breakfast Bowl ($7.49). Layered in the bowl was an omelet (with added veggies, for an additional $2.49), along with hashbrowns, sausage gravy, cheddar and bacon. The gravy ties it all together (though missing from the photo), it’s super thick and populated with a super-fatty sausage.
The love for the Breakfast Bowl should not imply that Fried Rice Bowl (yes, fried rice; $7.49) was bad. Fried rice for breakfast actually feels sort of cool, especially with an omelet, sausage gravy and cheese in the mix. For some odd reason, the combination just felt more leaden than the already-heavy classic version.
Beyond the bowls, there are other more genteel things on the menu: eggs, egg sandwiches and hashbrowns, for example. For the sweet tooths in the crowd, the house does a fine job with great big Pancakes ($3.49). They come in orders of two and are served with sticky sweet syrup. The Captain’s French Toast ($3.49) is more fun though, it comes dusted with powdered sugar and ground up Captain Crunch. The cereal really adds something – an almost toasty crunchiness, to every bite.
The diner serves non-breakfasty things too. It has a full-scale lunch menu with lots of sandwiches to choose from. Grilled Cheese ($5.49) is served on thick-cut Texas Toast (with four slices of cheese in the middle); classically appealing.
The kitchen does great with the Angus Cheese Burger ($6.99) too. It’s good quality beef, but the best, most beloved, thing about it is the fact that the cook grills the inside of the Kaiser roll before filling it with the burger. You just can’t beat those toasted edges.
The sandwiches are served with fries. As promised on the menu, they are fresh cut, with the peels still clinging to the sides.
You’ll find Daybreak Diner at 1168 E. Weber Road. It’s open everyday: 7:30am until 3:30pm Monday through Friday, and 8am until 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
More information can be found online at www.daybreakdiner.net.
Photos by Mollie Lyman of www.fornixphotography.com.
