When trying chain cafés like Another Broken Egg Café, I often worry I’ll encounter a cold lifeless presentation, a serving staff counting down to break and dully average food. Thankfully, Broken Egg has no such problems. Ryan Craig, the local owner and Indiana native, worked his way up the dining world from a dishwasher, so he hires and promotes from within. The result is not a dull copy and paste chain, but a legitimately good diner with Louisianan flair and a friendly Hoosier staff.
My first thought walking into Another Broken Egg Café was it was a place I could take my kids to, and I don’t even have kids. The service was a real highlight. It was some of the best I’ve ever had. The employees truly mastered the art of recommendations. Other waiters too often recite prewritten statements from the managers, fall back to what sells the most or employ vague unspecific language to cover their inexperience with the menu.
Servers recommended several options while providing detailed descriptions of each. The way they described the food, you could tell the servers actually have eaten most of the menu.
Throughout my brunch servers genuinely inquired how I was doing, always making sure my coffee cup never got too low. At one point I worried they were giving me special treatment. After all, my notepad and hipster fedora were dead giveaways that I was a reporter writing a review. Then I looked around and saw the servers were giving every single customer the same attention as me.
My meal was the huevos rancheros. Both the meat and eggs were cooked perfectly and brought quality flavor to the meal. The tortilla on the bottom was crunchier than in other huevos rancheros I’ve had. Not only did the crunchiness add tasty texture contrast, but it also prevented the eggs from making the tortilla soggy.
The side was city grits — grits with bacon, tomato and green peppers. I’m not usually a grits fan because they always seemed flavorless to me. However, these grits used bacon grease in the cooking, injecting wonderful flavor in every bite.
The crown jewel of my stay was the beignet, New Orleans’ answer to doughnuts. I walked in not knowing what a beignet was and left not knowing how I lived without them. They are soft and fluffy on the inside with a delicious thin crust holding it together. While delicious on their own, Another Broken Egg Café’s orange marmalade made the beignet downright amazing.
Contact staff writer Ben Lashar at 317-762-7848. Follow him on twitter @BenjaminLashar.
