After a brunch that was cancelled via phone call while enroute, my friend and I decided to go with the original plan to visit Waffles InCaffeinated, but arrived there to find a line out the door. So we walked a block or two and had passed this place, and finding nothing else open that looked even remotely palatable, we decided to return and give it a shot.
Upon entry, it looked reasonably pleasant, though a bit institutional, as if Oakmont Bakery had gone Starbuck's. The display counters were stuffed with pastry after pastry, but we were looking for brunch, or at the very least breakfast. This was the day of the Pittsburgh Night-marathon, which made options, even travel options, extremely limited.
We looked over the menu boards on the wall (they have no paper menus, but since you all have your phones in your hands, you're welcome to read them 'online'), and made our choices. My friend ordered the 'bacon quiche', which the cashier said was ample as a 'meal', and I decided (stupidly, once again) to try yet ANOTHER establishment's 'Rueben'. I got the small coffee, my friend the OJ.
We were given a little plastic number on a stand for our table, so that they knew which table to take the food to. We were number 61.
I noticed another reviewer here had the same experience with the 'quiche', but I will reiterate it, so that either the owners catch on that what they are offering is NOT 'quiche', or just rename it whatever it actually is. I'll get to the 'Rueben' in a minute.
Here come the pluses...the coffee was not simply brown water. It did have a little more body and flavor than the usual Pittsburgh cup of water-dressed-in-brown. Even had a slight nutty edge. Maybe it would go well with a pastry. And, the atmosphere was reasonably pleasant for a calm meal.
Now, first the quiche. As another reviewer noted, this was NOT an actual quiche. It really did amount to scrambled eggs in a pie shell, with a small handful of bacon scattered around the plate and on TOP of the eggs. The eggs were surrounded by a small bed of spinach leaves, and two slices of tomato that had been apparently 'warmed' in some way to make them lukewarm and mushy. There wasn't even a shred of cheese in the quiche/scrambled eggs. It really seems as if a 'chef' in that kitchen needs to crack a cookbook, or at the very least Google Wikipedia for what a 'quiche' actually IS.
And while they're at it (and this applies to MANY establishments in this town) they need to look up what makes an actual Rueben.
A REAL NY Rueben is: Marble or Jewish Rye SANDWICH bread, a THICK layer of quality juicy corned beef, topped with Swiss Cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing, BUTTERED, and GRILLED, so that the bread becomes like the bread on a grilled cheese sandwich. The base of the sandwich is the corned beef, and there's to be plenty of it.
This was not the Rueben I was served.
I might have been impressed with the fact that they used what seemed to be actual shredded corned beef brisket, had they used enough of it. The sauerkraut and Thousand Islands was there, and just slightly more than a hint of Swiss Cheese. But the bread was just weird. It was almost like a slightly dark rye Focaccia, that didn't seem like it had even been warmed. It was served with a handful of potato chips, and a quarter of a Kosher Dill.
And for breakfast, the bill came to $35.
Well, the Kosher Dill was good...
For 'food', the only reasons that I would return 'might' be to explore the Breakfast Burritos, or for only some coffee and high end pastries...but wait...only if I happen to BE on the South Side...because if I'm going out for coffee and high end pastries, I'm going for the Bentley, not the Lexus...and driving to Oakmont Bakery.
However, for breakfast...I'll stick to last week's review and return to Mullin's Diner.