The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club
4400 N Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ

Hello from Scottsdale, Arizona! As mention in my post last Friday, I was on a business trip and this is the place I went to. Weather-wise, it was an interesting change: since we are just starting to “feel” autumn and I went to a place that feels stuck in an eternal dry summer. Also, since we will be switching back to standard time, this trip gave me an early heads up for that switch (similar to Saskatchewan here in Canada, Arizona does not observe daylight savings). But, all this aside…

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. During the first couple of breakfast I had, it was a total disappointment. Now, there is a reason behind it (more in a moment) and, eventually, found “better” options. Today is about one of those options: The Breakfast Club (hereby referred to as “TBC”).

First, where I was having breakfast prior to going to TBC: the hotel’s complimentary breakfast. OK, let me back trace that… One of the advantages of travelling and book your own hotel is that you can decide which one to book and, as a result, rack up points in their rewards program. Having booked several times already on the same hotel chain, I was able to get a deal for free complimentary breakfast and free Internet access. Now, while I do have a meal budget, I have to be conscious on expense for my customer, too, so, I thought, hell, why not. But, let’s face it, when you are served this:

After my third day of eating this, I simply gave up. Notice that I am not lambasting the fact they offer free breakfast to those of us who qualify, after all, for budget travellers or those who are travelling with family, free meals can save you a lot. But, I couldn’t take it any more after that third day so I made the extra effort to wake up a bit earlier to have breakfast somewhere else. That somewhere else was TBC.

I will admit I was curious about this place mainly because of its name. Breakfast club? Isn’t that the title of a movie? Well, yes; however, I haven’t watched it, yet I found it was funny. Anyway, since you name the restaurant after such meal, it better be good, right? When I got there that morning, it was 2/3 full so that heightened my expectations. While I had the option to sit inside, I chose to sit outside instead. I was wondering if that was a good decision since I was fully suited for work and the temperature was already near the 30C. But, it was between sitting inside at the sight of all other customers and the staff or have a bit more space. But putting that aside, here is what I ended up ordering.

This is a dish called Bello Bene with Portabello mushrooms & Bordelaise & Hollandaise. Translation: it is an eggs Benedict dish but rather than having back bacon, it has the before mentioned portabello mushroom. And, instead of hash, it is served with potatoes O’Brien which is basically potatoes served with bell peppers. And, in an interesting twist, on the back, some fresh fruit.

The potatoes were quite decent, though some seasoning would have done wonders. As for the pieces of fruit, they were pineapple, watermelon and melon. These weren’t chilly cold but at room temperature. Regardless, I was glad it had these as it provided something to “refresh” the other components of the dish. Oh, on that note, the drink I was having was tea (a lavender variation of Earl Grey) which did not really work for me. Although it had that orange-y taste characteristic of this tea blend (thought partially muted by the lavender), it was a bit too dry for my liking.

Two pictures above, where it showed the full dish, there was one thing that made me have mixed feelings for this place. See, for a restaurant that (supposedly) emphasizes breakfast, I find it odd they have to rely on a mold/egg poacher to cook eggs for eggs Benedict. Shouldn’t they know how to cook it in a pan with boiling water and some vinegar? I would let me go with this sort-of substitution but I found it was a bit “cheap” they had to rely on this trick.

However, that wasn’t the killer of the dish: I couldn’t find/taste the hollandaise sauce nor the Bordelaise. Instead, that “dark” sauce tasted like balsamic vinegar but still on the acidic side. Past that, as expected from a good eggs benny, the yolk was still runny. The mushroom was as expected and gave it a good share of savoury goodness, though somewhat overpowered by the balsamic.

So, where does that put us? Unfortunately, I will have to say “pass”. Don’t get me wrong, the food was decent, specially if I compare it to the hotel’s breakfast. Just that, given their name, I expected a lot more from them. And the balsamic… Fortunately, I must say the *other* breakfast location was way better.

Tagged under: Breakfast • Eggs • Scottsdale