Fresh is distinctive in a few ways from your typical greasy spoon. It’s not greasy at all and we weren’t just presented with the option of having normal one size fits all coffee, but the option of a dark, medium or light roast. Wow. Everyone was flabbergasted at being asked that, and I almost faltered in my order, no doubt looking like a breakfast amateur despite me professional attire (see pictures). The coffee was good too; organic and rich.

Next we were told that the ‘daily special’ was bison rib-eye, mashed potatoes, toast and coffee. An interesting breakfast option, but not for me. As you can see on the picture of the menu, the items are not indicated by number or by quirky name, so I just ordered the “Number two” hoping that the server understood me. Again, I feel I came off amateur. Maybe the pressure is getting to me; or maybe it was because our server was gorgeous… I don’t know.

I chose the bison sausage option with my “Number two Fresh breakfast”, and Leif got the bacon. He reports that the bacon was the best he’s ever had, while I was left with bison sausages that were a little gamey and dry. It’s to be expected from game meat; to be gamey (wow, there’s a lot of these adjectives-embodying-the-noun descriptions today), but I do enjoy non-traditional meats.

The eggs were actually a little unique… ‘Vita eggs’ actually. This is a term used to describe eggs that come from chickens that are ‘organic’, without hormones and fed vitamin-rich feed. The result in these guilt-free proto-chickens is that the yolk is an almost startling deep orange and the white is thicker, almost rubbery. These are potent eggs.

The quality of the eggs directly coincides with the quality of the bread. I was again presented with options that I had never heard before: sourdough rye bread, multigrain white and multigrain brown were the bread choices. Sourdough is common on the West coast but is hardly seen on the Prairies. I gleefully asked for the sourdough rye, and it was fantastic. So good, in fact, that I felt bad doing my usual plop-the-egg-on-the-bread-and-chow-it-down as the bread was too good for that. Usually it’s done on a dry piece of brown or a flimsy piece of rye, but today I felt I was betraying the goodness of the bread by doing so.

In addition, we all received a wee saucer of delicious homemade jam (Other things to come in wee saucers at Fresh - sugar, hot sauce). The bread and the jam together made me close my eyes as I bit in.  Nom nom goodness.

Fresh Café is a lot like Stella’s in this way, and I’m glad this mentality of actually cooking good food is catching on.

Now for the potatoes; they could have been better. They’re roasted hunks of real potato, but they came out with the skins tough and in general dry. I definitely appreciate the methods, not wanting to just fry everything in oil, but not even the rosemary made them stand out in a positive way.

Fresh Café has a wonderful atmosphere and a fantastic menu. Sure it costs a few bucks more than other places, but offers quality you can feel. The coffee, the eggs, the service, the bread, the tiny bowl of Frank’s-like hot sauce and yes, even the servers themselves make this a very attractive breakfast gig.

The only downside is that while it’s located in a two story building, it doesn’t actually hold that many people. We got another Stella’s vibe while feeling the eyes of jealous potential breakfasters in line scoping out our table. The customer line-up is in front of the till as well, making payment a tight affair. This is, of course, a positive thing for their business but always gets on my nerve. It’s unfortunate that healthy business can actually be discouraging. For the same reason I don’t want to live in Toronto, attend a Justin Timberlake concert, shop at Christmas time or date Paris Hilton. I hope I will never be on a date with Paris at a JT concert in Toronto at Christmas. Shoot me if that happens.

March 9 2008

Fresh Cafe

775 Corydon Ave

Hours of operation:

Mon - Sun   7 AM - 4 PM

Fresh Breakfast   $5.75

Available all day.

As Bruce McCullough said, “it’s just not… terrier.” I feel the same way about the Fresh Café. It’s good, but it’s just not… the Black Sheep Diner. I know, I know, I’m pretty stuck on that place. It’s ruined me for reviews, I recognize that. Nothing has compared, and rightfully so.

I digress, and I haven’t even started yet.

The Fresh Café is located in the building that used to be Roca Jack’s, which used to be The Roasting House, which used to be Sunstone Café. The latest in a string of excellent (and unfortunately, deceased) businesses in this building, Fresh have made it a - forgive me - fresh experience. The menu is fantastic with many organic options, the likes of which have probably never entered the building before.

I was hit with a massive déjà vu soon as I climbed the stairs to the building. I’ve been here so many times, but not in the breakfast capacity, for late night coffee.

Immediately after sitting down I had another moment of remembrance - we had to draw most of the blinds to prevent us from being… well, blinded. The sunlight that blankets the place makes for a beautiful, spring-like atmosphere to eat breakfast in, but it’s still painful.

Bonus Omelette review by Chantal Guénette

Tomato & Basil egg white omelette.

Boquet: Fresh ingredients (hence the name of the joint I guess): the tomatoes were fresh, the basil was fresh – not dried and from a jar - and the omelette was even made from egg whites alone (for all you health conscious folk). Even though the place had more high end ingredients, they still had Frank’s Red Hot sauce, and a variety of other hot sauces according to the head chef. Man, that was a good omelette.

Boeuf: Only one type of omelette. Not that there aren’t many other tasty things on the menu, but if an omelette connoisseur were to walk in (yeah, ‘cause there are SO many of us…), they might want some variety. Although I’m sure that if I asked for a custom omelette I’d get it without any difficulty.