French toast with a side of strawberry sauce and sausage. The Broken Yolk Cafe serves generous portions. Michelle Moran, City Times.
French toast with a side of strawberry sauce and sausage. The Broken Yolk Cafe serves generous portions. Michelle Moran, City Times.

Breakfast in the Gaslamp

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so I am very picky about its elements. There’s only so much to choose from, and I do get tired of the predictable meal of pancakes and eggs. Luckily, the Broken Yolk Cafe in the Gaslamp Quarter has a variety of options to choose from.

The menu is insanely extensive. It lists American meals, like eggs benedict or pancakes, as well as Mexican meals, like a burrito or chilaquiles.

Although the Monte Cristo breakfast sandwich sounded very tempting (as it is sandwiched between two slices of french toast), I went with the simpler form of my obsession: french toast.

As the waitress brought my dish, it was a bit overwhelming. Literally covering the whole plate, the portions were stacked like a mountain. The menu described it as three extra thick slices, but they were so huge and cut in half, veritably creating six big pieces. It came with a side of strawberry sauce, some syrup, and I ordered the meal with a side of sausage. The french toast alone was delicious, but was even better with the strawberry sauce. I can’t say it’s the best I’ve ever had, but it was definitely a good meal.

My friend ordered the chicken and waffles, which is getting more popular now. The chicken was really good, but the waffle was just okay. The chicken wasn’t too greasy and it was perfectly crisp. The waffle tasted like any other Belgian waffle that I’ve consumed at a restaurant.

We returned the week after our first visit for round two. I ordered two eggs with sausage, hash browns and a biscuit. My friend went with the breakfast quesadilla, which had chorizo, beans and cheese. My meal was good, but the biscuit was entirely too big and tasteless. It was a big waste to throw the whole biscuit away, but it was too dry to finish.

The breakfast quesadilla was not good at all. It tasted bland to me, though it might have been the chorizo. Even though my friend’s meal was less than satisfying, we decided we will definitely come back to explore the menu further.

This Broken Yolk location is close to campus. After class, I can get a big meal and relax for a moment. and the staff is really friendly.

I’d recommend this place to anyone who would love to try a new breakfast spot and to those who have a gluten allergy as they have gluten free pancakes.

If you are feeling gutsy, you can try the dozen-egg omelet challenge, which has a ton of toppings, two biscuits and fries and must be consumed in an hour. If you accomplish this, you will be included on the hall of fame wall. It’s served on a 15-inch pizza dish.

The Yolk isn’t too pricey either, probably similar to any other breakfast restaurant you frequent.

The Broken Yolk’s hours of operation are from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is located on 6th and J Street.

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Breakfast in the Gaslamp