OverEasy
56 Yonge St. | 416-862-0110 | overeasyrestaurants.com
After discovering Stratus for breakfast last week, I now find my firm’s Cheerios even less appealing. There have got to be more breakfast places out there. So I explain my quest to a hapless colleague who wanders into the kitchen in search of coffee. Not being much of a morning person, he grunts at me, takes my Cheerios, and mumbles “OverEasy” in my direction. Seeing neither eggs nor frying pan nearby, I deduce that “OverEasy” must refer to a restaurant. A Google search confirms this.
A week later, I drag some colleagues to the Yonge and Wellington location of OverEasy, inside Hotel Victoria (there’s also one on Bloor Street West, across from the ROM). This is your classic greasy spoon. Like Stratus, OverEasy opens at 7am. Unlike Stratus, there is no view, no linen tablecloths and no personal trainers (except the one with whom I was dining, and who requested anonymity). There is booth seating, so private conversations aren’t a problem, and the waitstaff is attentive. The menu is vast, and pretty much all the entrees are a variation on the eggs/bacon/potatoes theme. Want Eggs Benedict? They have six kinds of Eggs Benedict. There are “lighter” options, but even those are likely to induce a food coma by mid-morning.
My friend orders a Breakfast Burrito, a tortilla with scrambled eggs, green peppers, onions, marinated tomato, avocado, cheddar and bacon that comes with a side of ranchero sauce and home fries ($9.99). My other dining companion orders Huevos Rancheros ($9.99), essentially the same thing but featuring poached eggs instead of scrambled, and I order the Skillet Breakfast, which is sausage, bacon, home fries, green pepper, mushroom and onion topped with cheddar and served in a skillet ($9.99). OverEasy is not the kind of place to push culinary boundaries.
All the food was good, but generally heavier on grease and salt than I would prefer. The portions were more than adequate and we probably could have easily split some orders. OverEasy is an unpretentious, cheap and cheerful place to meet friends the morning after a late Thursday night, without fear you’re going to run into the senior on your files.
Judge Foodie’s verdict:
Highs: basic comfort food with no surprises, inexpensive
Lows: guaranteed food coma
Kirsten Thompson is a Toronto-based research lawyer and commercial litigator. Since her call to the bar in 2000, she estimates that her restaurant to courtroom ratio has been approximately 14:1. Thoughts? Comments? Ideas for a review? Email her.
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Photo by Pat & Keri