Yogi's

Yogi's Menu

Yogi’s has a special place in my heart because Monika and I went there when we first started dating and have continued to go there since.

Their core competency (sorry, I couldn’t throwing MBA jargon in there) is breakfast. My favorite is the Breakfast Special – two eggs your way, bacon or sausage, a bagel (4 thousand choices), hash browns, and God’s own grits. Seriously, these grits are insane. They key, of course, is massive amounts of cheese. I believe they also put trace amounts of cayenne pepper in there, which does not make them spicy, but gives them a bit of a kick to make things interesting. Now, they actually stopped offering the special a few months ago (they probably realized that charging $5.99 for that much food was ludicrous), but if you say “the special,” they know what you mean. By the way, if you saunter in around 11 a.m., the grits will be long gone. We found this out the last couple times we visited.

Monika’s weapon of choice is the bagel sandwich with a Café Mocha. The Bagel Sandwich is the standard fare, but the coffee ranges from good to excellent, depending on who makes it. If you see a guy with a lot of tattoos on his arms, you are about to get a mean cup of coffee.

Differentiation: although most people who know me know that I’m not big into the whole “Bread Thing,” (no, I’m not on the freakin’ Atkins diet, random internet cruisers of the world) this place has killer pancakes that truly stand out in a world full of “who cares?” pancakes at every corner. Imagine a doughnut, but not as sweet and flagrant – that’s a preview for how their pancakes taste.

The caveat: no real butter, no warm syrup. I’m baffled that a place with such good, unique pancakes doesn’t have better pancake “accessories,” shall I say. The only butter option is crappy individual plastic foil-covered margarine packs, and room-temperature syrup which lives in plastic “Ballpark Hot Dog” squirt-containers. Why?

Others – the eggs benedict are good, the Bagel and Locks are great, the Migas are okay.

Overall Grade: B+