Owensboro, Kentucky

Great Cup of Coffee at Another Broken Egg

I’ve written an Another Broken Egg (Owensboro) review before on Genuine Kentucky. Actually, it was two reviews in one because it covered several visits.

Two of my daughters and I decided to have lunch at Another Broken Egg in Owensboro a few weeks ago. It had been a while since we’d visited the restaurant simply because my oldest daughter and I have to eat gluten free and, and there aren’t many gluten free options aside from breakfast food. Yes, the breakfast food is delicious, but it’s not always what we’re in the mood for when it comes to lunch or dinner.

The restaurant is, without a doubt, as beautiful as it gets. The servers are always incredibly friendly – for that matter, anyone you come in contact with is nothing but warm and friendly.

The bacon and sausage are notoriously delicious. It’s hard to describe just how good it is, but you can certainly taste the quality.

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Another Broken Egg’s Amazing Bacon

The members of my family who can eat gluten just fine, thank you very much, swear by the potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. The looks on their faces while they’re eating these delicious looking foods tell me that they’re legendary.

The menu isn’t a very large one but it is pretty creative.

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Breakfast Meal at Another Broken Egg

I have no idea why the potatoes aren’t gluten free, but every time I see/smell them, it’s a fact that breaks my potato-obsessed heart. There must be something in the seasoning, but that’s just a guess.

I even love the dishes at Another Broken Egg. I would have paid for one of their coffee mugs – like everything associated with the restaurant, they’re beautiful.

I would love to just end the review right there – on the highest of notes – but I like to keep it real with my restaurant reviews. The thought of someone taking my “word” for a restaurant weighs heavily in my mind each time I write a review, so know this: I will never be anything but 100 percent “up front” and 110 percent honest.

The first three or four times we visited Another Broken Egg, I would have given the food a solid 10 each and every time. I’d have given the service a solid 10 each time as well. The first two times, the wait was pretty lengthy, but the food was seriously worth it. After one bite, the time spent waiting was completely forgotten.

Same thing with the price. It costs a bit more to have a meal at Another Broken Egg than it does, say, Jimmy John’s, Mi Ranchito, or Cracker Barrel. However, the quiet atmosphere, the beautiful surroundings, and the excellent food justified the extra money.

I would still give the service a solid 10. However, if we’re going to be totally honest here (and we’ve established that we are), the gluten free pancake I got this time wasn’t quite a 10. The texture, taste, and green leaves (I’ll get to them in a minute) made it closer to a 7.

Gluten Free Pancake

The server offered whipped topping on the pancake and I jumped at the opportunity. It really added a lot to the pancake, which, unfortunately needed the help.

On previous visits, the butter accompanying the pancakes was “whipped butter” that came to the table in little plastic cups – it was fantastic and served as an extra special touch that you’d expect from such a beautiful restaurant.  You can see what I mean if you look at the pictures in my previous Another Broken Egg (Owensboro) review. This time, the butter came, as you can see here, in little tubs.

I know, I know, not a big deal. And yet… I noticed.  So at least it’s a bit of a deal – regardless of the size.

Now… for the mysterious little green flecks.  With my second cut into the pancake, I found a little something or another that was bright green. I’m not an alarmist, so I just put it to the side.  If you look in the picture above, you can see one of the little guys under the surface to the left of the little orange slice at the top. When extracted from the pancake, the green color of the flecks became much more bright and vivid. It was definitely not anything harmful and wasn’t at all bug-related, which was quite a relief.

After close inspection, I figured out that they were probably just strawberry leaves that’d found their way into the batter, I ate the parts of the pancake that weren’t infiltrated with greenery.

If it had been something life-threatening or… well, buggy… I’d have complained. As it was, I simply left the little green bits (about 6 or 7 of them in all) in a nice little heap on top of what remained of the pancake. I figured someone clearing the table would see it and, hopefully ask the people in the kitchen, “What’s up with that???“

I’m not mad. I’m not grossed out. At the time I thought, “If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, I’ll be sure to thank God twice.”

I still feel the same way. Not a big deal.

However….

Okay, here’s the thing, I am an avid cook – heck I even have a food blog. I know that when you’re cooking, if you’re really watching what you’re doing, it’d be almost impossible for something like this to happen. Since that particular lunch, I’ve often wondered about it and still can’t figure out how pieces of what I’m convinced was a fruit leaf found their way into a pancake.

Before you write this off as the most insignificant thing in the world, hang with me a minute. As someone with food allergies and intolerances and as the mother of daughters with food allergies and intolerances, I can’t help but wonder… if this oversight happened, what other oversights might happen?

If someone in the kitchen didn’t see a strawberry leaf (at least it’s what it appeared to be pieces of – it could have been tiny pieces of green paper for all I know) fall into pancake batter… or, worse yet, if they saw it and said, “Eh, maybe no one will notice…” that’s a problem. What else might make it’s way into places it doesn’t belong?

A crumb, for example could cause intense pain for someone with celiac disease or gluten intolerance or even a life threatening allergic reaction to someone with intense food allergies.

What if the little green bits were, indeed, strawberry leaves. Furthermore, what if they’d made their way into a pancake that landed in front of someone who was allergic to strawberries?

My dad had horrific reactions when he came into contact with oranges or anything orange-flavored. My oldest daughter has intense reactions to wheat (as in her throat closes up, making breathing difficult). Mangoes are one of my own downfalls. I’m pretty certain I could just be in the same room with a picture of a mango and have an allergic reaction followed by an asthma attack.

Food allergies do NOT simply involve a sneeze here or a sneeze there. They can be extremely dangerous and, yes, they can be fatal.

As I type these words, I now realize that I definitely should have said something at the time. Even though it would have gone completely against my nature, I should have politely told the manager (or the server) that, while I DID NOT want my money back, I thought they should know that something mysterious had crept into a pancake.

I, jokingly, asked one of my daughters (who’d ordered the exact same pancake) if her pancake came with a salad. It didn’t – so it’s possible that mine was the only one, somehow.

Again – not a big deal. But it could have been.

{Concluded Below…}

Gluten Free Pancake with Fruit

Finally, if you order the regular pancakes or the Jumbo Gluten Free Pancake, you might not want to bother paying extra for fruit. As you can see in the picture above, it’s really not worth it.

Okay. So, given my experience (including the most recent trip), would I still go to Another Broken Egg in Owensboro? Yes, I absolutely would. That statement will tell you just how wonderful all my previous trips were. Restaurants are staffed by humans and not a one of us remaining on earth is perfect.

I make a killer shrimp cocktail sauce – one that I’m quite cocky about. However, one batch may be better than the next and the next may be better than all the ones before. It happens. I’m not going to allow one “not quite as good” trip keep me from a restaurant that’s normally great.

I will say this – I’ve heard a few less than glowing reviews lately from other people around town. I can only hope that, unlike some restaurants, Owensboro’s Another Broken Egg isn’t going downhill.  It’s better than that and I know it.

I have faith that they’ll get everything back to where it was and when that happens, I’ll be the first to say so. Heck, I’ll scream it.