Breakfast fans need to check out Sugar in Roslindale
OK, so we're not so tough: This morning, I drove the kidlet and the kid from next door to school, to minimize their risk of cracking heads on slippery sidewalks. Since I had to scrape off the car (again!), I didn't have time to make myself coffee (you know, one of the four essential food groups), so rather than having breakfast at home, I stopped at the newly opened Sugar Baking Co. in Roslindale Square (Washington Street, across from the Dunkin' Donuts).
This is not your grandfather's Blue Star. Instead of copper plates of Greek sea captains, you're greeted by artsy paintings of syrup-drenched waffles, wood floors and a general South Endish cafe type vibe (or, at least, what I'd think is a general South Endish cafe type vibe since, truth be told, I've never been in a South End cafe). '80s music ("Walk Like an Egyptian") plays, but not too loudly.
I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and rye toast. I got back this huge plate of food. Plus a complimentary bowl of fruit. A big bowl of fruit, not just a strawberry and a couple of melon slices (throw in blueberries, grapes, banana slices and more melon slices). All done very nicely. Add a cup or two of decent coffee and the whole thing was $9.63. If you're watching your saturated-fat intake (like, er, I should be), the menu is well stocked with healhier alternatives (organic yogurt, even). I didn't even look at the bakery section of the place, but if it's anything like the Sugar in West Roxbury, well, yay, a new place to get cupcakes!
Pro tip: Avoid the seats next to the windows on a cold day like today.
Ad:
Comments
Adam's breakfast
Great writeup Adam! Um... is the intern going to write some stories soon?
She is, she is!
Mysteries of the snowdecahedrons revealed.
May the best breakfast win
The newly renovated Derna's Breakfast counter across from Delfino is a great place to sit on a stool and watch people go by. And Blue Star Cafe on Corinth St. is a mob scene on Saturday mornings for good reason: good food, reasonably priced. This new Sugar Bakery adds one more good option to the Roslindale Village mix.
What, no French Toast?
Eggs and the works sounds like a good change.
Now if we could just order up better weather.....
Heh, yeah, I thought about it
And they do have it on the menu, even as a side order, but, um, no, I couldn't.
Props to Rox Diner too!
This place looks great!
Just want to add that this is a collaboration between Sugar bakery, and Rox Diner in West Roxbury.
I'm really looking forward to trying it out this weekend.
Yes! I can't wait. Looks
Yes! I can't wait. Looks awesome.
Can't wait to try the restaurant part
got some macaroons from the bakery and they were really good.
Fresh fruit!
I love breakfast places that serve you some complimentary fresh fruit to accompany your breakfast. Even the ones that just give you a few orange slices or whatever is great, but a whole bowl of fruit salad is just awesome.
this
I love the Neighborhood Restaurant in Somerville for their fruit, and the complimentary cream of wheat.
centre streete cafe mocks your puny breakfast
Beep beep, the centre street cafe's Truck Stop runs over that puny excuse for a breakfast!
breakfast out is always nice
but I am afraid I have to agree. There is something sad-looking about this one.
And Sami's totally destroys
And Sami's totally destroys it. Can't beat three bucks.
Hot tip
Baked goods half-off after three.
Looks small and pretty
Looks small and pretty generic.
Kidlet?
Why "kidlet" instead of "kid"? What extra meaning do you convey by typing those three extra letters?
Really?
I've been calling her a kidlet since she was knee high to a grasshopper (at the very end). It's just an affectionate term, even if she's more on the cusp of teenlet status now.
No offense intended. And
No offense intended. And yes, I've been seeing you write "kidlet" for a good while, and had always wondered about it, but never got around to asking until now.
Sorry for the thin skin!
After reading a series of comments impugning people's morality here, I should take a break before reading more comments.
Kid Friendly?
Adam,
You mentioned the kiddos were in tow. Was this place an easy place to bring them to?
Oh, no, didn't bring them
I went after bringing them to school (plus, they're both middle-schoolish). It looked OK in terms of dimensions for kids - tables are pretty well spaced; didn't look to see if they have high chairs. But I wouldn't recommend it just yet for the stroller set. They don't have their own lot and all that snow and ice means parking is difficult, even kind of dangerous (you're basically parking in the remains of the Washington Street bike lane, unless you want to hike all the way over from the municipal lot). And the less said about the sidewalks, the better (Sugar itself did a decent job of shoveling, but on either side of them? Forget it).
Thanks
Good feedback Adam.
$9.63 for that small breakfast?
Well, for a South End cafe, I guess that'd be an ok price.
But I'd rather eat a grandpa's Blue Star diner. It'd probably be half the price and twice the food.
Bigger than it looks in the photo
I should have put my hand in the photo for scale :-). I'm pretty sure it was larger than a comparable two-egg plate at the Blue Star (the home fries are deceiving in the photo - they were pretty big). Throw in all the fruit and it was way more food.
Also, I should have made sure my phone camera lens was clean - imagine the fruit looking as bright as you'd expect fruit to look and that's what it looked like, the washed-outness is my fault, not the food's.
Sorry
Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown trumps all of 'em
Just sayin'
It's good . . .
Deluxe is good, no doubt. But "The Maugus" in Wellesley is my spot for breakfast (when I'm there).
NOM NOM NOM
It sure is good. And has tonnnns of veg*n options.
We only eat out for breakfast....
... on vacations. Otherwise, I make it. So breakfast places in Roslindale are unknown territory to me. ;~}
I'm not sure
if this family-friendly forum wants to know when or where you eat out.
:o)
Well then...
I'm mot cooking any huevos rancheras for you (or blueberry-cranbberry waffles either). ;~}
Went today and thought it was
Went today and thought it was fantastic. The Boschetto's space is completely transformed. Bakery case in the back (and they had plenty of their amazing whoopie pies) and eating area in the front. The food is more upscale than the Rox Diner. My zucchini and mushroom omelet was $9 and came with yummy potatoes, homemade ketchup, rye toast, and that generous fruit. Well worth it.
Plenty of highchairs and a clean bathroom.
I think this is going to be a welcome addition to the square. It definitely has more of a Geoffrey's vibe than a diner vibe. Love the Roslindale themed art on the walls.
Oh, and when I sat down with my 3 year old, our nice waitress came over and handed him an Etch a Sketch, which kept him happily occupied.
Can't wait to go back!
Coffee worth mentioning?
Roslindale really needs a good coffee place. When I poked my head in there it looked like they had those giant thermos pump things that just scream luke warm, stale, bitter "coffee service" coffee. Please tell me I'm wrong. If they make a good mocha my wife will be there every weekend.
I'm the wrong person to ask
I mean, I like Dunkin' Donuts coffee!
The coffee I had seemed perfectly fine to me, but see the first sentence ...
Best breakfast I've ever had!
Paired with the WORST SERVICE I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED. To start, there was no one greeting, which lead to a confused mess of patrons crowding the door. Customers who walked in were simply ignored for up to 20 minutes. Finally after getting seated at the counter, the waitress took our drink orders (OJ is $4 btw, no refills!). 10 minutes later, our drinks were filled right in front of us (because we were sitting at the counter) and she took our orders. Another 10 minutes passed and she comes by and says "you guys didn't have bacon or anything right?" My partner worked in food service and knew this is the tell-tale sign that your waitress didn't put your order in. 10 more minutes pass by and food arrives. In the meantime, a couple next to us was seated at the counter and was ignored for the entire time we were waiting for our food. They eventually WALKED OUT. That is the worst thing that any restaurant can experience - losing customers. They didn’t even seem to care. She also lied to our face and said they only had blueberry jam and then served strawberry jam to a customer at a nearby table.
With all this said though, the food was PHENOMENAL. I take service very seriously and it's not often when the food can save my opinion and mood, but oh boy this did. The eggs (overeasy) were on the small side, but everything was fresh - blueberry jam (homemade), wheat bread, fruit, real maple syrup, the works. The homefries had the perfect crisp to them and the French toast was out of this world – made with a fresh slice of their homebread bread, topped with cinnamon, fresh blueberries, and fresh strawberries.
I just want to thank you Adam for the suggestion. I’m hoping the horrendous service was just because they were having a bad day (I overheard someone mention 2 people called out) but it’s no excuse. There aren’t even many tables. They need to train the staff better and instill a sense of urgency in them. It's extremely easy for a server to get a 20% tip out of me, but she was lucky to have gotten $2.75 (10%).
When I bought cupcakes at the bakery counter....
...the pleasant young staff person was VERY inefficient (and slow). Definitely would seem to be a training problem at Sugar.