Location: 2151 Sagamore Pkwy S, Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: 765-448-3100
Cuisine: American

Let me start this review by saying we had a celebrity siting during today’s dining excursion! We went to the Breakfast Nook over by the mall, and as we were sitting there chatting one of my friends pointed out that Bob Rohrman was sitting at a nearby table. Yes, folks, it’s true. You can be jealous now. 

The Breakfast Nook is over in the mall parking lot, in what used to be the White Castle. And I will disclaim this now, knowing what the inside of a White Castle looks like, I did not have high hopes for this place. In fact, I had really low expectations and I really think I need to go into all reviews like that. Of course, we got there and it’s cheesy colored logo with a cheesy font was just glaring at me from the parking lot, but still, I went in anyway!

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was inside. Sure, it’s no fancy upscale place, but it was very clean, tasteful decorated, and most importantly, did not look like a White Castle.

It was not busy, in fact we were one of three tables with people at it. The menu is pretty extensive. They advertise that they’re “more than just breakfast” even though they are called the Breakfast Nook. They have specials for every day of the week and the regular menu has everything from breakfast to sandwiches, to seafood and more.

Since it’s called the Breakfast Nook, I felt like it was my duty to get breakfast (even though they advertise the “Best Tenderloins in Town”). I saw something called a skillet breakfast and decided to go with that, even though there wasn’t a clear description of what it was. What I ended up getting was hash browns with ham, onions and peppers topped with gravy. That was topped with a slice of American cheese. And that was topped with two eggs du jour.  (Health food!) Honestly, though, I can’t tell you if it was really good or not. It pretty much all tasted like gravy. And I’m not sure American cheese on top of gravy and under eggs is the way to go. It certainly wasn’t bad and I ate most of it, but I’m not sure it’s something I’d order again. Now I want to go back and try all these things separately.

One friend did me a solid by ordered the “Best Tenderloin in Town” and she reports that it was really good, although she’s not sure she’d give it the “best” award, but right up there and good. My other friend ordered a burger and friends. She said that it was nothing outstanding, but tasted fine. Both friends reported their fries were undercooked.

The service was quite slow, and the food took a really long time to come out, even though there were only 5 people eating in the entire restaurant. Overall, I’d probably go again if I was on that side of town and really wanted breakfast. That area by the mall is devoid of any breakfast spots aside from McDonald’s.

Kid Friendly: Yes

Price: Very reasonable. Most entrees $3-$8.

Location: 106 East 3rd Street, Brookston (map it)
Phone: (765) 563-3788
Cuisine: American

When I first moved to this area in 1998, some co-workers and I were going out to lunch and they all wanted to go to Klein Brot Haus. I didn’t live in Lafayette at the time, but a nearby city, and I’d never heard of this place. I knew it was located in Brookston and that it had a great soup and bread bar. I like soup. I like bread. So it is shocking to me that I’ve never actually made it back there.

I started this website in 2008, and since then I only write reviews of restaurants as I try them, even if I’ve been there before. So today I decided was a good day for soup and bread, and I encouraged my friend to join me in the drive to Brookston to enjoy. I realize the ownership has likely changed hands since that day back in 1998, but I still wanted to go give it a try and I’m really glad I did.

It’s really not that far of a drive, just north of Lafayette off 43. It’s not a huge place and has a very homey, antique-y feel to it. Or maybe you’d call it rustic? Plenty of tables and chairs, newspapers around, a coffee station, and of course, a pastry display. Then off to one side is a little bar for the soup and bread. We got there a little early so it wasn’t quite ready yet, but chose to wait on it.

They offered three soups today, but sometimes they do four. Today’s choices were Kentucky Burgoo, chicken noodle, and Irish stew. If having the bar, you can help yourself to soups and the other items on the bar. The bowls are fairly small so you can be sure to try all the varieties. They had a platter of fresh bread as well and a selection of butters: apple butter, regular butter, cinnamon butter, and honey butter. I had read that they offered salads as well, and so long as you are open minded about what is considered salad, they do. The salads today were baked bean salad, cole slaw, beats, and apple sauce.

Let’s start with the soups. I did try all three, and they were all really good. The chicken noodle was good, but not extraordinary. The other two were a toss up for which one was better. The Irish stew, while called stew, was actually a brothy soup with cabbage, sausage, and other vegetables while the Kentucky Burgoo was more of a stew, with multiple meats and a lot of peas and corn.

The bread was delicious (but I’ve rarely met a bread I didn’t like) and I tasted all the butters and really liked them all. The cinnamon butter was like spreading cinnamon toast on top of your bread. Decadent.

As to the salads, these were not my favorite. The “baked bean salad” was really just cold baked beans. I liked baked beans, and these were fine, but I prefer them warm. The cole slaw was different in that it seemed to be only cabbage, no carrots or onion that I saw, and it wasn’t sweet at all. I am, after many tries, not a fan of beats, so I didn’t give those a try. Nor did I try the apple sauce.

Upon finishing our meal, we both agreed that dessert was going to be a necessity. I couldn’t stop looking at the huge display of options. I asked what was best, and the server had a hard time picking.  I finally settled on the Pumpkin Bar (’tis the season) and my friend got a chocolate brownie. The pumpkin bar was just a slice of heaven. So good. The chocolate brownie was so rich we could hardly eat it. Good, but wow, very rich.

They also have breakfast, as well as cold and hot sandwiches. Nearly everyone eating there was having soup and bread though.

The service was very good as well. It was pretty much self serve, but the person in charge was very pleasant, was very helpful, and just a really nice guy.

Overall, it’s definitely worth the drive to Brookston for a tasty lunch.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: $5.99 for all you can eat soup and bread.

Location: 2108 Veterans Memorial Pkwy Suite C, Lafayette (map it)
Phone: (765) 838-0176
Cuisine: American

A loyal follower has been suggesting this place for a review for a while now, so I finally made my way over to the south side to give it a try. If you are looking for it, it’s in the strip mall there near the Bar Barry Liquor store. When you walk in, there are tables in the middle, booths up one wall, and a big eat at bar on the other side. It was very clean, very nicely arranged, and everything looked fresh and new. I was impressed.

We were told to sit anywhere, so we did. The server was there immediately to give us menus and take our drink orders, and our drinks came back almost as fast. The menu consists of mainly breakfast, which is served all day, burgers, and salads with a few other items. (The full menu can be seen here.) It’s certainly not an expansive menu, but they also had specials on the a chalkboard which I assume change daily.

My friend noticed the appetizers and ordered something I’ve never heard of before: cheese curds. Apparently a staple in Wisconsin, the cheese curd is some kind of deep fried cheese. These came and out and YUM! I have no past experience with the cheese curd and no basis for comparison, but it was really good. However, a word of warning: it’s not health food!

I’d been told to get the breakfast, and since I always do as I’m told (heh) I ordered the Southside Breakfast Monte Cristo, which is a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich of sorts, although it’s served on some kind of special bread and then cooked like French Toast. Really, it tasted like a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on French Toast. It was good. Different, but tasty.

I ordered the hash browns and my other friend who was having breakfast went with the fried potatoes. I tasted both, and definitely the fried potatoes were better. The hash browns weren’t bad, but lacked a little of the crispness that I like in hash browns. The fried potatoes had a better flavor and consistency.

My other friend ordered off the lunch menu, and choose the breaded tenderloin with fries. She reports it was pretty good, although not the best she’s had and that the fries were very good.

After eating lunch we were looking at the dessert case. I had no plans to have dessert, because I was full and really, dessert doesn’t go so well with breakfast. I asked our server if the desserts were made there, or if they were brought in. She assured me that the owners actually make all the desserts and so I was sold. I would have to try something. We ordered a slice of peanut butter pie to share and it was delicious. Decadent, for sure, but yummy. If I’m having dessert, then I always feel like I need coffee to go with it, so I ordered a cup and the coffee was quite good too. There’s nothing worse than bad restaurant coffee.

The service here was really good too. The servers were around often and were extremely pleasant. Always ready to refill a drink or get anything we needed. Overall, we had a very pleasant experience.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: Breakfast platters from $2.75 up to $7.25, entrees between $6-8.

Restaurant Name: Oliverio’s Southland

Location: 2670 US 231 South, Lafayette, IN  (map it)

Phone: (765) 474-0076

Cuisine: American

Review: I need to begin by admitting that I was afraid to try Oliverio’s. I have driven by it enough and wondered about it. It’s a small little place right at the corner of US 25 and Old 231 South. I didn’t know if it was a bar, or a restaurant, or a secret society location. So I stayed away.

Then lately, I started seeing commercials for it while watching the WLFI news. Seeing it on a commercial helped gave me the courage to go try it out, and boy am I glad I did.

Like I said, it’s a small place. There’s a diner like bar where you can eat and some tables in the front, then another larger room in the back. It’s not fancy  and the tables are packed in there. We were told to sit wherever we wanted and picked a spot. We were immediately greeted with an extraordinarily friendly (but not overbearing) waitress who got us some coffee, menus, and silverware.

We took a few minutes and looked over the menu, which consisted of things like pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, etc. I ended up settling on something called a half and half – half biscuits and gravy and half hash browns, all covered in gravy. With the help of the waitress (who had great recommendations – I really can’t stand it when the wait staff has no clue what’s good), my friend chose the pancakes. My meal was excellent, and my friend’s blueberry pancakes were bigger than her head. I’m not exaggerating, her place was twice the size of mine to accomodate those pancakes. They were HUGE!

Upon paying our bill at the cash register up front, we were delighted to meet the proprietor of Oliverio’s, who claimed to be running the oldest, privately owned restaurant in Tippecanoe County. (I have not verified this claim, but it’s what she said.)

Overall, I really enjoyed my breakfast. It wasn’t fancy, but it was tasty and the service was excellent. I’d definitely go again and look forward to trying their lunch and dinner menu.

Kid friendly: Yes

Price Range: $3-$8 for breakfast

Restaurant Name: Route 66

Location: 1566 Win Hentschel Blvd. West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 497-9466

Cuisine: American

Review: Route 66 Diner is another local eatery owned by Greg & Carrie Ehresman, who also own the Triple XXX Family restaurant. It’s located on the west side, in the strip mall that also houses Thai Essence and Kitchen Art.

The restaurant is small, and completely decked out in car related paraphanalia. Hub cabs lined every wall, huge Phillips 66 signs everywhere. A car grill on one wall. The kids loved it! It’s nothing fancy, but fun.

We were seated immediately, although the restaurant was pretty full. The menus seemed to be the same as the Triple XXX menu, although there may be some differences that I missed. They offer breakfast all day as well as a selection of burgers, salads, and sandwiches.

The food for everyone was pretty good. I chose the Santa Monica chicken salad, and my only real complaint is the dressing, which was out of a packet so not really their fault. I like greener lettuces, as I’ve said here, but this one wasn’t bad. The rest of the family enjoyed their food which included pancakes and bacon, corned beef hash, and chicken nuggets and french fries.

If you are looking for Triple XXX food at a different location, then the Route 66 Diner is right up your alley.

Kid friendly: Yes. Kids’ menu included items like chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, hamburgers, and pancakes.

Methods of payment: Cash or credit.