Mandy & Matt’s Cafe
1160 Forest Ave., Portland
536-0806
Breakfast is a deceptively simple meal. The dishes you see on nearly every diner menu — omelets, pancakes, hashes, etc. — don’t involve a lot of exotic ingredients or complicated techniques. That means it’s easy to make a decent breakfast, but hard to make an excellent one.
This is why a short-order cook can make or break a restaurant. Mastery of the humble flat-top griddle requires equal parts finesse and consistency. I’m happy to report both skills were on display during a recent visit to Mandy & Matt’s Cafe.
The breakfast-and-lunch spot opened last spring in the former home of Samuel’s Bar & Grill in Morrill’s Corner, a neighborhood known primarily for bars, car washes, and the worst rush-hour gridlock Portland has to offer. The cafe is pretty much the only place in the area for a weekday breakfast, if you don’t count Starbucks or McDonald’s (which I don’t).
I met a friend there at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday, when both the dining room and the parking lot (shared with Almost Famous Tattoos & Piercings) were practically empty. We settled in with mugs of fresh, strong coffee ($3.29). The menu included plenty of diner standards, including breakfast combos, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, and Eggs Benedict, as well as daily specials like a tempting Monte Cristo sandwich that would have put me in a food coma for the rest of the workday.
I opted for a veggie breakfast sandwich ($8.99) of egg, cheese, spinach, tomato, and onion on an English muffin, which I doctored up with a little salt and a splash of Cholula hot sauce. As with most breakfast entrées on the menu, the price included either home fries (griddled or deep fried) or my favorite: hash browns, pressed flat on the griddle until intensely crispy. I ordered a side of meaty, salty, homemade corned beef hash ($9.99), which was also griddled to a delightful crisp (canned hash is available for those willing to trade excellence for nostalgia).
My friend ordered two slices of French toast ($8.99 plus $2.99 for real maple syrup), which were custardy and soft in the middle — no small accomplishment when using thin-sliced bread. On the side were two perfect over-easy eggs ($4.58) and a well-seasoned sausage patty ($5.99).
Of course, food is only part of the dining experience. Owners Amanda and Matt Lebel have transformed the interior of the former pub into a bright, welcoming space that encourages lingering. The service matched the comfortable vibe; our waitress was quick with both coffee refills and friendly conversation.
The poet Dejan Stojanović wrote, “the most complicated skill is to be simple.” I can’t be sure he was writing about breakfast — though you can’t prove he wasn’t — but his adage definitely applies here. Mandy & Matt’s is a great addition to the neighborhood.
Mandy & Matt’s Cafe is open Monday-Saturday 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
