Up For Breakfast

4935 Main St., Manchester, VT - (802) 362-4204

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Posted By Michael Stern on 6/15/2006 10:10:00 AM

Seats can be scarce in this cozy café, but if you are looking for something extra-special in the morning, Up For Breakfast is a gold mine. You really do go UP for breakfast. It is a second-story restaurant with window views of Main Street. There is pleasant art on the walls; and if you sit towards the back, you can enjoy watching goings-on in the semi-open kitchen.

Pancakes are a true taste of Vermont, especially when glazed with pools of maple syrup. You can have them with or without blueberries, made from sunny-hued buttermilk batter, dark and serious buckwheat batter, or sourdough. Sourdough ‘cakes make a faint crunching sound when you press the edge of a fork to their surface. Inside the lacy web that encloses them, they are thin but substantial, with the vigorous disposition of a starter with character.

Muffins are excellent, available hot from the tin or sliced, buttered and grilled. More elaborate meals include multi-ingredient fritattas, French toast made using big slabs of spice bread, and chicken-duck-cilantro sausage. Wild turkey hash – wildly assembled, not made from wild turkeys – is a cook’s tour-de-force that combines big shreds of roasted turkey with peppers, onions, potatoes, and pine nuts, all griddle-cooked until crusty brown on the outside and topped with poached eggs and a film of fine Hollandaise. If you like omelets, let us suggest “The Metropolitan” – smoked salmon, chopped red onions, melting-warm cream cheese, capers, and a sprinkle of dill.

Coffee is good, as are morning champagne cocktails, including Passion Fruit Mimosas.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

Corned Beef Hash	Muffin
Blueberry Pancakes	Orange Juice
French Toast	The Purist

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"A close view of a half-eaten full stack of blueberry pancakes reveals just how much fruit the batter contains."
Michael Stern

"Corned beef hash in the foreground. A split, grilled muffin in back ... and plenty of butter for the muffin in the crock on the side"
Michael Stern

"Orange juice is thick and freshly-squeezed. Grapefruit juice (not shown) is equally wonderful."
Michael Stern

"“‘Up For Breakfast’ is an idea, not just a description of where we are,” proprietor Carolyne Mumford told us a few years back. “Being up for breakfast is the right way to start the day.”"
Michael Stern

"Pass the syrup, please!"
Michael Stern

"A close view of Up For Breakfast's excellent corned beef hash"
Michael Stern

"Made from big slabs of sourdough (or spice) bread, this is very swanky French toast."
Michael Stern

"A breakfast called The Purist starts with juice then moves on to this beautiful bowl of fresh-cut fruit."
Michael Stern

"Named for its nutritional virtue, The Purist breakfast features a big egg-white omelet loaded with cut-up vegetables. On the side comes a choice of dry toast: white, wheat, rye or (pictured here) sourdough."
Michael Stern