A Great Breakfast at the Heart and Soul Cafe

The regular readers of this blog know that weekend breakfast is something almost ritualistic for me. So I'm always searching for new, interesting places to have the first meal of the day. And I found one today.
When my wife and I did an evening walk recently we discovered the Heart & Soul Cafe on West Broad Street (corner of Osborn Ave).
It was closed for vacation at the time, but is has since reopened, so today I had an opportunity to have breakfast there after my early morning workout at the Westfield Y.
And its name lives up to the promise. This is a place that certainly has Heart & Soul. It is a small place. Only three tables with a couple of chairs around and a few stools at the counter. The atmosphere is warm and cozy. The service is friendly and welcoming. I immediately liked the place, it is very personal, you feel at home there, a place to hang out and relax for a while.
The menu is typical breakfast as well as lunch deli fare. Nothing spectacular or outrageous but a good variety so it doesn't get boring if you come there frequently. And seemingly there are a lot of regulars that enjoy the food and the friendly surroundings.
The coffee comes in a china mug, it is fresh, really hot (which I like) and has a full bodied solid taste (not too bitter and not to mellow). And the refills come in timely and fast.
For breakfast I had the two egg sausage breakfast sandwich with home fries. The sandwich comes on a fresh poppy seed roll that has a slightly crisp and chewy texture (not the dry soft foamy stuff you often get). That alone tells me that there is attention to detail. The nicely seasoned sausage patties are fried just right so you get the flavorful juices coming out drenching the roll. You actually get two patties on the larger two-egg sandwich. The eggs are nicely scrambled and fried in a way that they are still fluffy and not overcooked. Overall, this is one of the better breakfast sandwiches I had in a while.
But the best thing are the home fries. There are two types of home fries that I like. The crispy, crunchy, browned ones that are best made in a heavy iron skillet. They are difficult to make in large quantities in a restaurant as they often come out not crispy enough or blackened. I like these more for the crisp, crunchy texture than for the actual taste of the potato.
The other type are the ones that are more stir fried with spices and other ingredients, i.e. not crispy but rather covered with a sauce all around. Such home fries are more about taste than texture. The Heart & Soul Cafe has the latter ones. I don't know what spices they put in but the combination between the subtle taste of the potatoes (yes, potatoes actually do have their own taste) and the seasoning is very pleasant and satisfying. The home fried alone are worth a visit.
In addition to great service and great food, the prices are reasonable. The two egg sandwich with meat is $3.50 (one egg is $2.50). Add home fries for $1.75.
They open at 6:00 AM. If I have to get up that early I'm typically not in the best mood. It is good to know that there is a place in Westfield where I can get a good breakfast that early and where people are nice and friendly. They are also open for lunch and then close at 3:00 PM.
The one and only drawback: There is no outside seating. I think there is enough space in front of the store to put up two tables and a few chairs. Maybe I can convince the owner to do something about that.
When I have an opportunity I will come back for lunch to check out their lunch menu.

This is a mid day blog post. We are planning to go to a very interesting place for dinner. So stay tuned for more to come later today.
Thanks again to Westfield photographer Andrea Ewald for letting me use her photos.

Signing Off - The Westfield Blogger.