A sign in the Egg & I reads: “Our cooking is so good, you’ll think we kidnapped your mother.” This mother enlisted four kids ages 8 to 14 to help review the breakfasts at this family-run chain.
The Egg & I welcomes families with colored pencils for the kids’ menu, and the friendly staff doesn’t blink when the blueberry compote goes plop on the carpet.
The first restaurant opened in 1987 on South College Avenue in Fort Collins, and the Seaser family now oversees 18 Egg & I restaurants in Colorado, Wyoming and Houston.
“It’s homey – homey,” said the kids, taking their seats in large Windsor-style oak chairs in the sunny dining room. Although they are not carbon copies, the restaurants feel like Grandma’s house, with pots of ivy hanging from the ceiling and stenciled flowers on the walls.
Don’t expect to challenge your palate here – the green chile is bland and the Hollandaise thin – but you can expect to fill up for the day with generous servings, a “lighter-fare” menu and plenty of sides.
Of the five breakfasts we ordered, my favorite was my son’s thick-but-light waffle. It wasn’t sweet like many Belgian waffles but had a crisp golden crust and a fluffy interior.
The best thing about the egg-wrapped Sunrise chile rellenos was the flavorful tang of the mild green chiles, but even after adding extra green chile sauce, it was still bland.
The 14-year-old couldn’t finish her eggs benedict, maybe because she filled up on a tropical smoothie presented in a parfait glass. She said it tasted like “relaxing on the beach.”
The child-size French toast plate came with grapes for eyes and a smile of bacon, and proved to be “just right” for our youngest critic.
The blueberry pancakes were so good they didn’t even need syrup, said her brother.
All Egg & I locations offer meeting rooms that hold 20 to 40 people and participate in their communities with pancake breakfasts and other charitable activities. The Seaser family was recently named one of America’s best restaurant families by Jones Dairy Farm.
The Seasers took the name of their restaurant from the 1945 novel, “The Egg and I,” by Betty MacDonald, which was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurry and Claudette Colbert, in which city- slicker newlyweds move to a chicken farm and meet soon- to-be-famous neighbors Ma and Pa Kettle.
This “ma” was just happy not to have to crack all those eggs or clean the blueberry stains out of the carpet.
Staff writer Kristen Browning-Blas can be reached at 303-820-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com.
The Egg & I
Breakfast and lunch|Arvada, Boulder, Broomfield, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Englewood, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Greeley, Highlands Ranch, Longmont, Loveland, Steamboat Springs, Thornton, Windsor |85 cents to $8.25|6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Visa, MC, American Express, checks
Front burner: Family- friendly breakfasts in a homey space.
Back burner: Skimpy servings of the Hollandaise and green chile sauces.
