By Grant Miller

Waking up and driving anywhere at 6:45 a.m. on a Saturday is hard for any teacher during the school year, but it’s especially taxing in October. This is the time of year when the sun gets lazy, waking up after the early-rising educators during the week and clocking out early on the weekends.
As I walked into Eggs Up Grill on Saturday, October 11, the sun wasn’t up yet. The sky carried that hazy blue that announced to the world that the sun had pressed its snooze alarm.

Eggs Up is in the breakfast business. They can’t wait for the sun. They start at 6 a.m sharp, and when I arrived, they already had customers inside.

The host wasn’t there yet, but a blonde lady(whom I learned later was named Kelly Watson) hustled around the wood-floored restaurant taking orders three male cooks mixed and fried in the kitchen, their utensils popping and their pans sizzling.

By 7:15, my food was ready. Watson set it in front of me and said, “Alright.” Then she hustled off to clean an empty table while country music filled the room.

Eggs Up Grill whips up a hearty, high-quality breakfast with a creative, adventurous flair.

Watson, the hard-working lady from my visit, has worked at Eggs Up Grill in Ghent for four years and is currently the store manager.

When asked to describe the menu, she used words like kitschy, eclectic, and creative.

“We have a standard breakfast and then we have our own take on some of the standard breakfast,” Watson said.

Based on the menu options, Watson’s description is accurate. They offer dishes like “red, white, and blue waffles,” and “slices, strips, and spuds.”  Even their sign outside offered a “toasted marshmallow latte.” Eggs Up Grill definitely isn’t for the unadventurous customer.

With that said, I chose to keep my meal simple this time, but I have the appetite of a bear in spring. So I ordered two things, the chicken and waffles and the loaded home fry bowl.

Chicken and Waffles

The chicken and waffles were a satisfying mix of salty chicken strips and sweet Belgian waffles with a little kick from the spicy honey drizzle. The plate  reminded me of the 2004 Detroit Pistons. Each piece was alright by itself, but together they got the job done.

Loaded Home Fry Bowl

My Loaded Home Fry Bowl was a savory melody of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, cheese, and onions. Instead of the sweet and hot contrast of the chicken and waffles, the loaded home fry bowl was a chorus of consistency. The first bite was as good as the last. Nothing was bad about it, but nothing jumped out at me either. However this is not a knock on the quality of the cooking. At some point, a breakfast bowl is a breakfast bowl.

Eggs Up Grill served the kind of meal I frequently ate growing up eating in New England diners with a more creative take on breakfast. I would definitely recommend it.

Score-4/5