Greenfield’s: My Assessment
By: Mr. Wilson on
February 4, 2009
Greenfield's is a locally-owned breakfast-themed restaurant in the same category as Village Inn and Perkins. They offer breakfast classics like variations on pancakes, omelettes, and so on, along with a few sandwiches and hamburgers. They also showcase several potato casseroles, each of which features sliced potatoes topped with various meats, vegetables, cheeses and sauces. Its location near two hotels is perfect; it's exactly the sort of conveniently-located place I would eat breakfast while traveling.
The interior is split in two, with the kitchen in the middle. Semi-private booths and half-booths (bench on one side, chairs on the other) line the walls of each dining space while tables fill in the middle. On the evening we were there it was a relatively quiet, welcoming atmosphere. Unfortunately, our table in the corner near two large windows was awfully cool. We didn't say anything but we should have.
Staff were pleasant. Our waitress was very friendly and acceptably attentive. She loses points, however, for not having tasted any of the muffins and not being able to tell us which was her favorite. She did recover by telling us that the lemon raspberry muffin seemed to be the most popular with customers; had she opened with that she wouldn't have had to admit her unfamiliarity with the food.
We had five orders at our table. I don't remember all of these in detail, so know that my descriptions are incomplete.
My dad's "Kentucky" potato casserole included chicken, "potent" onions (my dad's word), and ranch dressing. He said it was good, if a little dry. We wondered whether a southern style gravy might be more appropriate than ranch dressing. My dad liked that the potatoes still had a little "bite" to them, rather than being overcooked to the point of mushiness.
My mom's "Iowa" potato casserole featured honey ham, onions (which she excluded), and cheese. She liked that some of her potatoes were a little crispy. My mom had a lemon raspberry muffin on the side. She said it was "fine" but unimpressive.
The Missus went with an omelette. It was good sized, and she noted that the vegetables didn't have the bland, industrial flavor you might find at a chain breakfast joint. The Missus selected a carrot walnut muffin for her side. She said it tasted like it was from a mix.
For Robbie we ordered the dollar pancakes off the kids' menu. It included five smallish pancakes, one egg, and one sausage link. When asked if it was yummy, Robbie smiled a buttery smile and said "Mm hmm". His pancakes looked to me to be cooked just right.
I ordered the New Mexico potato casserole (pictured above). It included chicken, tomatoes and onions, and it was smothered in a pork green chile sauce. Next time I would ask for fewer onions. The green chile sauce was surprisingly flavorful, not bland like a lot of green chile can be at this sort of restaurant. I didn't care for the pork, however. To me it didn't add enough to the casserole to justify its existence. For that matter, in New Mexico you will rarely find pork in the green chile that smothers your meal. I say ditch the pig and replace it perhaps by adding some pieces of Anaheim chile to the sauce. For my side I had pancakes rather than the fruit or muffin that the menu offered. I received two small pancakes (larger than Robbie's dollar pancakes). The flavor was good, but the pancakes were just slightly overcooked. Then again, I like my pancakes just barely done.
In the end we all agreed our food was "fine" at worst and "good" at best. In other words it's not the sort of food you drive hours to eat, but it makes a decent meal. The total bill, with tax, for the five meals and a couple drinks: about $42.
Greenfield's isn't a knock-your-socks-off kind of restaurant right now. There's nothing wrong with that, Garden Cafe hype notwithstanding. If the prices were a little lower or the dishes a little more exciting it could easily become more of a destination for folks who dig this kind of restaurant. Take the potato casseroles, for example. If they are to become the restaurant's signature item they shouldn't be buried on the 4th page of the menu. Fix them up a bit, find some real winners -- perhaps via a weekly special to help identify new flavors -- and give them some prominence on the menu. Here's a suggestion: hook up with some local food producers and build some casseroles centered around local food. Post little signs saying that these tomatoes came from Farmer Jones's field at 160th and Whatever Street.
Anyway, once I came to terms with what Greenfield's isn't, it was much easier to judge it based on what it is. Greenfield's is a decent, locally-owned breakfast-themed restaurant that, with a few relatively simple changes, could do well in Lincoln. But what do I know? Give it a try and judge for yourself.
Comments
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I never got the Garden Cafe reverence in Lincoln. I only went there a handful of times before it closed after I arrived in Lincoln in 1998 and never was blown away. What was it about this place that made it so great? And if it was so great, why did it close? I remember the times that I went in, it was nearly empty.
were any of the potato casseroles vegetarian?
As I recall, by 98 the GC buzz was significantly down. At its heydey in the early/mid 90s it was always packed—they made some changes to their format/menu/focus in their last two years that i think put people off a bit.
And if it was so great, why did it close?
An excellent question! The short answer is: it used to be great, then something changed.
I just went on Sunday myself and have not had a chance to blog it. My friend said it best. Same sticky pancake house booths…It was good, but, well I’ll just blog about my experience.
Honestly I don’t recall. Korbelik’s review refers to “the veggie casserole and omelette”, so my guess is there’s one of each. In my opinion making the New Mexico vegetarian (and more New Mexico-ish) would go over extremely well.
FYI, the Garden Cafe owners now operate Beacon Hills. No casseroles, but a GREAT Sunday brunch. This is my opinion, not fact, but I think they were spread a little thin between the two locations and looked for a more stable home life for their family. This IS fact, they are great people!!!
Did its decline begin that early? I’m pretty sure the A Street location closed in 2003. My wife ate there on one of its very last days. (It was excellent, she sez.)
Let’s not talk about the north location. That one sucked from Day 1.
By the way, DMB, did you hit the A Street location or the North 27th location? The north location was awful from the day it opened.
Well hurry up, man! 😊
Be sure to post back here with a link so we’re all sure to see what you have to say.
Nice review. I think I’ll wait to hit up Greenfield’s.
From what I’ve heard and can piece together (i) the Garden Cafe was great through the late eighties, early nineties, (ii) founders got divorced, (iii) one spouse got control of the Garden Cafes, maybe sold a couple of them off to others (iv) Garden Cafe begins a slow decline, (v) around 2000 or so, other spouse opens a new place in Omaha called Wheatfields that is extremely evocative of the old garden cafes, but even better. Kind of like the Garden Cafe bakery, but with the food a little more upscale. I HIGHLY recommend that you eat there when in Omaha and have asked the staff when they plan on opening in Lincoln.
When the Garden Cafe first opened it was by far, incredible. The menu was huge, and I remember having the best roast I have ever had in a restaurant. I remember looking at this menu with all it’s artwork and the things you could pick off it was huge. I thought I heard that the original owners sold it and that the new owners changed things… but I don’t know if that is true. I do know that when I went back several years later, the food was sub-par and it just wasn’t what it was before.
The decline started early. Also, a lot of the original hype fed off the Omaha locales - the A Street location was good, but not Omaha good.
Once the started to raise prices and shrink portions (they should have done one or the other, not both), it was a downhill spiral.
Let’s be frank - it’s not as great as people remember it to be. Cleanliness wasn’t top of mind. It was busy, to be sure, but people remember it with more fondness than it probably deserves.
Yes, Wheatfields is very good!
I will second that. Perfect description of Wheatfields.
As mentioned in your review of Greenfields the muffins were disappointing. I went last weekend and was disappointed with the toast. What I most fondly remember about Garden Cafe was the fresh baked goods that made the difference between ordinary and very good. Greenfields seems to have missed this key to great breakfast places.
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