Staffer Reviews Kansas City Breakfast Restaurants

The Classic Cup:

Let’s just start by saying the food was warmer than the atmosphere. The Classic Cup is classy. It was stiff and dark with its white tablecloths and numerous pieces of silverware.The red and green menu was the most colorful thing in the restaurant. Even if the atmosphere leaves me without the warm, fuzzy, lazy day, breakfast feeling I’ve come to expect from a breakfast outing, the food made up for the lack of breakfast charm.

After reading over the menu and much deliberating, I ordered a Dutch Baby. It is a thicker type of pancake that is baked in the oven where it rises and then once it cools the middle collapses and the crater can be filled with a variety of fruit, or other breakfast foods.  Mine was heaped with pineapple, strawberries and cantaloupe, dusted with powdered sugar and accompanied with two slices of bacon. It was as adorable as its name, plus it had the added bonus of being delicious. I had definitely made the right choice too, because one of my friends that accompanied me, their food was less than desirable.

Then there was the coffee, good coffee is important to me and the Classic Cup had coffee that was good straight black. As good as breakfast was, I could have gone without the $18 price tag  and $4 tip the waitress for her inattentive and dismissive service. Over all the Classic Cup is the place to go if you are feeling sophisticated or your parents offer to take you and are going to pay.

The Classic Cookie:

Although the Classic Cup and Classic Cookie have a similar name these two places could not be more different. The Classic Cookie, located in Waldo, is tiny, pink and full of quirky furnishings.The small space and crowd meant that everyone was packed close together, and some tables were shared, which is a break from the normal feel of a restaurant. The small space and atmosphere were endearing and immediately put me in a friendly and cheery mood, which is a rare occasion on a Sunday morning before noon.

After a quick peek at the menu and daily specials written on the chalkboard in the corner, I picked a parfait with strawberry yogurt, grapes, bananas and granola with an english muffin. It was simple, but satisfying.  The coffee wasn’t bad either. When I had scraped the last of the strawberry yogurt out of bottom of the cup and the check arrived the price wasn’t exorbitant and I was happy to pay it.

Before leaving, I had to try a cookie. I mean, after all it is the Classic Cookie, I couldn’t  leave without sampling its namesake. After much deliberation, I chose a gingersnap cookie, which was, in the simplest term, perfect. It was soft in the middle but crisp on the outside and had just the right amount of ginger and molasses. The Classic Cookie is somewhere I would willingly return, not only for breakfast but for their cookies and charming atmosphere as well.

Little Freshies:

My excitement level was at about zero, getting up on the Sunday morning after WPA to drive to the Crossroads and spend money to buy food I could find in my house for free, I was in zombie mode. But Little Freshies made crawling out of my bed mere hours after getting into it worth it.
It’s the kind of place I would want to run around taking pictures and then Instagramming them, just so I could feel trendy (thankfully for everyone my phone was dead.) The wall with the weathered shelves, with Hammerpress cards, local and artisan candies and other other sweets. It’s more of a coffee place than restaurant. It doesn’t have tables or chairs, only a counter with stools to sit at but they have an array of baked goods and other goodies.
I had a blueberry scone and Americano, which is two shots of espresso with hot water. If you think that Starbucks has good coffee then you have to expand your palate. This was by far a much better (and cheaper), and made the trek well worth it. The scone was also soft and flaky with good flavor. Both hit the spot perfectly.
Along with breakfast, I also had to treat myself to a champagne macaroon, because it was just too tempting to pass up, even in the morning. The little blue and white sparkly cookie was crispy on the outside and the inside and filling was soft. Little Freshies was the perfect low key but satisfying place to grab some breakfast or even a sweet treat.

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