If your idea of the perfect breakfast sandwich is a Sausage McMuffin from McDonald's, we're here to tell you to rethink your choices. Whether you prefer yours on a croissant or biscuit, there are options out there for you. We put Phoenix Public Market Cafe and Ollie Vaughn's sandwiches agains one another to see which one is the better breakfast choice in Phoenix.
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In This Corner: Phoenix Public Market Cafe
The Setting: Phoenix Public Market Cafe is the spot for fresh, healthy dishes, with a rustic, hip vibe and everything from breakfast to dessert. While you're in line (warning: it's almost guaranteed there will be a line), browse around the little boutique-style displays of plates, recipe books, hiking books, and other random collectibles.
The Good: Try not to get your words twisted when you order The Flanched Flarney Garney. It comes on a soft bun with scrambled eggs, a chunky avocado spread, mayo, cheddar cheese and bacon. There's absolutely no complaining about the size of the sandwich and it will be more than enough to get your morning started. We like that the cheese is folded into the scrambled eggs, almost like an omelette, so it's all held together. No one likes hard-to-chew bacon, so thankfully the bacon is plentiful and crispy.
The Bad: If you ever order the sandwich to go, just know that there's a chance it'll be soggy. Even if you decide to dine in, eating slowly may allow your sandwich to go soggy, and that just sort of kills it. There seems to be more egg over everything else, but again, we're just glad the cheese is folded in.
In The Other Corner: Ollie Vaughn's
The Setting: We love the warm greeting we get from the baked goods display case at Ollie Vaughn's. Everything looks so fresh, and that point is echoed by the open kitchen just behind the counter where you can watch your food getting prepped. Stop in for breakfast or lunch, but whatever time you decide to go, be sure to order a glass of their fresh lemonade, made with lemons grown in back of the restaurant.
The Good: One of the best things about the breakfast sandwich at Ollie Vaughn's is that it's customized to your liking. Choose between a croissant or biscuit; your choice of scrambled, over easy or over medium eggs; ham, bacon or sausage; cheddar or gruyere cheese; and your choice of extras such as avocado, roasted tomato, caramelized onion, green chilis and arugula.
We chose a biscuit, with sausage, gruyere, egg over easy, avocado, and roasted tomato. The size of the biscuit reminded us of Pillsbury Grands, but tasted much fresher. All the ingredients inside were fresh and delicious. The added touch of roasted tomatoes brought on a toasty flavor, and the gruyere was thick and gooey. There is no need for sides with this sandwich since it pretty much has it all.
The Bad: With any biscuit that is cut open and stuffed, it started to fall apart rather quickly, but as long as we maintained a good grip on the sandwich, it wasn't too hard to handle. The sausage patty's circumference was significantly smaller than the biscuit, so after we plowed through the middle, we were eating a biscuit sandwich with eggs, cheese and veggies.
The Winner: Both sandwiches were large and satisfied our appetites, but Ollie Vaughn's went the extra step because we were able to customize it to our liking. With Phoenix Public Market Cafe's you already know what you're going to get, but at Ollie Vaughn's you can make a set of combinations to satisfy whatever breakfast craving you might be having that day.
