Enter our battle of the dishes. Morning Glory Cafe in South Phoenix versus Tryst Cafe in North Phoenix.
Join the battle after the jump.
In One Corner:
Morning Glory Cafe at the Farm at South Mountain
6106 S. 32nd St Phoenix
602.276.8804
The Set Up: A beautiful outdoor setting with views of Karen's rose garden and Maya's produce farm. The cafe is shaded with trees and patio umbrellas -- buzzing with a smiley staff and an unfortunate plethora of pesky flies. As for the monte cristo, you can expect challah bread french toast with slow baked ham, over easy eggs, and melting cheese with warm maple syrup.
Pros: The sweet and savory combination is undeniable. The challah bread is sliced nice and thick with an equally thick maple syrup drizzled over the top -- this "sandwich" is not meant for eating with your hands. It's definitely not the first sandwich to be too awesome to hold, and hopefully it won't be the last.
Cons: Our over easy egg was way over done, replacing the golden delight of runny yolk with a petrified yellow puck. Bummer. The challah bread was heavily soaked through, more so with the grease of the griddle than the sweetness of the syrup. Overall, our experience was just a little less exciting than the powdered sugar sprinkled on top led us to believe.
The Set Up: The staff of Tryst Cafe will go out of their way to make you feel at home. Who doesn't feel at home in a strip mall in Phoenix, especially when having a sandwich for breakfast? We're talking two French toast slices of brioche bread, ham and gruyere cheese, topped with strawberry jam served up with a side of sweet potato tots.
Pros: Sweet potato tots! And you thought sweet potato fries were all the rage. But let's not digress from the monte. Emanating warm sugary aromas--we could smell our food coming before we could see it, and it smelled sooo good. As a bonus, our breakfast was served on top of a warm plate?! That doesn't happen very often at dinner focused establishments, let alone breakfast.
Cons: The syrup was kept at a minimum so that you could actually eat this monte cristo with your hands, if you wanted. However, slight overkill on the strawberry jam. If you've got a sweet tooth that hits hard first thing in the morning, this is the breakfast for you.
The Verdict: Although Morning Glory has all the ingredients to win the monte cristo war, they have lost this battle. Our winner this week is Tryst Cafe.
