This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
When a new breakfast/lunch restaurant chain takes over a space that housed another breakfast/lunch restaurant chain for years, it’s only natural that people would make comparisons between the two. In fact, while we were being led to our table, I overheard a woman remark, “I don’t think this menu has what I always used to order.” (Her server patiently explained how it was a new restaurant and therefore a new menu.)
Yes, there are inevitable similarities between First Watch, the new kid in town, and The Egg & I, the previous tenant. They’re in the same location, they’re both open for breakfast and lunch only, and I even spied a few employees of The Egg & I who made the transition to being First Watch employees.
But there are numerous differences, too, and they’re good ones. The space was remodeled just enough to notice, and there’s a long community table where single diners and small groups can mix and mingle as they eat. If there’s a wait, the host enters your cell phone number into an automated system instead of giving you a pager; this means you can go wait in the car if there’s no bench space available. The menu offers numerous healthy options, including egg-white omelets, multigrain pancakes, gluten-free grain bowls, turkey sausage, oatmeal and granola, along with standard breakfast fare like Benedicts, hash, frittatas and handcrafted “power” beverages like Kale Tonic ($3.99), a green concoction made with kale, Fuji apple, English cucumber and lemon. The omelets and frittatas are served with organic mixed greens, but you can substitute potatoes for no additional charge. Though we weren’t there at lunchtime, I glanced at the other side of menu and was happy to see a variety of small plates, salads and sandwiches, plus “2 for You,” a $7.99 lunch combo with soup, salad and sandwich choices.
With nearly three dozen meal descriptions to read through, it took us a while to decide. Our friendly server, Peter, kindly offered his help, pointing out one item from each section, and also suggesting that the multigrain pancakes are “not to be missed.” I was tempted by the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes ($9.99) topped with marinated fresh berries, and the four different Benedict creations ($10.99) were also hard to pass up. In the end, I went with The Elevated Egg Sandwich ($9.99), featuring a cage-free egg (I asked for over-hard instead of the recommended over-easy), crispy bacon, Gruyere cheese, smashed avocado and lemon-dressed arugula, served on a brioche bun with seasoned potatoes on the side. My companion ordered the Farmhouse Skillet Hash ($10.99), with two eggs, bacon, avocado, house-roasted onions, tomatoes and Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses over seasoned potatoes. Because of Peter’s recommendation, we also ordered one plain pancake ($4.99) to share.
Although the restaurant was pretty busy, our food only took 13 minutes. Well, the first item took 13 minutes, and the other two items came separately after that, about a minute apart, delivered by different people. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I suppose it’s a good thing to have each plate brought out as it’s ready, so it’s not sitting under the heat lamp (or worse, NOT sitting under the heat lamp), but it also seemed a bit strange not to get everything at once.
I enjoyed my egg sandwich—mostly. The egg was cooked just as I asked, and the bacon was crispy. But the bun itself was a little too thick and also very cold, which quickly brought down the temperature of the ingredients inside. Also, my potatoes didn’t have much color, at least compared to the delightfully crispy-brown potatoes I saw being delivered to the table next to us.
My companion had only positive things to say about the Farmhouse Skillet Hash. He appreciated the crisp bacon, his eggs were cooked perfectly to order, and he felt that the other ingredients in the hash were distributed evenly.
We didn’t finish all of our shared pancake. It was okay, but not outstanding, mostly because it wasn’t fluffy, and it definitely didn’t live up to its menu description, which proclaimed that it would be “humongous.” With a descriptive word like that, I imagined it would be hanging over the edge of the plate.
When Peter came to check on us, we both raved to him about the thick buttered multigrain toast that came with the hash (my companion let me have a bite). Peter explained that it’s very popular with diners, but it’s made just for First Watch and not available elsewhere. He also advised that we could purchase a whole loaf of it to go ($7) if we wanted to. (We did.)
On my made-up scale of 1 to 5 forks, I give the atmosphere 4 forks; our two-top table along the wall was so close to the table next to it that we felt as though we were dining with a large group. The service gets 5 forks—thanks, Peter! The food gets 4.5 forks. I should be taking off more for the cold bun and the non-crispy potatoes, but I need to be honest here; we went back the following week and everything was absolutely perfect, including my potatoes, so I’m working with an average between the two visits. The loaf of bread, which we happily munched on for days, gets 6 forks. (Yes, I’m well aware that my made-up scale only goes up to 5 forks. It’s just that good.)
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