Sunrise Cafe Offers Homey Flavor Without the Fuss

You’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s what’s inside that counts?”  Well, this well-worn phrase fits Sunrise Café like a little, black dress.  Actually, make that a maroon jumper with forest green tights.  Why?  Because the atmosphere of Sunrise Café makes you feel like you’ve stepped into your Grandma and Grandpa’s 1980s-style house.  Before you walk in, the restaurant offers nothing more than a small sign at the end of a hard to find strip mall on East 86^th Street.  In fact, there are so many other cafes on 86^th street—Le Peep, Ruth’s Café, Torito Grill, and Café Patachou—that you might first stop there because of their closer proximities or fancier names.  However, if you want homey flavor without the fuss, Sunrise Café is where you ought to stop.  

A unique trait about this restaurant is their staff.  I was surprised to be seated by a girl—a Dakota Fanning look-alike no less—who couldn’t have been more than twelve.  I’m five-foot-two so it’s not very often that my waitress is shorter than me!  However, she acted like a trained professional and seated me.  I looked over at the rest of the staff, and with the exception of two men, the rest had to be twenty years old or younger.  When the waitress came to take my order, I asked her if the place was family owned.  She said,

“No, but a lot of us are neighbors.  My teenage brother works here too.  It’s a really laid-back place.”  Indeed.  I felt like I was over at Grandma and Grandpa’s.  I say this because of the wide décor of dark woods, gold, forest green and burgundy reds.  Each booth was separated with little burgundy curtains, the thin carpet floor was a forest green floral pattern, and the coffee cups were a dark brown color, reminiscent of my early childhood.  In addition to the 1980s style, the restaurant is also teeming with Indianapolis Sports paraphernalia.  There are lots of black and white photos of the Pacers, Colts, and even one wall fittingly devoted to American Olympic winners from the 1970s and 80s.  I thought the sports theme was a little over-the-top because the homey décor in itself was enough to sustain a relaxed atmosphere.  

So now you know that the atmosphere is homey, but what about the food?  Does that live up to Grandma and Grandpa’s weekend breakfasts?  Well, almost.  I started with a Yogurt Fruit Parfait that had its ups-and-downs.  The ups were its granola and yogurt.  The yogurt was smooth, sweet, and reminded me more of cream cheese and whip cream fruit dip than thick, curdled yogurt.  The granola was in large chunks, crunchy, and sprinkled in cinnamon.  The fruit, however, could be tweaked.  Most parfaits offer tangy fruits like strawberries and blueberries.  This parfait offered some fun surprises—like pineapple, grapes, and raisins—but for the most part cantaloupe and melon overtook the bowl.  These fruits are very mild, and as a result, the parfait didn’t tempt my taste buds to their full potential.

After the okay parfait, came the entrees.  The quantities for the entrees were medium sized, and not too overwhelming for one person.  Also, the meals were all under eight dollars, most of them no more than six bucks.  The first was the French Toast.  The menu boasts that the French Toast is “two slices of our Homemade Bread soaked in our unique Sunrise Batter served with Powdered Sugar, Butter and Warm Syrup.”  Sounds amazing, right?  The French Toast, however, was less than amazing.  The bread was very heavy and dense, and didn’t have the light, crisp, buttery flavor I was craving.  In fact, if it hadn’t been for the syrup, I would’ve been eating two pieces of bread.  Luckily, the entrée did come with three strips of bacon, which were crisp and crunchy, but I was expecting greasier, meatier strips from a down-home joint like Sunrise Café.

But soon I had my faith restored with their Omelet meal.  I ordered an Omelet with Ham, Onions, Green Pepper, and Cheddar Cheese.  These eggs were yum.  One of the Omelet’s highlights was the ham.  This ham wasn’t just artificially processed cubes, but big juicy, shards of meat.  In addition to the omelet itself, this meal also came with hash browns and two biscuits.  The hash browns were amazing and as big as my outstretched hand.  It was crunchy, and not too greasy, on the outside, and the inside was full of rich and juicy potato flavor.  And if you dump some Heinz ketchup on it, you have a potato ecstasy in your mouth.  And for the biscuits, those were mediocre.  I was expecting some crumbly, buttery, homemade flavor.  Instead, the biscuits were soft and doughy, more like the consistency of dinner rolls than full-fledged biscuits.  Ironically, the Sunrise Café menu declares that it “specializes in Homemade Fresh Baked Breads.”  However, I was much more impressed by the flavor of their meats, eggs, and potatoes, than by their French Toast and Biscuits.  

Although Sunrise Café is most popular for breakfast, they also have quite a lunch menu with specials such as: Tuna Melts, Clam Chowder, and Taco Salads.  When I was there on Saturday, around noon, the place was cleared by one.  And in fact, when I asked the cashier, I found out the café is only open from 6am-2pm, seven days a week.

But the big question is: would I go back there?  Can I see this being a regular joint for me?  I don’t think so.  While the food is good, it’s not great.  In addition, the location was hard to find, and is not very close to campus.  But, if you want to experience an atmosphere that’s like no other breakfast joint, one that brings you back to your 80s childhood, than you have to try it, even if it’s just once.