EARLY BIRD
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
District: Blackstone
Creative takes on breakfast/brunch
Perfect For: Breakfast/Brunch; Casual Dining
Standout Dishes: Hash Holes; Crab Cake Benny; S’mores Pancake; Cinnamon Roll Pancake
In the wrong hands, Early Bird could be a gimmick restaurant.
There are a lot of places putting crazy twists on classic dishes that result in eye-popping Instagram photos, but they lack the cooking prowess to turn those fun ideas into worthwhile dishes. The result is a muddled mess that usually leaves the customer disappointed and wondering what the hype was all about.
That ain’t Early Bird.
This Omaha breakfast favorite combines wild ideas with elite-level cooking, which is why it has four locations (and counting) and still you’ll find a line out the door for weekend brunch.
Early Bird’s enormous menu is filled with eye-catching dishes (such as bacon flights and breakfast nachos served over tater tots) and unique twists on breakfast classics, like Pecan Pie Pancakes, PB&J French Toast, and the Frenched Cinnamon Roll, which takes the classic breakfast pastry and dips it in batter before finishing it on the grill. The creativity here seems to know no bounds… and yet nothing is put on the menu without ensuring the item’s quality matches its novelty.
There may be no better example of this than one of Early Bird’s most simple yet essential dishes: the Hash Holes.
This appetizer/side dish is the definition of breakfast gluttony. It rolls up hash browns, bacon, and two cheeses into a ball, then deep fries them. Though simple on the surface, this dish’s ability to balance contrasting flavors and textures is amazing.
- The crispy outer shell provides a crisp casing to contain the gooey cheese, which practically erupts with each bite.
- The sharp cheddar juxtaposes the rich, nutty gouda.
- The salty, fatty bacon adds punch to the mild, creamy potatoes.
Hash Holes are an odd, imaginative take on breakfast food, which makes them the perfect introduction to Early Bird’s menu.
Next up is Early Bird’s extensive pancake menu, which ranges from totally normal to completely unexpected. These flapjacks are perfectly fine on their own: sweet, fluffy, and large as your head, they’re delicious without syrup, much less the cornucopia of other options Early Bird offers.
For instance, this pancake doesn’t need swirls of cinnamon running through it or a drizzle of icing. Yet the Cinnamon Roll Pancake expertly combines two breakfast favorites without being overly sweet: the sugary, gooey elements of a cinnamon roll are combined with the familiar, beloved airy texture of pancakes.
Similarly, the S’mores Pancake could be a sugar bomb. But even with chocolate sauce, marshmallow cream, and ground-up graham crackers adorning this cake, Early Bird manages to balance the sweetness and create a meld of campfire and breakfast.
Like pancakes, eggs Benedict dishes provide a blank canvas for restaurants to paint on, and Early Bird has a masters degree in artwork. There are nine Benedicts on the menu, and they come topped with steak, smoked salmon, carnitas, and more.
The best of the bunch might be the Crab Cake Benny (featured in the header photo). The crab cakes themselves are more crustacean than filler, giving them a subtle sweetness. They’re placed upon toasted English muffins and doused in a creamy, buttery hollandaise that brings a wonderful richness to every bite. The creation is finished with two perfectly poached eggs, just waiting to be pierced with a knife so they can spill their luscious yolk all over the dish.
Early Bird causes you to question food mash-ups you’ve never considered: pot pie and eggs (A.M. Pot Pie), skewers and cinnamon rolls (Cinna-Bob’s), tater tots and pork sausage gravy (Tot Poutine).
The restaurant also excels at combining sweet with savory, as it does so well in the Wonderful Day breakfast sandwich. The candied bacon (which is crisped to a brilliant brittle texture) and blackberry jam bring a nice sweetness to balance the peppery sausage patty. The egg cookery can vary and the buttermilk biscuit, while flaky and buttery, falls apart a bit and makes it difficult to eat as a sandwich. But overall it’s a delicious plate of food.
Much as Early Bird excels at creative dishes, it can also execute expected breakfast dishes extremely well. Take, for instance, the El Gordo Morning Burrito, an infant-sized roll-up stuffed with scrambled eggs, hash browns, black beans, sausage, and cheese, then topped with ladles of avocado cream sauce and salsa.
Every breakfast joint worth its salt serves a burrito with similar ingredients, but few do it this well. The scrambled eggs are fluffy, the bacon and sausage are fatty, and the crispy hash browns add great texture. And somehow, the flour tortilla is strong enough to keep this behemoth together without tearing.
Nearly as delightful is the Corned Beef Hash, which tops a bed of crispy hash browns with corned beef, onions, peppers, and two eggs any style. The cooking of the corned beef forms a nice crust, and the flavor is reminiscent of bacon. The hash browns are crunchy and delicious, while the eggs yolks spill into every bite.
If you’re feeling eggs, Early Bird’s omelets are the way to go. Each starts with a base of rich, fluffy eggs that are folded in half to contain the ingredients like an egg taco. The Wide Awake Omelet uses juicy steak, sweet caramelized onions, and the herb-y freshness of chimichurri to essentially recreate chimichurri steak wrapped in a buttery egg sleeping bag. And if you feel like creating your own omelet masterpiece, Early Bird has 10 proteins, 10 vegetables, four cheese, and five sauces to customize with.
The upbeat, youthful theme of Early Bird’s menu carries over into its atmosphere. The loudspeakers blare modern hits, the bar serves fun cocktails and Bloody Marys, and the decor is bright and engaging, full of brunch and chicken-themed puns. Even the circular booths and patio seating add a cutting-edge vibe to the restaurant.
A word to the wise: Early Bird is extremely popular, especially on weekends, so it’s best to reserve your spot ahead of time. I’d advise you check in ahead of time on Yelp, which helps lessen the wait time, particularly during prime brunch hours.
But even if you don’t check in and have an extended delay, Early Bird is worth the wait.
If you’re looking for the traditional mom-and-pop, greasy spoon breakfast diner, this isn’t it. Early Bird is hip and happening, and creativity is the theme of the menu. But if you’re willing to shake things up and get adventurous with your brunch, this is the place to do it in Omaha.