SADDLE CREEK
BREAKFAST CLUB
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★★
District: Dundee
Fun Twists on Breakfast Classics
Perfect For: Breakfast/Brunch; Casual Dining; Vegan Options
Standout Dishes: Cali Club; Saddle Creek Standard; Bacon
There’s a very important question any restaurateur must answer before opening a new breakfast restaurant: will this venture focus on serving the classic, greasy spoon diner staples like flapjacks, chicken fried steak, and omelettes? Or will it lean hard into trendy, modern dishes like cereal-covered French toast, candied bacon flights, and clever takes on eggs Benedict?
Should you choose to try to blend old and new school, you run the risk of alienating both audiences, resulting in failure. Very few restaurants can walk that razor-thin line of successfully modernizing classic dishes while remaining true to what those meals are at their core.
Saddle Creek Breakfast Club does, and that’s why it’s the gold standard for breakfast restaurants in Omaha.
This tiny little Dundee joint attracts both grizzled breakfast veterans and Instagram influencers alike with its unique yet familiar takes on breakfast food. Most of SCBC’s choices are familiar breakfast fair, but the restaurant elevates them in a unique way. For instance, there is an omelette served with kimchee, and the ham and eggs arrives with red onion jam and hollandaise sauce. Banana pancakes come with a peanut butter whip and locally-sourced honey, while hash browns can be ordered loaded with sausage gravy, bacon, and eggs.
All the breakfast comforts are present; most are just slightly different than how you remember them. Chef/owner Chase Thomsen’s ability to meld old an new into cohesive breakfast dishes is incredible.
Don’t believe me? Just check the line spilling out the door just about any day of the week, and especially for weekend brunch.
Though I appreciate SCBC’s creative approaches, a great breakfast restaurant needs to be able to absolutely nail the classics. That’s exactly what the restaurant does with the Saddle Creek Standard. This breakfast compilation is simplicity perfected: two beautifully cooked eggs (in whatever style you wish), crispy hash browns, and a well-cooked side of breakfast meat. There’s nothing crazy about the dish, but everything is cooked very well and bursting with flavor.
- The Hash Browns are wonderfully crispy on the outside yet remain tender and pleasantly greasy in the middle.
- The Over Easy Eggs feature a perfectly cooked egg white with a creamy, velvety yolk that oozes goodness all over the plate.
- The Thick Cut Bacon is fatty and salty with a beautiful crisp on the exterior for texture. It’s so indulgent that referring to these massive strips of pork as “bacon” is like calling LeBron James a “pretty good basketball player.”
The rest of the menu allows Chase to have some fun.
The best example might be the Cali Club, an education in decadence. With creamy avocado, tangy chipotle cream cheese sauce, smoked American cheese, crispy bacon, and the wonderful, oozing yolk that spills out of an over easy egg, it’s fat on fat on fat. But there are pops of salt, heat, acid, and smoke that break up the richness and make it an incredibly balanced sandwich. The fact that it’s served inside a wonderfully flaky, buttery croissant is the frosting on the cake. It’s, for my money, the best breakfast sandwich in Omaha.
Speaking of richness, how do you further amp up the flavors of eggs Benedict? Liberally load fatty, succulent short rib to complement the creamy hollandaise, fluffy eggs, and sweet onion jam. That’s what the Short Rib Eggs Benny does, and it’s a grand slam of a dish.
SCBC’s menu frequently changes based on what ingredients are in season and what techniques have Chase’s attention, but you can be confident there will be some form of breakfast burrito available. While the protein might change from smoky, slightly spicy chorizo to tender steak, you can feel confident it’ll pair beautifully with the buttery scrambled eggs, Spanish rice, bright pico de gallo, and salty, tango queso fresco. Add some avocado and house salsa to take things to the next level.
Then there’s SCBC’s take on the pancake stack, the Banana Pancakes. These fluffy, sweet flapjacks would be perfectly acceptable on their own, but this restaurant doesn’t stop at simple. Rather, it adds an airy, nutty peanut butter whip, three slices of tender banana, crunches of chopped peanuts, and a drizzle of local honey.
Every dish is a mix of breakfast nostalgia and cooking ingenuity.
That combination makes Saddle Creek Breakfast Club a very popular breakfast/brunch destination, which can lead to longer wait times, especially on the weekends. The dining room, which seats about 30, is intimate and homey but small, so it’s not uncommon to see hungry diners spilling outside the doors.
And yet, still the people gather. No line is enough to deter them from getting a plate of SCBC’s breakfast. It perfectly walks the line between old-school diner and trendy destination, making it a must-visit AM spot.