I read the reviews, saw the 5-star rating and the funky urban location, and I let my imagination run wild. I envisioned a hole in the wall of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" quality... you know, a place where a salt of the earth overweight Greek American guy throws slices of homemade brisket and fresh Italian sausages on a griddle in lots of butter, then piles them high onto golden-brown crispy rolls and hands them to Guy Fieri to bite into. You know, a place serving slices of homemade banana cream pie to hungry lunch goers, and bowls of piping hot matzo ball soup. A place like Diamond Deli.
What I found instead was a joint that doesn't quite pass muster for the food-obsessed like myself. The staff is as sweet as they come, but the product isn't the expertly-executed comfort food I had hoped for....it might be better described as cafeteria food for the in-a-hurry, non-discerning businessman. Case study: a breakfast bagel sandwich that I ordered on a chilly weekday morning. Shouldn't be too hard to master: baseline expectations for such a dish (discounting the lowly examples set by places such as Einstein's) might consist of a toasted/griddled bagel, a flavorful slice of cheese, a fresh fried egg, a slice of tomato, salt and pepper.
The Street Treats version of the breakfast bagel, sadly, was a flawed from the outset. It began with a microwaved - yes, microwaved - bagel. Have you ever microwaved a bagel before? Microwaving bread, in general, shrinks it, resulting in uncomely spongy texture, not the golden crispiness that I demand in my morning bread products. As for what was between the bagel slices, well, the egg was one of those pre-cooked discs you get at McDonald's or Einstein's. This was all the more baffling to me considering the big flat-top griddle I saw in the kitchen at Street Treats. Those flat tops make dynamite quick eggs!: crack, sizzle, flip, and voilá; over easy and onto your sandwich in less than 2 minutes...the heat from the egg melting the cheese in the process. To do it any other way is criminal! Finally, the bacon was of the Oscar Meyer variety, paper-thin, pre-cooked and re-heated. Like the bacon on the Starbucks breakfast sandwiches, the kind that makes you wonder what kind of a diet the pig was on before he met his doom.
These types of details and oversights, unfortunately, are usually indicators of the broader food philosophy of an establishment, which means that I probably won't be returning to Street Treats myself in the near future. If you're curious about S.T., though, please, don't take it from me - the other reviews you see say very nice things; as for my opinion, you know what they say about opinions being like a certain body part. There is no shortage of low prices and friendly service at ST, and if those are your guiding lights, I'm sure you'll find plenty to like. read more
