Chicago: Sweet Maple Cafe

The original plan was to lay low after Queen G's birthday and conserve money for spring break.  Hah.  So much for that.  The thing about studying for finals is that you always end up trying to find any excuse NOT to study for finals.  For CK and myself, that meant movie nights and eating out.  

When a late night run to Dat Donuts proved unsatisfactory (the pickings were slim as it was close to closing time), we toyed with the crazy idea of hitting up Huck Finn Donuts at midnight.  But when midnight came around, we were both too pooped to even put on our shoes, much less drive out to McKinley Park.  

So midnight donuts was replaced by brunch at Sweet Maple Cafe:

Very simple setup, just the way I like it:

CK had a mini freak out when she thought she overheard the waitresses asking if they'd run out of biscuits.  Luckily, the alleged dwindling supply of biscuits didn't affect our table.

CK ordered the 18th Street country scramble, which consisted of eggs scrambled with chorizo, jalapeno peppers, red and green peppers, and queso fresco:

She chose grits as her side (not pictured here) and unsurprisingly asked for a biscuit instead of toast.

CK's boyfriend got an order of pancakes and monterrey home fries, basically home fries smothered in bacon, cheddar, and jalapenos:

I took the scramble route as well, but I decided on the Carmen G's Scramble, which paired eggs with spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and cheddar cheese:

Not to be left out of the action, I also went with the biscuit.  While tasty with butter and jam, it was still a little on the dense and dry side, as biscuits tend to be.  The egg scramble was good, but not fantastic.

What really made the meal for me was the side of home fries.  Crunchy and perfectly seasoned, I haven't had home fries that good in a long, long time.  Still not quite the level of La Note home fries (it's been so long since I've visited La Note that I'm starting to wonder if I dreamed up their heavenly home fries), but pretty damn amazing all the same.

Sweet Maple is a really cute place with hearty food and generous portions.  For sure a a much better way to spend the day than studying.  I am, however, a bit confused by the Chinese text t-shirts.  Is the owner of Sweet Maple Chinese?  Or is this some kind of gimmick?  


Sweet Maple Cafe
1339 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 243-8908
http://www.sweetmaplecafe.com/