Dewitt Cafe

Dewitt Cafe (Ithaca)
Location: Dewitt Mall
Date of Visit: August 8, 2010
Time of Visit: 12:30
Website: Dewitt Cafe
Hours of Operation:
M-Sa 8:30-2:30 Su 10:00-2:00
Company: The Fiancee, and the Maid of Honor

I am writing this 10 days after I have visited the cafe. I do not plan on this being my normal timing, but life got ahead of me with my mother being in the hospital and absolutely running out of time to do anything. But that being neither here nor there, it is time to get my first critique under way.
I have many times, when walking downtown in Ithaca, walked through the Dewitt Mall, but never seem to walk through there when the Dewitt Cafe is open. So I have seen the physical space 100 times but never seen it in action. I am a sucker for breakfast and breakfast food. My all-time stand by favorite is corned beef hash, and not that corned beef hash from a can, which I admit is tasty, but homemade corned beef hash. The kind that has diced peppers, onions and minced garlic in it. mmmm... tasty... I'm hungry, but I digress. I decided it was time that I tried this place out so I asked my fiancee to call up her maid of honor and let's check this place out.
Upon arriving, I see the place bustling at about 60% capacity and it is cute, it is in the basement of a mall, and it is in the hallway of the basement, but in no way does it feel like a hallway or a basement. We were greeted and seated immediately. They had three special boards which I found helpful so that no matter where you were sitting you could see the specials, along with the descriptions.
They bring you a basket of bread, rolls, sweet bread etc. I liked this but thought it would be better served with a side of whipped honey butter instead of butter pcs. The menu consisted of mainly omelets on Sunday. You can actually check out their menus on their website that I linked above. We all tried different things on their menu, which I demanded and these ladies being subservient women both obliged. Okay, so we truly all wanted different things and the last thing that they are is subservient. But, again, I digress. All three meals were the same price so might as well state that now ($9.50). The Fiancee got stuffed french toast with macerated peaches & apricots. The creamy cheese stuffing was ricotta cheese and it was fantastic. I have had cream cheese and brie in stuffed french toast before and neither one was as tasty as the ricotta. It was just slightly sweetened, creamy and so complimentary to the fruit and the brioche. The presentation of this plate was nice and it seemed to be quite large, however I believed it to be a little pricey for what it was. I truly enjoyed this dish and thought the flavor of the french toast itself was mild, but traditional. I would definitely order this dish again. The Maid of Honor, hereafter referred to as MoH got the Omelette Acapulco. This omelette has avocados, cheddar and salsa, again, I thought the plate was presented nicely. The egg was nice and fluffy and the avacado was chopped into large chunks, which I liked. Overall I liked the omelet. I ordered the farmhouse breakfast, because I was really interested in trying the chicken apple sausage, because I love breakfast sausage. The sausage did not disappoint, it was sweet, moist, crispy on the outside, it was pretty much awesome. The eggs were easy over and I don't know the last time you got easy over at a cafe, but they are almost ALWAYS over medium or over hard. I was very impressed when something as simple as the eggs being done properly was accomplished. The potatoes were the only food item that I didn't like. They were rosemary roasted potatoes and that is NOT a flavor that agrees with my palate for breakfast. Don't get me wrong, this fat kid LOVES rosemary roasted potatoes for dinner, but for breakfast they just sat on the side of my plate, all sad and lonely realizeng that they had done me wrong and would not be enjoyed.
As far as service, I mentioned that we were seated immediately. We also had a nice waitress who seemed to be quite attentive at the beginning. I did not like that our water was just that, water and not ice water. There are few things I like less than warm water, the Boston Red Sox, bad drivers, junk mail, and did I mention the Boston Red Sox. So with that short list named, and I don't mean short list as in the number of championships the Red Sox have compared to the Yankees, but with things I like less than warm water, you can understand the displeasure I had with the warm water. But with that said, it is just water and shouldn't make or break a meal and so it shall not. I also was not a fan of the food coming out in a staggered fashion. The ladies got their meal and the fat man had to sit and impatiently wait and wither away for a whole 3 minutes waiting for his.
I liked the ambiance and the feel of the place, I didnt feel as though I was crowded or uncomfortable and we all had a great time and tasty food. I would eat their again, however for the price I feel I have better choices in town. If I was looking to pay similar prices, I believe their to be places with better offerings, and I also believe their to be cheaper places in general, that also have lovely food.
Well folks, here is number 1, the first, the virgin blog, never more will there be a first, and I sadly close the book and go out hunting for a new place to eat that I shall blog about shortly!!! Stay hungry my friends!!!

Overall Rating: 3.75 Forks out of 5 Forks