The breakfast biscuit with an over easy egg, garlic aioll. pickled red onion and chicken apple sausage can be enjoyed at the corner, a restaurant in Montclair, NJ. Photo by Tunmise Odufuye
“Good vibes only.”
Another day, another decision on how I can gain some extra weight. Food and I are going to get married and I know she doesn’t care about my body. She just likes me for me; who could ask for anything more from a lover? Today, I was interested in a place quite local to me, three blocks to be exact.
An adventurous friend of mine took a picture of a pink neon sign with a white wall backdrop that read “good vibes only” in a restaurant. It reminded me of California for some reason. I asked her where it was, and she said that it was this restaurant called The Corner on the corner of Walnut Street and Grove Street. Now, I have a huge distaste for the word “vibes”. Cannot stand that word, but I’ll save that rant for another forum. Back to the food!
As I walk into The Corner, I see the neon pink sign. I also see a packed crowd, creating extra heat on what was already a sweaty day. With that in mind, along with the ISO food safety restrictions for indoor settings, requesting a seat outside was only fitting.
The seating outside is nice. Four picnic-like tables stack up against the brick foundation of the restaurant. The seats are long, wooden benches, smooth to avoid splinters. When handed the menu, I was already familiar with some of the choices, due to the research I had done the day before. I belittled the minimalist approach to the options given for the likes of breakfast and lunch, but I would soon see why that was a blessing rather than a mistake.
I ordered the Breakfast Sandwich along with a 12 ounce juice called the Bounce Back. The Breakfast Sandwich comes with an over-easy egg, garlic aioli and greens with pickled red onion, two buttermilk biscuits and chicken apple sausage. The Bounce Back contains grapefruit, grapes, lemon, orange and beets.
“The bounce back” is a beverage served at The Corner, located on Grove Street in Montclair. Photo by Tunmise Odufuye
Now, two things stood out to me in all of this: the over-easy eggs on the Breakfast Sandwich and the beets in my juice. I love my eggs scrambled maybe 98.9 percent of the time and I am not a fan of beets, although it has been forever since I last had a taste of them. The Corner turned me into a believer of both.
The over-easy eggs bled into the food with ease. I barely noticed the difference in taste because the meal was marvelous. The pickled red onions had some strong kickback to them. The zesty flavor added character to the entire plate. The chicken apple sausage was thick, juicy and other words not safe for work. The juice demanded my attention after the first sip. The beet flavor was noticeable, but didn’t push the envelope, creating room for the other ingredients to flourish. I felt so health-conscious eating the whole thing. These weren’t your typical heart-stopping buttermilk biscuits from Popeyes.
Just as the meal vanished into my stomach, the server kindly asked us what we would like for dessert. I couldn’t resist her suggestion of the 230 Cookie, a cookie that is made fresh every day at 2:30 p.m. It costs $2.30.
Right as she went to get the cookie, a baby soiled himself right on his mother’s shoulders while she was talking to her friend. They went inside to change the child, but as nasty as the scene was, all I kept thinking about was that cookie and the delicious lunch I just ate. Nothing, not even baby crap, was going to ruin that for me.
The cookie came out a few minutes later and it was perfect. It carried the shape of a muffin, but you knew as soon as you held it in your hand that it was a soft, gooey piece of perfection. It put shame on the high fructose corn syrup cookies I ate in middle school. The Corner, we will meet again.
The Corner is located at 115 Grove St. Montclair, NJ 07042 .
Diners can enjoy a 230 chocolate chip cookie at The Corner. Photo by Tunmise Odufuye
