Off-Season’s Greetings

A scarcity of tee times means an abundance of free time to satisfy your appetite for life’s other indulgences. 

Krameria Cafe
1401 Krameria St.
303-322-3138
krameriacafe.com

Paved with supermarkets, gas stations, Laundromats and plain-Jane, divey bars relegating their regulars to the sidewalk to puff cigarettes, Krameria Street isn’t exactly a hub of hot (or haute) restaurant activity. But that’s OK because while the Krameria Café is hardly the kind of place you’d go for groundbreaking cuisine or a romantic, candle-lit interlude, it sweeps the floor when it comes to breakfast. Give the morning cultists—of which there are many—sprawling plates of scratch-made corned-beef hash crowned with yolky eggs or eggs Benedict ladled with a requisitely lemon-y hollandaise sauce, and it’s no wonder that residents of Mayfair and Park Hill gather here in droves, especially on the weekends. The restaurant is a family affair, and neither the kitchen staff (mom cooks) nor the laid-back servers are in the mood to rush, which means you may have to wait for your griddled French toast or country-fried chicken longer than you’d like. But with prices under $8 for the majority of breakfast dishes and portions that will fuel you for the day, even the most impatient clock-watchers will find little to grumble about. 
   
Counter culture: The long, narrow space yields comfortable, cranberry-hued vinyl booths, but the best place to sit, no matter the meal, is at the counter, where you have a perfect view into the small, exhibition kitchen teeming with shoulder-rubbing cooks cracking eggs, flipping flapjacks and griddling butter-soaked hash browns.

Pour it on: Forget Folgers. This is a joint that takes its java seriously, purchasing its fresh-roasted beans from Pablo’s Coffee, a local haunt whose coffee—even the decaf— is dark, rich and bold. A bottomless mug is $1.50, and it flows like lava.

Art of breakfast: The multi-faceted menu, which embraces breakfast, lunch and dinner, really shines with its morning glories, an unadulterated tribute to eggs done every which way, bulging burritos ladled with a good green chile, terrific pancakes, especially those pelted with fresh berries, and omelets of every ilk, including a Greek version and a chile relleno omelet hugging a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with Jack cheese.

The scene: Krameria Café has a lively atmosphere of diverse diners that reinforces the neighborhood’s melting-pot image. You’ll sit side-by-side with blue-collar workers, blue-haired, mature ladies, sweat-suited couples toting a brigade of kids, and rabid regulars who know each other—and the staff—by name.

Best of the rest: Breakfast, of course, isn’t everyone’s plate de jour (although it should be), which must be why the eight-page menu also struts a smorgasbord of hefty sandwiches (a great Reuben, for example, served on pumpernickel) and a myriad of Middle-Eastern favorites like the pita-wrapped chicken-kabob sandwich teeming with grilled onions and tomatoes. There’s a whole page devoted to South-of-the-Border suspects, including chicken mole and enchiladas draped with a piquant salsa de chile pasilla.