Famous Cafe: The Atmosphere, Food, and Service are Legendary

An early breakfast out is always a good start to one’s day. Especially when being joined by an old friend to catch up on community news or the state of the nation. To do so effectively, it helps that the restaurant isn’t too loud and that, unlike a bustling Panera or a help-yourself buffet chain, the service comes right to your table, thus, and rarely so, good conversation is never interrupted. Such is the appeal of a homey, neighborhood cafe. And the best in Regent Square is Famous Cafe.

Unlike its name implies, this is a humble, unpretentious establishment. The “famous” moniker refers both to a dozen celebrity portraits, painted on bright interior murals, and the names affixed in the menu to distinguish between different recipes for omelets, “Benedicts,” French toasts, and other tasty egg dishes. You’ll see both Elvis and Einstein emblazoned on the walls, and you’ll discover other famous musicians, scientists, and authors on the menu. There’s ample capacity for thirty diners in the one room cafe. Saturdays and Sundays might create a wait, but the cafe is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Famous Cafe also serves sandwiches, specials, and custom-order fare. But my friend and I were decidedly having an early breakfast and welcomed the opportunity to decide on our selections after sipping a first round of lattes. I might have had a “regular” coffee myself, but, as we were the very first to be seated at precisely 8 a.m. (when the doors open), the coffee maker was not “fully charged” as yet. Our waitress apologized, “It sometimes does this, and then it’s working fine.” I’m not sure what the coffee maker was or wasn’t “doing,” but it mattered not; the latte was hot and bright with a hand-sculpted foam heart to start the morning.

There’s much to consider on the menu, not the least of which is how (or maybe why) an omelet enfolding cherry tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms, and then topped with avocado slices and a ribbon of pesto, is named for Cleopatra. (Maybe the pesto was meant to represent a snake?)  Likewise, poached eggs served on biscuits with ham, avocado, and hollandaise sauce is inexplicably called a Van Gogh. (Yes, my plate was a beautiful work of art, but…)  Not until I sat down to write this recommendation did I get a little insight on the menu nomenclature. The omelettes are named after classic Greek, Roman and Egyptian rulers. The “Benedicts” honor visual artists, the “French toasts” toast scientists (none of whom are French, BTW,) the sandwiches “sing” to musicians, and the salads, well (chew on this,) philosophers and authors. Of course, the  names mostly serve as codes to the kitchen staff who prepared our dishes in less than ten minutes.

 I chose to have a side of potatoes with my Benedict. My friend had a salad of arugula. The potatoes were small cubes, fried, then roasted for a crunchy exterior and soft inside. Frankly, they were more memorable than my Benedict, only in regard to the Hollandaise sauce. The eggs, however, were poached perfectly, the thin slices of ham were tasty, and the biscuit good and hearty. The Hollandaise?  Some like it light and buttery (as I was served,) others like it thick and lemony (which I prefer.) But do look at the photograph; Van Gogh would be proud of its color and beauty!

As a young adult, hungry to spend a few bucks for a stack of pancakes at IHOP, and now as an elder citizen who can’t refuse a good “greasy spoon” found along older highways, I’m always impressed by the number of different dishes any one kitchen can turn out with speed and taste. Too often, busy menus will implore you to yodel over their Swiss pancakes, to use both hands to tackle a bronco-bustin’ burger or to savor the salty breeze wafting from a bowl of hearty clam chowder. The fact is, a few diced peppers and cubes of ham tossed into an omelet is no more “Western” than a chili dog is Texan. Or from Coney Island. At Famous Cafe, you can do no wrong with a menu replete with fresh dishes whipped up from fresh eggs, with fresh spinach, ripe avocados, bright cherry tomatoes, or warm-from-the-oven biscuits. This is authentic and original breakfast fare. The only challenge you may have upon a second or third visit is remembering which Benedict has the crumbled goat cheese (the Donatello) or which French toast is served with melted mozzarella and crispy bits of bacon (the Einstein).

Famous Cafe can be found at 1103 S. Braddock Ave., in Regent Square, directly across from Frick Park Tavern. 

Story and photos by C. Prentiss Orr.

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater, and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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