Keys Cafe used to be a local mom and pop diner, but these days they’ve expanded into a mini-empire around the Twin Cities. It’s an okay place. I’m not a fan of how they prep their hash and what they’re best known for is the huge cinnamon rolls, which I don’t eat. After the 10K on Saturday, The Swede, the Swede’s family and I went out for some breakfast.
Huevos Rancheros is not on the menu, but it was on the specials board so I had to order it. It was perfect. The best huevos in the TC and probably the best I’ve ever had. One note about it though, it is not vegetarian friendly. There is a huge sausage patty on the plate and I suspect the beans are pureed with some meat in them.
The sausage patty was like breakfast sausage but spicier. Normally the breakfast sausage has either too much fennel or too much grease. Somehow they struck a good balance and I am intrigued to do some research and figure how they did it — speaking on interesting finds, the machine that cuts the spirals into a spiral-cut ham (I am craving some spiral cut ham) is called a T2000, scary, no machine whose main purpose is to cut meat that supposedly resembles human flesh should have a Terminator like name.
Beans. The beans were superb. I’ve been very vocal that huevos need to be served with black beans instead of refried, but I have been corrected. These beans were smooth, why I suspect there was some puree involved and the mix probably included some meat. The beans were a little creamy and they were served with peppers, chilis and jalapenos on top. Overly fantastic.
Tortillas. I’ve never before had soemone serve the tortillas grilled and buttered. How can that not be fantastic?
Eggs. Here’s where the inventiveness shined through. The eggs were a great scramble and mixed within were green chilis. It’s hard to find a good use of green chilis in the TC, and these were well done. I felt like I might be in Albequerque, they were so plentiful and well done.
I wish I had had the forseight to take a picture. The plate had the most different look of any plate of huevos I’ve ever been served. One thing that makes me sad is that each Keys Cafe has a different menu, and the specials item is not likely to make it onto the menu. That meal may have truly been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
My new rankings of huevos rancheros in TC:
1. Keys Cafe
2. Sunny Side Up Cafe
3. Hell’s Kitchen
4. St. Clair Broiler