Considering it is little more than 10 years old, the restaurant space in the City View apartments building on West Church Street in downtown Orlando has certainly had a lot of tenants. First was Uncle Henry’s Country Kitchen, the popular Johnson’s Diner, which moved from a cramped free-standing hut on Washington in summer of 2006. When it closed, Fish ’n’ Loaves took over. Then McKnight’s.
Now say hello to Chef Eddie’s. Or good morning, as I did recently when looking for a downtown breakfast spot.
The downtown address is a relocation for Chef Eddie’s. We visited the original restaurant last year when it was on the corner of Orange Center Boulevard and Goldwyn Avenue in west Orlando. The City View location brings Chef Eddie’s good food closer to the center of commerce, so I was surprised that just a little after 8 o’clock on a weekday morning that I was the only diner in the restaurant and would remain alone during my entire breakfast.
I appreciated that my waitress answered honestly when I asked if the corned beef hash that immediately caught my eye on the breakfast menu was made in house. Hearing that it was not, I searched for something else. Recalling that when I dined at the former location the pork chops were enjoyable, I selected those with two eggs and grits.
It was a large portion that overlapped the plate. Not the most colorful presentation, the food was more a study in off-whites and browns. The two pork chops had a nice peppery seasoning, but the gravy was more thinner than I’d remembered from my previous visit. The eggs were properly over-eased, and the grits benefitted from the onions that were in the gravy. I used the buttered wheat toast to sop up some of the yolk and gravy mix.
The dining room looked lonely with few people in it. It was bright and cheery and decorated with African art here and there. A bar has been constructed on one side of the room, presumably for the late night crowds. That’s probably what the drum set is for, too. I was thankful no one came out to play it while I was there.
My server was friendly and welcoming — just the right attitude for early morning. And a gentleman I took to be Eddie who had come out to the dining room to watch one of the televisions (that were playing a tad too loudly) asked how I had enjoyed my breakfast when I got up to go. Then he thanked me for coming, which is always nice.
Chef Eddie’s is at 535 W. Church St., Orlando. It serves breakfast daily (lunch and dinner, too). The phone number is 407-826-1731
