Is Melt too hip for us? I hope not. It would mean no waffles for lunch and no chance to discuss yarn bombing.
The waffles are Melt's foodish focus – the rest of the menu is liquid, hot, cold or frozen. Not surprisingly, there's a liquor license. But this isn't a bar. The only thing it lacks to make it a large airy studio apartment is a bed. And the decor is so tongue-in-cheek, the tongue is in danger of being bitten off.
So waffles it is, made to order in various permutations. The solitary savory one, called wake 'n bake, served as a single or double, is quarters of a bacon waffle semi-sandwiching a fried egg or two, the whole topped with a small tumble of shredded cheese. It's very good, though we skipped lily-gilding, declining use of the syrup dispenser. Good-sized chunks of bacon in that waffle, too.
In many ways, the cinnamon apple waffle was the perfect opposite of the wake 'n bake. Sweet, soft and horizontal instead of savory, chewy and stacked, it was, in retrospect, utter comfort food. Not the sauteed apples we'd envisioned, but applesauce with a golf ball of whipped cream and a drift of cinnamon topping and almost surrounding the waffle. My grandmother used to give the 5-year-old me a snack of applesauce and bread; this was a warmer throwback.
Coffee is good, although the latte seemed a tad weak. But then I've been drinking Italian coffee lately; maybe it's just me.
And yarn bombing? Notice the tree out front. Yarn bombing is guerilla or street yarn, usually knitted or crocheted. The owner clearly is a crocheter, to judge from both what's outside and the plentiful amount of work inside – note the chair backs on the bar stools. You can find yarn bombing a few other places around town, too.
No website, but they're on Facebook.
Melt
7700 Ivory Ave.
314-638-6358
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No