Steve’s Cafe had been successful serving breakfast and lunch in Helena, Montana for three years when they decided to branch out to Idaho. They chose Meridian, allowing Meridian to gain a chance to enjoy one of the most delicious berries ever—-fresh huckleberries. Ever since, guests at Steve’s have been able to get a wide variety of delicious breakfasts—-but when fresh huckleberries are at Steve’s, it’s something special to order. With the huckleberry being the state fruit of Idaho, it’s a delicious way to see what our state fruit has to offer. They are a hard berry to find, but Steve has seemed to find a consistent source for them.
Steve’s Cafe serves their huckleberries two ways, with buttermilk pancakes or stuffed French toast. Both come with a side of Steve’s excellent huckleberry sauce. As an alternative, both can be ordered with another Pacific Northwest specialty, marionberry. The Stuffed French Toast is literally a work of art, with thick slices of battered and golden-grilled toast stuffed with ricotta and cream cheese, lightly flavored with the huckleberry. It is served topped with the fresh huckleberry sauce, with more sauce on the side for dipping. The sweet-tart huckleberry sauce is the perfect topping for the rich French toast. Even without the stuffing, coming as regular French Toast, this is one of the best versions of this breakfast staple around.
All the pancake and French toast plates can also be ordered with ham, sausage or bacon. The ham is a nice thick slab, delicious and filling. The sausages can be ordered either as a patty or a link. Typically, at most places the links are the same, small dried out ones you get in the market, but Steve’s is different. They appear to be made specially by them and are juicy, skin-on links much larger in size then the typical breakfast sausage. And they are delicious, flavored just right to go along with the breakfasts. Other sausages available for breakfast include Italian Sausage, a Mexican Chipotle Sausage and a Chicken Apple Sausage.
Omelets are also a specialty at Steve’s, with everything from a basic Ham and Cheese Omelet and Bacon or Sausage Omelet on to a Denver Omelet, a Chili and Cheese Omelet and even a Shrimp Omelet. For those who don’t want meat, there is a Mushroom and Swiss or a Garden Omelet. All the omelets are fluffy and stuffed with delicious fillings. As is with everything at Steve’s, the emphasis is on fresh, so omelets like the Garden Omelet are stuffed with fresh spinach, tomato, onions, cheddar cheese and olives, then topped with fresh avocado.
Other breakfasts include egg dishes, scrambles, waffles, breakfast burritos, Eggs Benedict, biscuits and gravy and organic oatmeal. For those really in a meat mood, there is a New York Steak and Eggs and a classic Chicken Fried Steak with Eggs. A Homemade Corned Beef Hash is also on the menu. One other thing about breakfast at Steve’s is the coffee. For some reason, the coffee at Steve’s always tastes better then other breakfast places. Try it yourself and see!
The staff at Steve’s always seems to be friendly, cheerful and helpful. Being a family owned operation, it seems that they have impressed on the staff that they should treat all their guests as family too. And yes, there really is a Steve; actually two of them. It truly is a family operation. Steve’s Cafe is located on Fairview in Meridian and is worth a drive from nearby Boise and Eagle just to try some huckleberry dishes. Their Facebook Page has all the daily specials, so it’s a good thing to check out and see when the huckleberries
Steve’s Cafe also serves lunches, but that’s a story for a different article. Right now, it’s so hard to get past ordering the awesome huckleberry dishes at Steve’s that I confess to never having tried their lunches—–yet!
Steve’s Cafe
2483 East Fairview Ave. Ste. #105
Meridian, ID 83642
(208) 887-1133
