Cafe 55

Mr. H and I stopped in to the newly opened Cafe 55 in the Superior/East 55th Street area a couple of Fridays ago for a late breakfast.

The cafe is located right next to Sterle's Country House, and both are included in the Hub 55 Project. The Project is bringing new eateries to the neighborhood, but also important revitalization for the somewhat undesirable area. Cafe 55 was the first step, but up next is The Taproom at Goldhorn Brewery. They've recruited Great Lakes Brewing Company veteran, Joel Warger. Then, you'll see event spaces, a Market, and finally...Executive Chef/General Manager Jeff Jarrett's flagship restaurant (name and concept not yet announced) in the renovated Lakeshore Banking and Trust building across the street. I had the pleasure of touring all of the spaces with Jarrett recently, and this will be quite the anchor that the neighborhood needs.

But, back to Cafe 55. The concept is grab-and-go, healthy, locally-sourced breakfast and lunch items. A few options are also made-to-order. All items are served in to-go containers, so customers can easily take it with them or sit down at one of the tables in the cafe. You order at the counter, after browsing the coolers and menu board.

I wanted a heartier breakfast, since we weren't going to each lunch that day, so I ordered the Mexico City breakfast bowl. All of the breakfast bowls are served on top of oven-roasted potatoes. This version included scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado, pico de gallo, scallions and queso fresco.

For $8, it was a lot of food, and everything tasted super fresh. Mr. H ordered the California breakfast bowl with scrambled eggs, avocado, scallions, red peppers, and goat cheese over potatoes.

They are also partnering with other local businesses, like Sushi 86, Bonbon Cafe, The Donut Scene, and Cleveland Bagel Company, to feature their products.

I was a little mad at ourselves for not grabbing something else from the tempting cooler displays for the road, since we had a long drive ahead of us that day. But, that just means that I'll need to go back to try the lunch items.

Open Monday - Friday from 6:00am - 2:00pm only, so grab a bite during the week. Which is why we visited on a Friday when we were both off of work. Otherwise, it would be hard for me to get there during the week, since I don't live or work in the area. Also, I'd like to see more grab-and-go breakfast items, other than bagels and pastries. The selection seemed limited in the cooler, and more geared towards lunch.

Go check out this first step in completing the Hub 55 Project! It would be a great place for a work meeting: quick, easy breakfast and lunch options, free parking connected to the building, central location, and delicious coffee. They even post a fun coffee fact of the day by the cashier, and you can catch it on their Instagram account. I think that this is a great addition to the Downtown Cleveland scene.

Cafe 55
1361 East 55th Street
Cleveland, OH 44013
216-600-5275