1800 NW 16th Ave., 841-6359, brekenkitchen.com. Breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday.
Breken is where the Montessori moms and Slabtown's most minimal dressers convene to eat paleo bowls, fried-egg breakfast sandwiches and the cafe's signature lasagna. The place does look like a kitchen, with light pouring in the glass garage door, plushy armchairs and a large wooden table in the middle of the room. Skip the bowls, which at $9.99 won't get you anything better than a dorm cafeteria meal of sauteed vegetables, except with unreasonably moist chicken. Even paired with a cup of watery kale-and-chickpea soup at $3.50, the meal won't fill you, although the free side of bread may help. The lasagna, on the other hand, also costs $9.99 and gives you a slice the size of an adult male's fist. But order early: The pan always goes empty. And just like in your parents' kitchen, they're not making more.
Check out Willamette Week's 2016 Cheap Eats guide here.
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