Breken Kitchen

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.

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.