Breakfast Crawl Continues...Restaurant Review: Finn's

The Salt Lake City Magazine's Guide to the 65 Best Breakfast continues with the Cafe Breakfast. The place featured here, however, may be one of the best overall breakfasts in Salt Lake for three main reasons: 1) attentive warm service; 2) delicious Scandinavian fares; and 3) unassuming comfortable atmosphere. Originally opened in 1952 in Parley's Canyon, Finn's served dinner eats ranging from a steep $2.75 to a pricey $5.00. Now Finn's Cafe is only open until 2:30 each day and owns breakfast and brunch. 

I've been hearing about Finn's Cafe all summer and finally drove the few blocks to their current 1100 East Sugarhouse location. I have to admit that I'm always a bit apprehensive about going to places that friends have been gushing about for weeks, but Finn's did not disappoint.  When we first arrived we were quickly greeted and directed to a table of our choice. The hostess/server quickly informed us that the flowers surrounded the patio fence were attracting bees. This small fact made it apparent from the first moment that  service was going to be above average. 

So let's get to the good stuff: food. 

I ordered the Norwegian Waffles with Lingonberries and Sour Cream with a delicious orange soda. I know what you're thinking sour cream, you must be crazy and that's what I thought too. You'd learn this sooner or later, but I do not like sour cream at all, or so I thought. The combination of sour cream with lingonberry jam, which is a forest berry related to blueberries and are a staple in Scandinavia. This may be one of the first times I did not touch syrup, in fact, they didn't even offer any. So, I got brave took a bit of sour cream and a bit of jam slathered it on a piece of my heart-shaped waffles. The combination of flavors were divine. I was convinced that the sour cream was special or flavored and asked our server. She responded quizzically that it was just normal sour cream. Obviously, sour cream and I have some reacquainting to do. 

My friend visiting from D.C., Jessie Pinkrah, ordered an egg white Vegetable Omlette, which was filled with asparagus, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms, served with hash browns, garnished with cucumbers and tomatoes. She said it was light and full of flavor.  It was served with a side of either sourdough, rye, wheat, or French toast with delicious raspberry jam, which we later found it is imported from Europe. 

Laura had sourdough pancakes. Hold on, because these are not your normal sourdoughs or your Roman's sourdoughs. They were very fluffy with mild sourdough flavor and delightful. They were a great twist on the run of the mill pancakes. We loved them.

Finally, on our way out, we were told to grab an apple! A what? An apple. Finn's sends every customer home with a free red apple. It was refreshing and just one more charming extra you'll find at Finn's. So get down there and try it out. The patio is still a great place to eat and hang out with friends on a lazy morning, for a few more weekends anyway.