Trying the West Side omelet on the east side

I can cook many things fairly well, but anything that requires patience or finesse will always elude me. Thus, the omelet, deceptively simple though it may be, is something I must seek outside my home if I want it done well. And therein lies the rub, because it seems that most restaurants also struggle to knock the dish out of the park. Thankfully Square One, a breakfast and lunch spot tucked away in East Lansing’s Hannah Plaza, has me covered.

With many tantalizing options, ranging from cinnamon roll pancakes to croissant sandwiches, it was hard to narrow down my order, but the spinach in the West Side omelet’s list of ingredients quickly captured my attention. After a Christmas weekend stuffing myself with mac and cheese, éclair cake and duck à l’orange, I was beginning to come down and realize that vegetables would need to be reincorporated into my diet.

Apart from spinach, the West Side came with roasted red peppers, green onion, herbed cream cheese and bacon — in the spirit of my return to the lighter side, I substituted this for turkey bacon. All of this was nestled within a huge, perfectly cooked envelope of fluffy egg. Not at all greasy, the interior was custard-like but not runny, and the exterior was flecked with an appropriate ratio of golden brown to pure, rich yellow.

The fillings were the star of the show, however. The roasted red peppers and crispy turkey bacon provided a smoky, savory complement  to the richness of the cream cheese, and everything was swimming in a generous sea of lush, dark green, perfectly wilted spinach. Each bite was a delicious, self-contained cross-section that held together, rather than the contents spilling out and spreading in a watery film across the plate, which is what often happens with omelets.

My only disappointment was that the omelet didn’t come with potatoes, but it was so large that I ended up taking half of it home anyway. It did come with some perfectly serviceable rye toast, and the coffee was good and plentiful. This was not my first trip to Square One, but it was my first of its omelets. It will certainly not be the last, but it will be hard to beat.

West Side omelet

$11

Square One Breakfast & Bakery

4790 Hagadorn Road, Suite 110, East Lansing

6 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

517-203-5305

squareoneeastlansing.com