I love it when you pass by cozy little cafés and can immediately tell that the place is popular with the locals and has its set of “regulars”. That was the case with a small little cafe located just about two short blocks from my friends’ condo in Saratoga Springs: the Country Corner Café.
The Country Corner Café has an odd setup that evolved over time. The main entrance leads to a small diner space, with a small counter and just a few cozy booths, with a door at the back. But there’s also a second entrance next door to a small dining room set with tables that is connected to the rest of the restaurant only by the kitchen, obviously a case where the café expanded into the adjacent storefront. So if you want to go here and the place looks full, make sure you check the other half of the restaurant as well.
For this visit, we got a seat in the original diner space, which is indeed quite cozy. The menu is classic American diner fare, primarily based upon various egg dishes featuring eggs from one of the local farms, with a good selection of pancakes and baked goods as well. My friend Liz, in particular, was craving a muffin, and they had a good selection of fresh, house-made muffins to select from.
But I ended up getting the daily special, called “The Will”. This is basically a variant of a breakfast poutine: fries, pearl mozzarella, sausage gravy, eggs, pickled red onions, and scallions. The basic fries were nicely done, the sausage gravy a good house-made version, and the little pearls of fresh mozzarella added a variant of the classic curds. The pickled onions rounded it out with a nice tang. Overall, a great breakfast.
So if you are in downtown Saratoga Springs looking for breakfast, the Country Corner Café is a great option: good food, reasonable prices, and a friendly staff.