The Cracked Egg serves up fresh-made breakfast all day, lunch, and a heaping portion of customer service
By Laura Briedis
There can never be enough neighborhood eateries in town. You know the kind I’m talking about. Somewhere you can stop in for coffee and a hearty breakfast and bring the kids for pancakes. Or a place you can find a reasonably priced burger. And, yes, even a restaurant that knows how to cook liver and onions just like grandma used to!
The newest restaurant in town, The Cracked Egg, is all that and much more.
Open for breakfast and lunch, this family owned and operated restaurant located across the street from Brunswick Middle School can be best described as a friendly diner with a modern feel. On any given day, you will find a table of regulars—a group of retired autoworkers, a women’s bowling league or high school football players—enjoying a meal. The restaurant, which has a clean and crisp décor, has seating for 100-plus diners at a mix of tables, booths and bar stools.
“The focus here is on quality ingredients and tasty food made from scratch,” says Esa Zaboura, who owns the restaurant along with his wife, Gina. “We source our food locally, including eggs from Ohio dairy farms and coffee beans from a local roaster.”
“We owned a restaurant in Fort Myers, Florida, for 13 years before we came back home during the pandemic to be close to our families again,” says Esa. “Now we are taking some of those favorites from down south and cooking them in our new restaurant.”
As its name suggests, The Cracked Egg serves breakfast all day long. The most popular items are skillets, which start with a layer of hash browns topped with three eggs. In between you will find a heap of ingredients from sausage, bacon, onions, peppers, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy in the Country Skillet, to gyro meat, feta cheese, onions and tomatoes in the Greek Skillet.
“Families also love our pancakes and waffles that are cooked with our homemade batter,” says Esa.
In addition to breakfast, there is an appreciable lunch menu that features 18 sandwiches and 10 burgers, along with soups, salads and specialties such as Fish & Chips and Roast Beef Dinner.
“We created our menu based on what our diners have liked,” says Gina, who has been cooking since she was 8 years old and honing the culinary skills inherited from her father, who was a chef in the Greek army. “We added liver and onions to our menu because it was a Florida favorite.”
The food here is plentiful, as the restaurant does not skimp on ingredients. “We use three eggs in every omelet and skillet, and we use a ridiculous amount of bacon on our BLT sandwich,” says Esa. “We pack 10 strips of bacon between Texas Toast, lettuce and tomato. And even though the price of bacon is surging with inflation, we still serve the same quality and quantity of bacon.”
While all restaurants are facing labor shortages, The Cracked Egg is in a better position than most since the owners are hands-on. You will find Esa in the kitchen cooking, Gina waiting on tables and Esa’s mother, Aida, at the hostess stand.
“There always is an owner in the restaurant,” says Esa. “We take pride in our customer service and have added items, such as touchless, cell phone pay options, and will be adding UberEats and DoorDash soon for takeout orders.”
The Cracked Egg is located at 1480 Pearl Road in Brunswick. Open for breakfast from 7 a.m. to 2 pm; lunch served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call 330-460-6505 or visit MyCrackedEgg.com.