Scratch Restaurant - Independence, OH

The morning after Thanksgiving, it can sometimes be hard to have an appetite. My husband and I had a little time to ourselves, however, and with his father at work and his young siblings still in bed, we took the suggestion of his family to visit a little place called Scratch Restaurant not too far from our hotel. We checked the menu before leaving the hotel and decided this would be the one for us that morning.

​We arrived to a little restaurant in a short strip, filled with other families and couples stopping in for breakfast that morning while they had their loved ones in town. Only one waitress was on staff in the small dining room, but she worked hard to get everyone seated and cared for despite her position. My husband and I were seated at a high top with our coffee, and we had some time to look over the menu while the waitress took care of other customers.​

As the name implies, almost everything in the restaurant is made from scratch-- right down to the ketchup and hot sauce at the table. For whatever reason, this didn’t occur to me until the waitress informed me that the sausage on the menu is made in house. Then I really looked at the condiments on the table. The hot sauce was separating slightly with the remnants of the full peppers floating around. The ketchup was thick and slightly grainy, evidence that someone had lovingly crafted it rather than poured it from a larger bottle.

There is something for every type of breakfast eater on the menu. Savory and sweet are represented in equal measure, but my husband and I both are savory breakfast folk the vast majority of the time. If I weren’t looking forward to some leftover pie later in the day, I might have entertained the idea of the tiramisu pancakes or blueberry moonshine pudding french toast. Instead, my husband and I ordered virtually identical plates: a normal American classic for him, and a mini for me.

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The only difference between the American Classic and the Mini classic is the absence of home fries on the mini, and after watching a few plates come out of the kitchen with said home fries, I regretted ordering only a mini. Anthony Bourdain famously said of home fries,” You make them in huge amounts and you re-heat them. Most of the home fries I have in diners are not good, they're not cooked all the way through, they're not crisp." This was not the case at Scratch Kitchen.

I could tell just by watching plates go by that the home fries were crispy, crunchy, and fully cooked. I thought I would have to miss out, or only steal one from my husband’s plate when our food came out. My prayers were either heard, or the chef messed up. Two American Classics were delivered to our table with scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and the home fries that I envied during our wait

The waitress didn’t charge for the larger portion, however, so my husband and I enjoyed our matching breakfasts in peace. The home fries were exactly as I expected, crunchy and delicious when paired with the sweet, acidic homemade ketchup. We had a lot of east coast diner breakfasts like this one, and none of them can truly compare. Home fries that are actually good are hard to come by. The home fries at Scratch Restaurant were one of them. The eggs were cooked to a hard scramble like my husband and I both prefer. The homemade sausage patties were peppery and fatty, perfect with the rest of the plate. 

This restaurant is located in Independence, Ohio, way outside the reach of my normal readership out of Green Bay. However, if you ever make the trip out for a sports event, going into the suburb of Independence just outside of Greater Cleveland is worth the trip for this breakfast. 

You can visit Scratch Restaurant’s facebook for a closer look at their menu and any specials they’ve ran in the past. Their hours are also there if you decide to make a visit during a trip just like we did. Thanks to the staff for a delicious meal!