It’s Saturday morning. We are sitting in the front row of a local school gymnasium, ready to attend our daughter’s gymnastics recital. I am excited - I LOVE seeing her doing what she enjoys the most. Sitting next to us there is a mom with her happy little boy running up and down, killing time whilst we wait. The show is about to start when this dad walks in and comes to sit with his family - the mom and the boy next to us. He has a long beard, a laid-back attitude and a bouquet of flowers for his daughter. He also has a genuine smile on his face when he spots his family in the crowd and an arm covered with tattoos. Wait a second…that “sleeve” looks familiar… I am sure I have seen it before. Of course…he is Michael Lewis, the co-founder and executive chef of KYU, the Asian hot spot in Wynwood, who recently opened LAID Fresh, the Egg-centric, All-Day Cafe together with his KYU’s business partner and restaurateur Steven Haigh. I have read a lot about LAID Fresh and saw his pictures online in these past few days, since I was invited to eat at the new restaurant with my family and share our experience with you. Not only we are sitting next to his family…we are also going to LAID Fresh for lunch right after the recital has finished! It’s a small world!
Fast forward to a couple of hours later, we are in Wynwood. LAID Fresh’s address is 250 NW 24th Street, a live/work building located steps away from Panther Coffee and once known as Federal Donuts and Dizengoff’s home. Street parking is unexpectedly easy - Wynwood’s habitués are still waking up - and we find the perfect spot just outside the restaurant. It’s 12.30pm and LAID fresh is already busy. A group of friends are sitting at the large communal table and solo diners are drinking their coffees at the bar gazing through the storefront windows as the area comes to life.
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Our initial reaction upon walking into LAID Fresh is a mixture of amusement and delight. The pace is considerably slower than the pedestrian and vehicular traffic that often accompanies Wynwood. The details all add up to an aesthetic that’s clearly defined: minimal, vibrant and funky. Owners made a bold color choice with the chairs - a bright egg yolk yellow to match the eggy theme - bringing cohesion to the two spaces of the eatery - the counter service area and the dining room. The menu near the front door is a focal point - a giant magnetic board with spare letters and numbers which invites guests of any age to stop by and leave their mark. The fun continues in the dining area. If tasty food and LEGOs are your ideal for a playful dining experience, LAID Fresh delivers on both counts with an EGG-centric menu that can be consumed at a LEGO table where kids, and parents too, can wait for their food and eat, whilst playing with bricks! If this is not enough to entertain you and need some cozy time before you eat, you can move to the lounge corner with the listening station. The wait is not long at all, but we decide to sit on the couch and pick our vibes - motivational, calming and heavy - from the headphones hanging from the ceiling. Dancing on sofa while listening music in headphones is definitely one of our kids’ favorite perks!
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LAID Fresh’s menu is a balance of comfort, quality and innovation. Celebrating their key ingredient through classic dishes with a twist, they make eggs appetizing all day, everyday. The restaurant serves ”comfort food with a conscience," emphasizing scratch-made and local ingredients — 90% of the menu is locally sourced from more than 40 local farms - for example, their eggs are from Lake Meadow Naturals near Orlando.
Breakfast dishes served all-day include The Sandwiches (prepared on a fresh daily, toasted potato brioche bun) and a few “More Good Things”. We try a couple from both, and they are all EGGs-cellent. (Today I decided that my paleo diet goes out of the window but if you need gluten free options, there is no probs. At LAID Fresh they can turn any sandwich into a salad with local greens from Harpke Family Farm in Dania Beach.) Our first dish is The Laid Egg - the soft boiled egg has just the right amount of resistance and holds the savory bacon marmalade and hollandaise well. All this on top of a crispy herb potato - golden brown, buttery and crispy with plenty of flavor. This dish is ferociously delicious. For the kids, we order Sausage and Cheese, a Sunday brunch classic with fried eggs, house-made sausage and cheese. There is nothing better to me than simple done in the best way with the best ingredients. We also order Tomato Mozzarella - a sandwich with fried eggs, Mimmo’s Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil and Fresh Chilies - and the Spicy Chicken Sandwich with house-made, hot (!) fried chicken, the Napa slaw and the pickles that match perfectly together, whilst the cambozola gives it that little extra flavor. From the first bite, we realize that these babies are juicy and we need plenty of napkins! Don’t worry, in here, napkins as well as knives, forks, plates, etc. are 100% compostable. There’s no kids’ menu, but the sandwiches with fried or scrambled eggs, topped with avocado, cheese or tomato, are beloved by little ones, and good for sharing.
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We finish our meal on the sweet side with three freshly fried beignets covered with mounds of powdered sugar. “Egg Chef” Patrick Clark, the head pastry chef at Fiola Miami, joined Chef Lewis in the kitchen to oversee day-to-day culinary operations and influence the menu with his extensive bakery experience, including this light-as-air sweet treat. A soon to be food staple for locals and visitors, LAID Fresh’s beignets are great for breakfast, dessert or a midnight snack.
 | While these dishes are certainly appetizing and worth the experience, LAID Fresh’s mimosas are keeping us (or at least me!) in our seats for a longer visit. There's something so special about drinking a mimosa before 1pm, isn't there? Or, let's face it, any time of the day. At LAID Fresh, they’ve combined two of moms’ favorite drinks - coffee and mimosa - serving the morning-friendly cocktail in an adorable coffee mug (which is also for sale). |
We are ready to go when Chef Lewis arrives and comes to say hi and share some of his time with us. He is friendly, cheerful and charismatic. From his words and attitude, you can tell he enjoys putting smiles on his customers’ faces…and tummies.
On the website they say LAID Fresh is a “new fast casual concept”. Whilst it is certainly new, there is nothing fast in here, apart from the service. Even if eggs aren’t your thing, come for the drinks, the perks and the atmosphere. From the LEGOs and the headphones, to the couch and the mug of mimosa, everything invites you to take a break, to relax, to stay here as long as you want and more generally to be happy. Call it a counter service restaurant or all-day breakfast cafe, LAID Fresh takes the soul-nourishing morning routine one step further by providing a LAID back atmosphere and merging that with delicious, FRESH and quality food options to create a one-of-a-kind, all-day dining experience.
250 NW 24th St, Miami, FL 33127
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 8am-5pm
Disclaimer: As indicated above, I was invited in to try out the restaurant and this meal was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.
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