Lox & Egg and not much else

Lox & Egg reminds me of the restaurants I love for no reason. Waffle House is the best example: The food is mediocre, the service is ridiculous, and the place is invariably gritty and unkempt. Yet there is something about it -- something familiar and sincere that has kept me coming back, long after the novelty of ordering "diced, chopped and smothered" wore off.

At first glance, L&E has a similarly humble atmosphere, with three walls of windows lined with booths. The inside feels more like a Dunkin' Donuts though, with advertisements for Douwe Egberts coffee drinks hanging from the ceiling. Not a big deal, but part of me seeks out local eateries to escape this kind of corporate vibe.

The breakfast menu is surprisingly simple for a restaurant named after a breakfast sandwich. Meat, egg and cheese sandwiches ($3.79 on a bagel, $4.94 with red peppers on focaccini bread), an omelet wrap ($4.94) and a Philly steak and egg ($5.99) round it out.

I tried the Focaccini sandwich and a bagel with cream cheese. The variety was impressive -- along with the usual choices of bagels and meat, there are 10 different cream cheese spreads and three kinds of cheese. Still, the food suffered from the usual problems one finds with cheap breakfast -- the sausage was too greasy, the eggs were overcooked and the bagel, bread and cream cheese were nothing special.

And the chicken, turkey and ham sandwiches on the lunch menu? They look unfilling and uninspired, and at $5-$7 they are hardly a bargain. With mediocre food at run-of-the-mill prices and neighbors like Einstein Bros and Quiznos, Lox and Egg is one local eatery I won't feel guilty skipping over.