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Dairy Lane Cafe

The order: Hillhurst Breakfast Sammy ($12): Two free-range fried eggs with bacon and Sylvan Star aged cheddar on sourdough toast with tomato, butter leaf lettuce and sweet red pepper mayo, served with local Yukon Gold hash browns. Also: coffee ($2.95) with unlimited refills.

While perusing the menu — there were a bunch of great options — I found myself still reeling from the “non-sandwich sandwich incident” of a few weeks ago, so I placed an order for something hand-held, thus scratching my itch.

I enjoyed the sandwich, which was well-constructed with the ingredients piled high in a favourable order ­— something that really does matter. (If you place your eggs too close to the lettuce or tomatoes you’ll end up with a big, wilted mess.) The aged cheese was wonderfully melted and flavourful, and the bacon — although slightly lopsided in its deployment — was of decent thickness and added salty, meaty goodness.

The eggs were fried, with hard yolks, something I wasn’t given a choice on when ordering, and I didn’t think to ask, either. In hindsight, I would have opted for soft yolks. Regardless, they were fresh and tasty. The red pepper mayonnaise was bright and had a slight acidity, adding needed contrast.

As for the hash browns: the outsides were well-browned, crispy and sprinkled with a light dusting of salt, but the insides were granular and almost powdery. Perhaps if I was an advocate for ketchup, I could have masked it, but that’s not my deal.

The wait staff — who in a place as small as Dairy Lane can outnumber the customers at times — were attentive and we received many coffee refills. If you go on a weekend, expect delays. It’s perpetually busy and one of the smallest breakfast joints in town.

Hash browns aside, good things are coming out of Dairy Lane’s kitchen, and I’m keen on checking out breakfast at their sister restaurant in Bridgeland, Blue Star Diner.

Email breakfast suggestions to darelleats@gmail.com. Follow Darell on twitter @darelleats.