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Bertha’s Café
2916 N. 40th Street, 602-955-1022

A few months ago, I moved my office desk from its swank Midtown Central location to a new office building behind the Airport surrounded by decaying car yards, landfills and to my bewilderment, strip clubs which serve no liquor. My old digs housed a small group of us which meant I could be the hero and bring in breakfast for under $15. The new site was a different story: an ocean of cubes in space just big enough to support an ice rink. Whether or not this new group would ever get use to me and my unnumbered quirks was going to be a chore lasting well into the fourth quarter.

I decided the best way to make up for my intolerable work ethics, mooching, higher-than-thou attitude and slack sales performance was to bring in breakfast. But the foodie in me wouldn’t allow a corporate bagel chain. I pondered my options. Hotels are big operations, I bet they’d never notice an omelet station complete with gas burners missing for half a day. But that was too much work and I’d need a pickup truck.

Fortunately, Bertha’s Café had just opened its doors and was ready to break the iron chains of humiliation and suffering brought on from years of predictable, mass produced company lunch and breakfast food trays. Today, the terrorists lose.

Beth and Kerry Miglino of Bertha’s would have preferred me calling in advance for my tray but had no trouble helping me design a round of goodies for my office from their breakfast menu.

We started with a few Breakfast Burritos ($5.50). Scrambled Eggs, Applewood Bacon and fresh salsa make up these simple hand rolls. Here is why I like these so much: #1 No Potatoes. Why is this important? Potatoes inside of breakfast burritos increase the size of the burrito and the overall calorie count but they steal flavoring from everything around them and leave the whole thing tasting like you just ate a tortilla stuffed with boiled potato. #2 the scrambled eggs are wonderfully soft. You see, overcooked scrambled eggs are a punishment issued from chefs across the globe as a way of expressing their contempt for the world and everyone in it.
The next item was the bagel sandwich with smoked ham and cheddar $5.50. We cut these into quarters for the tray which ended up being the perfect bite size. I liked these and I could see making them a staple of an office breakfast because they could easily be picked up from the tray and eaten from a napkin. Along the same line is a Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Panini ($5.50). Same idea, different bread.

You can’t make a tray for a diverse office and have everything be a hot item with eggs and meat, you naturally need easy items like scones and croissants for all the complainers who will bubble their food issues up to HR. Bertha’s does a great job jerking the telephone headset off of these refuseniks by including a wide selection of these items as well as fresh fruit, juice, muffins, coffee cake and cinnamon rolls.

Before I mislead you any further let me explain that Bertha’s is a café which puts out a great quality breakfast and lunch. Catering trays happens to be one of their specialties but they are also a place you can relax, sit down, have a sandwich, soup, salad and even leave with one of Bertha’s famous cheesecakes which she launched the café around.
Bertha’s and the adorable Miglino sisters are ready for your order, Tuesday-Sunday from 6:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Catering orders are preferred a few hours in advance at 602-955-1022 and their menu is on the Web at berthascafe.com.