A guy who had worked for one of my accounts for over 20 years had made a monumental decision last summer to leave that store and open his own store on the opposite end of Kansas City. He and I had been in talks about picking up some of my lines and he was getting ready to open his doors last fall. We made plans for a breakfast meeting near his home in Lee's Summit, MO just outside of Kansas City. I told him to name the place and he suggested we meet at First Watch, a breakfast/lunch bistro located in the new Streets of West Pryor mixed-use development in Lee's Summit.
I had seen First Watch restaurants in some of my travels, mainly on vacations to the South and Mountain West. But I had no idea the extent of the number of First Watch locations.
John Sullivan was living in Denver in the late 50's and early 60's managing a steak and seafood restaurant. He hated the long hours and wanted to try a concept of a breakfast place that focused on just breakfast, brunch and lunch that would close in the mid-afternoon. He chose the ski village community of Aspen to open his restaurant. In 1963, Sullivan started Le Peep, one of the first - if not the first - upscale bistro-style restaurants that focused on early and mid-day dining only. Many of the dishes at LePeep were egg-based because eggs were more of a stable commodity than beef was at the time. (Well, and that's certainly true today.)
Le Peep, of course, was a hit - and continues to be so today - and it wasn't long before Sullivan opened more locations in the greater Denver area. He was joined in the firm by Ken Pendery who worked for the same steak and seafood restaurant as Sullivan. Pendery eventually became the president and CEO of Le Peep and by the early 80's they were looking to sell the growing chain of restaurants.
Another veteran of the Colorado restaurant industry, Buddy Waldman, headed a group of investors who ended up buying Le Peep in 1981 with the plan to take the concept nationally. Sullivan and Pendery stayed on during the transition, but the two soon left the company after a falling out with the new corporate ownership.
(My French-Canadian colleagues used to get a kick out of seeing the Le Peep restaurants when we would be in Denver for trade shows years ago. The term "peep" is evidently a Quebecois word for a certain sexual act.)
Looking for a new challenge, Sullivan and Pendery moved out to California to start their new breakfast/lunch venture. The two found a place overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Grove, CA, just outside of Monterey. They opened their new restaurant - First Watch - in 1983. The name First Watch comes from a nautical term for the first duty time of the day on ships. They opened a second First Watch location in San Mateo, CA in the South Bay area of San Francisco.
In 1986, Sullivan and Pendrey moved their base of operations to Bradenton, FL and continued their growth of the First Watch concept. They decided to keep many of the restaurants company-owned with a handful of franchise locations. In 2014, First Watch bought the 20 locations of the Phoenix-based Good Egg breakfast/lunch cafe chain, then a year later they purchased the 114 locations of the Colorado-based Egg and I restaurants eventually converting them to First Watch restaurants.
Today, there are nearly 400 First Watch restaurants in 20 states - primarily in Texas, Florida, and Arizona. (Ironically, there are no First Watch locations in California, the state where they first started.) The Lee's Summit location opened in the summer of 2021, the fourth location in the Kansas City area. (A First Watch location in the Corporate Woods business park in suburban Overland Park closed a little over six years ago.)
First Watch locations are open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. They won't seat anyone after 2:15 p.m. and the restaurant locks their doors at 2:30 sharp. They rely upon the freshest ingredients and produce for their food, and they don't have a deep fryer in any of their restaurants. They feature a number of vegan items, and they also are conscious of dietary restrictions or allergies with many of the foods they offer. And to celebrate their 35th year in business, Fresh Watch released a cook book - "Yeah, It's Fresh" - that showcased 75 of their more popular breakfast, brunch and lunch items.
We had agreed to meet at the Lee's Summit First Watch location at 8:30 a.m. I got there a little early and I'm sort of glad I did as I had a little bit of trouble navigating through the area as it's just off I-470 and U.S. Highway 50 off NW Pryor in Lee's Summit. (see map) But once I saw it in the distance in the Streets of West Pryor complex, I was able to drive right to the front of the place.
I went inside and my breakfast meeting guest had not yet arrived. The restaurant featured dark wood flooring with matching dark wood tables and chairs. An open kitchen was in the back of the place with and outdoor dining patio off to the side. There weren't a lot of people in the place for a weekday morning.
I was greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand and I was taken to a table with banquette seating along one of the outer walls of the place. I detest banquette seating, but since there wasn't a lot of other people in the place, I settled in for breakfast. She dropped off a couple menus for me to look through as I waited for my guest to show up.
Our server that day was a pleasant young lady by the name of Sydney. She asked what I wanted to drink and I asked if they had espresso. "Uh..., no, I'm sorry," Sydney said hesitantly. "We don't have espresso." I was sort of incredulous that a place like First Watch wouldn't have espresso. They did have fresh brewed coffee, but no espresso. I ended up ordering a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
My guest made it in a little late, but no big deal. "My mom doesn't live far from here," he explained to me after he sat down. "We go out for breakfast every once in a while and we came here a few weeks ago. She won't go anywhere else for breakfast."
The breakfast items feature omelets, benedicts (including a BLT benedict and a smoked salmon benedict that got my attention), frittatas, pancakes (including a lemon ricotta pancake that sounded sinfully delicious), Belgian waffles and a couple of French toast breakfasts including the Florida French Toast that featured French toast covered in sliced bananas, strawberries and kiwi fruit. First watch also had quinoa or granola breakfast power bowls and three or four Mexican-inspired breakfast plates including a spicy chicken/chorizo chimichanga served with grilled potatoes. Lunch items on the menu featured grilled and deli-style sandwiches along with four or five types of salads.
I was torn between a number of items, but I was still sort of full from the meal I had the previous evening. Although the Farmhouse Hash with house-made corned beef hash topped with two eggs and avocado slices sounded good, as did the green chile/chorizo omelet, I ended up going light and getting the avocado toast with two over-easy eggs. The plate was dusted with paprika and chopped parsley.
They have combination breakfasts at First Watch such as the Tri-Fecta - choice of either a Belgian waffle or a pancake (multi-grain, regular, blueberry or a banana-crunch or carrot cake-pecan pancake), eggs made-to-order and a side of either smoked bacon or pork sausage links. My guest got the blueberry pancake with eggs over-easy and a side of bacon. The pancake - which was the size of a hubcap - took up most of the plate and Sydney had to go back and get a smaller plate with the bacon on it. A side of strawberry compote came on the side with the pancake.
My avocado toast was OK - the avocado spread was salty, however. But the multi-grain bread that is made special for First Watch was very good. My eggs were good - nothing special. The breakfast was a little expensive - $11.90 for the avocado toast and eggs - but it was fine for what it was.
For my first visit to a First Watch location, I thought it was fine for what I had. It's pretty difficult to do anything real special with two eggs over-easy and avocado toast. My guest - who had eaten at this First Watch a handful of times - was more than happy with his Tri-Fecta breakfast consisting of a blueberry pancake, eggs over-easy and a side of smoked bacon. I did like the fact that they had fresh-squeezed orange juice, but I was sort of blown-away that a place like First Watch didn't have espresso or cappuccino. It didn't matter, however. Breakfast, brunch and lunch bistros/cafes are extremely popular and with the lineage of being the offspring of the first restaurant of this concept, First Watch has had a large head start over all the other places of its kind across the nation.
Comments