The Home Plate is becoming the pinch hitter for Des Moines breakfast diners. In 2011, the restaurant opened in the location of the former Waveland East Cafe, right across from the Iowa State Fairgrounds. In August, The Home Plate opened its second location on East 14th Street in a space formerly occupied by Ken’s Diner.
When you walk into the new location you’ll find a large square dining counter with seating around it. Just past that is a large dining room with booths and tables. We stopped in for lunch on a Thursday to find the dining room almost full. We were invited to seat ourselves wherever we liked .
The Home Plate serves breakfast all day, which is a big draw for me. Options include the Bases Loaded hash browns (onions, mushrooms, green peppers and sausage, two eggs, cheese and pepper gravy), chicken fried steaks and eggs, the World Series sandwich (two fried eggs, meat and cheese on sourdough) and a three-egg omelet.
I went with the 3 Eggs And ..., which as the name implies comes with three eggs of your choice, hash browns, bacon or sausage, and a biscuit, toast or pancakes . I went with the bacon and pancakes.
I found myself a little underwhelmed with the breakfast. The eggs weren’t especially fluffy, the bacon was kind of thin and the hash browns were greasy. The pancakes were good, though not enough to compensate for the rest of the meal.
My co-worker went with the chef’s salad. It’s listed as “Almost everything we could throw in a bowl and still call it a salad.” It came topped with turkey, ham, tomato, cucumber, onion, green peppers and croutons and seemed to make for a very filling lunch.
If you’re an early riser, The Home Plate offers early bird breakfasts from 6-8 a.m. for $3.49 each Monday through Friday. You can get Pigs in a Blanket, pancake or French toast combos or an egg sandwich for $3.49 each and coffee, tea or soda for 50 cents.
I’d like to give The Home Plate another chance at bat to see if the dinner options might win me over. It was OK, but more of a double than a grand slam.
Our receipt
Three eggs and…$7.99
Chef salad…$8.49
Total with tax and tip: $19.79
The Home Plate Diner
Where: 3900 E. 14th St.
Hours: 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday
Info: 266-1200, homeplatediner.net
