Awesome Inventive Bagel Breakfast at Hi*Rise Bakery

UPDATED 12/22/2018: Sadly Hi*Rise Bakery is now closed.

One of the things I miss about NYC is the corner bodega with a hot grill. The Quick Stop Deli on Bedford Street used to be my spot for a dirt-cheap classic egg ‘n’ cheese on a roll on a weekend morning. (Only thing I hated was they would up the price by 50 cents after 11am.) There was nothing special or fancy about it — it was just around the corner from where I lived and they would whip up one of those puppies made to order in less than 2 minutes.

When I first moved to Denver, I found that there were lots of really nice weekend breakfast spots in LoDo/Ballpark area, at the cost of an hour-long wait. But a lot of times I just wants the basics — a tasty and hot breakfast sandwich I can scarf down ASAP. That’s why I was relieved to find Hi*Rise Bakery. I actually ended up trying out this place on a lark after the crazy-long wait at Snooze was too much to handle one Sunday morning.

Decor

At first I was skeptical — the space is decorated in a really utilitarian way. It’s like one part divey dinner with a receipt stack and classic booth seating and one part straight up industrial factory with impossibly high ceilings, a painted mural on the wall, and lots of metal baking racks and concrete-exposed surfaces.

Menu

After quickly scanning the menu, I went with the classic Egg & Cheese – but chose to do it on a bagel, since Hi*Rise bakes all their stuff in house. They have standard bagel flavors to choose from (plain, everything, salt, cinnamon), but they also have more inventive flavors like green chile and asiago cheese. I chose one of the more adventurous ones – their Red Chile bagel made with roasted peppers. I ended up botching up the order and got Stanton a Gomez, when he actually wanted a Torta. (Whoops!)

Food

The egg & cheese runs $5.35 — which is kinda pricey for an egg & cheese in my opinion since if you just by the bagel it’s only $1.10, however when it’s delivered fresh and hot in your hands, that first bite is super satisfying. It has a little kick, as you would expect. The ooey-gooeynezz of the melted cheddar was perfect. I really loved this dish. Filling, satisfying, and in my belly minutes after ordering. SUCCESS!

Lucky for me, it turned out that Stanton really liked the Gomez, which features a fried egg, chorizo (how could you go wrong with something with chorizo), cilantro mayo, pico do gallo, and bacon horseradish cream cheese on an English muffin ($6.75). Yummy!

Verdict

The cheapskate in me was pretty excited that we spent less than $11 on a pretty tasty breakfast that featured really fresh, quality ingredients. Hi*Rise isn’t a fancy brunch experience, it’s pretty much eat and get out of there, but sometimes that’s exactly what you want. Two thumbs up!

Are you willing to break from the Brunch Mafia’s control and try this scrappy lil’ joint?

Details

Hi*Rise Bakery – 2162 Larimer Street, LoDo, Denver, CO 80205

• Decor: Industrial breakfast pit stop
• Crowd: Possibly hung over dudes and dudettes
• Recommended: Red Chile bagel with anything!

•