Gus Melios, one of the four owners of Melios Bros. Char Bar on Greenville Ave. was recently quoted as saying, “I cook the best breakfast in Dallas.”
I heartily agree with that statement. I have been enjoying the “breakfast special” of two eggs (any style), choice of meat, hash browns, buttered toast and a slice of tomato in the little Swiss-style chalet on Lowest Greenville ever since I moved into the neighborhood 25 years ago.
The interior of the restaurant is a typical diner. Booths line the windows and tables fill the center floor. A jukebox is stationed at the front wall and the food is cooked in the “open-to-view kitchen” on the back wall.
The restaurant serves typical “no frills” diner food like breakfasts of eggs, bacon and pancakes; burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and blue plate specials like chicken fried steak or T-bones and fries.
Char Bar is a family café that caters to regulars. My grandson Jake, now age 20, grew up with a Saturday morning breakfast treat of Melios pancakes.
The Melios Brothers, Tom, Alex, Gus and Mike opened the diner in 1973.
”We were the only restaurant down here,” Gus recalled
That is hard to imagine when today both sides of Lowest Greenville are fronted with eateries of every kind. It is also hard to imagine that back then the breakfast special only cost $.99. The price slowly crept up to $1.25 and on to the current price of $6.25.
It’s still a deal! The bacon is always crisp and as far as I’m concerned, when it comes to eggs, the brothers are “eggsperts” at cooking them.
Although an unofficial poll of local cafés known for serving breakfast, scrambled and over easy seem to run neck to neck in popularity when asked, “How would you like your eggs cooked?’ My personal preference is over easy and I think no one does it better than Melios Bros.
In a perfectly cooked over easy egg, the white is thoroughly done and opaque, but the yolk remains soft and runny. Timing is everything.
“One minute on each side,” Gus said.
He also suggested that I visit the restaurant during breakfast hours for a lesson in cooking the egg to over easy perfection.
Alex was at the stove when I arrived at the restaurant and I watched as he cracked the eggs with one hand and flipped them without a spatula, just like the pro that he is when it comes to cooking eggs.
“I’ve been cooking them for 45 years,” Alex said. He also confirmed, “One minute each side” just as Gus had told me for a perfect “over easy” yolk.
“Scrambled and over easy are the top requests,” said Tommy. “But some people like their eggs over medium or over hard,” he added.
At 9 a.m. on Thursday the breakfast special was selling like hot cakes.
Dallas Police Department Officer Daniel Camacho said that his trainer on the Dallas Police force had brought him to the restaurant a decade ago and he has been coming ever since. What keeps him coming back?
“Good food and fair prices,” Camacho said.
Juanita Aguirra was having breakfast with her daughter Rosanella and friend Nora Santano. My mother has been coming since the restaurant opened in the 1970s and comes for breakfast several times a week.
Lakewood resident Keith Carter said that he has been coming to Char Bar since 1980.
“I like the way they cook their bacon and eggs and I like the atmosphere,” Carter said. “There are other places to go, but I like it here,” he added.
I noticed that the eggs on Carter’s breakfast special were “over easy.”
Melios Bros. Char Bar is located at 2026 Greenville Ave. across the street from Trader Joe’s. The restaurant opens at 5:45 a.m. and closes at 9:30 p.m. except on Sunday when it opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. Bring cash as the restaurant does not take credit cards.
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