Town & Gown Bistro — Restaurant in West Lafayette

The Dining Divas visited Town & Gown Bistro! We can sum it up in four words: Homemade corned beef hash. Does anyone else in town make their own corned beef? It’s so tender— it practically falls apart under your fork-- and the hash is made with a slightly crispy bed of mashed potatoes! You simply must try it. Need we say more? End of article!

But since the Divas include some vegetarians and since there are other delicious menu items, here’s the long version.

Chef Matt O’Neill was born in Dublin. Cooking took him to Montreal, Chicago, Cincinnati and eventually to Indianapolis at La Tour with Wolfgang Puck. Then he moved on to Greencastle where he opened the Walden Inn on the campus of DePauw and got a taste of working for a college crowd and an addiction to flower boxes. He had 88 there! Wanting to continue that experience and finding himself unable to handle retirement, he opened The Runcible Spoon in Bloomington, a funky, eclectic, sunflower-surrounded collapsing bungalow with a menu similar to the one you’ll find at Town & Gown. He’s cooked for Pavarotti, Paul Newman, Gerald Ford, prime ministers from Canada, Israel and England and now, little old us!

Pull around the building and you’ll find yourself surrounded by hundreds of flowers tumbling out of boxes, sunflowers reaching for the sky and herbs used in the cuisine.

That’s just icing on the cake. Let’s get back to the food! The chai latte, cappuccino and latte are a great way to start the day for $3.25- $3.50. Great coffee, good foam and a skinny option that tastes fat. We were there for breakfast so Jo ordered the Tex-Mex ranchero omelet, a large fluffy omelet with salsa, sour cream, avocado, cheese, spinach and tomatoes for $7.95. “I kept thinking I should stop but it was so good, I just kept eating,” she said with a satisfied smile.

Margy had the veggie bennie with two eggs, spinach, tomato and an excellent hollandaise sauce on an English muffin. Generous portions are served on beautiful plates. She’s now a regular Town & Gown customer!

Kay’s smoked salmon & croissant bennie starts with a tender croissant, split and toasted, then covered with smoked salmon and topped with eggs and a velvety hollandaise. She declared it fabulous. The presentation was beautiful with a twist of orange on top along with paprika and a bit of parsley. The salmon is mild, hollandaise is perfect and it was enough for two. “Being on a croissant instead of an English muffin makes it better than the traditional benedict,” she said. “The croissant was crispy, flaky, yum…” and then she drifted off into a meditative moment.

But the piece de resistance is the corned beef hash. Chef Matt says the corned beef cooks oh so slowly. It’s space intensive and labor intensive which is why most people purchase already prepared corned beef. Bev has had it a dozen times and it’s consistently amazing. The basic hash is $5.60. Add two eggs on top for $2.50 and you have a sensational breakfast that will hold you over until dinner time. Jo’s husband has been on a lifetime quest for the best corned beef hash and he declares he’s found it here.

Don’t miss the bacon! It’s the good, thick stuff. And the pancake covers a plate with its light fluffiness.

We focused on breakfast but Town & Gown Bistro is open for lunch and dinner as well. They do a great job with chicken and pastas. There’s a shrimp linguini in a cream sauce but you can sub marinara if you’d like. The fresh salmon is popular and most dinners include a side of roasted vegetables. “You have to pay attention to the vegetables,” Chef Matt said. “Each one is treated equally like children in a large family. You take care of them all.” That attitude shows since each veggie is done to perfection, then tossed together before landing on your plate. There’s a full bar with really reasonable prices so it’s a fun place to stop by for a drink, too!

So, Chef, what’s your favorite menu item? “Smoked salmon on a croissant with a glass of champagne for breakfast.”...

Being new in town, I was keen to try out a brunch place and this was recommended by a friend who used to live in the area. Got here around 1pm on a Sunday (we were a group of 6 with a dog). The waitress who initially served us seemed a bit frazzled and was slightly curt. We were asked to wait for about 5 minutes before a place outside became available.

The outdoor seating is really cute, lots of flowers and has a cozy feel. It definitely gets a little toasty but I'd highly recommend it, especially as I found that when waiting inside, the cooking/greasy smell from the kitchen wafts in and sticks to your hair and clothes.

The guy who served us was very polite and friendly. They serve big, yummy cups of coffee (I loved their coffee). This is what we got: Smoked salmon and croissant bennie: The smoked salmon was great. My only issue with this dish is that they pour hollandaise sauce over it as if it's gravy. Next time I'd just get this on the side so I can moderate how much I want over it. The hollandaise sauce was pretty decent, a little less thick than what I'm used to. The croissant bennie was yummy, but by the time you get through to it, it's completely soggy from all the hollandaise sauce. Eggs were perfectly done. T&G Reuben: Big portion. This was really yummy and well done. It comes with a side of their "home fries" which appear to be roast potatoes. The potatoes were well seasoned, but quite oily.

Would I go back? Yes. I'd really like to try out their other brunch items and...

We took our son out for brunch after his 1st week on campus and he identified this place as it has a decent selection of meatless options for my wife. Conveniently, the building is essentially surrounded by parking we were able to use. They have a surprisingly decent amount of seating between the main level / patio options as well as the upstairs where they seated us. Our server Natty was very pleasant and attentive, although my wife and I shared with one another later that a little more clothing might have been preferred.

My son chose the Bonne Femme Omelet ($12.75), substituting Home Fries for the toast ($2.95). It was a large plate full of food and he said that he did like it, although he would investigate more of the menu if returning. My wife selected the Tex-Mex Omelet ($12.95), also substituting Home Fries for the toast ($2.95). She let me try some of it and it was the tastiest thing I had. I ordered the Lox Hash with scrambled eggs ($13.50), just to try something different. It was a lot of food, although it was a little salty for my taste, which was probably to be expected between the smoked salmon and the capers.

While the food tasted good, we appreciated the meatless variety on the menu, and we will most likely return, it simply seems expensive for breakfast/brunch items, which is the only reason I hold back from providing a 5th star in my rating...