Spot Check

by Elisa Ludwig

In a city of lunch trucks, it can seem needlessly excessive to buy breakfast or lunch from a stationary bricks-and-mortar restaurant. Why pay for a restaurant's real estate when you can get a slightly older bagel and slightly more acidic coffee for half as much? Thankfully, at Lil' Spot, the tiny storefront at Drury and Juniper from the good people who brought you Blue in Green, these are mathematical calculations you never have to make.

Lil' Spot is like a glorified food truck that trades in the elbows-in-ice, dive-for-your-own-soda cooler for a regular old refrigerator and the waxy factory Danishes for freshly made. There are no quilted steel walls, here — just the flat, brushed kind, with a little leopard-skin print and a few sassy red lighting fixtures thrown in for emphasis. Unlike a lunch truck, the coffee is actually good, and there are also cappuccinos and espressos. Like Blue in Green, Lil' Spot elevates ordinarily mundane daytime meals with high-quality ingredients and just enough style. In these no-frills dishes (primarily limited to one- and two-word descriptions on the mounted menu) simplicity is the secret ingredient: Smoky ham and creamy Brie on a minibaguette are adorned only with crisp lettuce and ripe tomato. An egg sandwich with spinach is seasoned perfectly, the greens surprisingly firm and flavorful.

A glass case displays the Spot's homemade baked goods, of which the crowning glory are the doughnuts. Again, these are your basic flavors — chocolate and vanilla frosting, jelly-filled, powdered-sugar-dusted. In the Juniper-side window, brightly sprinkled and plain caramel-colored doughnuts of miniature proportions spin in a rotating display. The surprise is what a fresh doughnut tastes like when it doesn't come off an assembly line. There's none of the ashy flavor of Dunkin' Donuts; none of the airy sponge quality of Krispy Kreme.

Pancakes, made in front of you on the grill, are alone worth the trip. The strawberry and chocolate chip pancakes were each so good individually, one can only imagine the culinary bliss of a combo. The Spot also serves salads, soups and sandwiches, plus cookies, biscotti and muffins.

With only one wobbly table on site, this is a place for people who have better things to do than sit around in a restaurant all day, but since neither my friend nor I work in an office we felt a little ashamed about our desire to hang out at Lil' Spot. Since then, we've been coming up with excuses to go back, inventing a make-believe office with characters who might need us to pick up an extra Danish or two. I'm pretty sure John in sales would appreciate the pancakes.

Lil' Spot Juniper and Drury sts., 215-828-6435 Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Breakfast, $2-$2.50; Lunch, $3-$5.50 Wheelchair accessible. Smoking is permitted. Cash only.