Angie Andahl was gleefully clutching a bag of freeze-dried corn when I connected with her.
“Nobody at work has had the corn cookies yet, so I’m bubbling over with eager anticipation.” She said without a hint of sarcasm or irony. “How can I be stressed when I have five pounds of freeze-dried corn?”
She could be stressed. The single mother of one is co-owner and chef at Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, which recently celebrated its first anniversary after opening an expanded location at Countryside Village. Her energy is sacred, and everything she deems worthy of doing is done with curiosity and care.
“That’s really what makes (SCBC) special, the consistency and the details,” she said. “We put so much into our value-added services, that’s really where the majority of my time is spent. I always home-make berry jams and lemon curd, and they’re always available on request.”
Andahl also makes a selection of jams from fruits available seasonally, and the establishment’s signature vanilla paste that accompanies the pancakes and French toast. When she emerged from the kitchen to meet me, she was subtly sparkling (perhaps from the pink marshmallows she had just been concocting in the room that doubles as her mad science lab.) Andahl is an absolute nerd about ingredients, and spent hours over a two-week period messaging me the tiny details included in every menu item. Candied lemon zest. Coconut whip. Kimchee Aioli.
The details aren’t exclusively menu-related, and she excitedly mentioned something she appreciates about every member of the tightly-knit staff, as well.
“That’s Brynne, our incredible operations manager,” she said, gesturing toward a woman on a mission striding behind the establishment’s bar. “I love the way we work together. I get to partner with her on fun syrups and garnishes. five-year-old Angie would be pretty pleased to know that 43 years old Angie is making bubble gum syrup and lemon curd for a living.”
Her co-owner, Chase Thomsen, quietly disappeared into the kitchen. I asked if he wanted to grab a picture today and she grinned. “He’s not here today.”
Andahl met Thomsen briefly at a party in 2007, but didn’t connect again until 2012 when Andahl was attending an interview at Taxi’s, where Thomsen was serving as the head chef.
“I was in culinary school full-time, as well as my full-time accounting job.” Andahl said. “I was trying to get a part-time job in a kitchen, kind of dipping my toe into the industry before I fully committed. I was having a lot of trouble getting hired though, because I was a 30-year-old woman with zero cooking experience. A friend of mine was working for Chase at Taxi’s and told him he had to at least interview me because I was about to take a job at Ruby Tuesdays.”
Paying your dues in the culinary community can be a humbling experience, but Andahl was just looking for someone to make the checks out to. She hadn’t guessed that her decision to hold out for a more challenging position in a more creative environment was going to lead her down a winding road to restaurant co-ownership.
“I’m still not sure if he saw something in me at first or was just throwing me a bone, but I had a lot of natural talent, and it worked out great,” Andahl said. “He threw me on sauté, then our third line cook left for an internship in Peru. Chase and I had to run the line for every dinner service that whole time. What’s that phrase? Baptism by fire or something? It was scary, but a great way to learn.”
As is the way in kitchen culture, turnover happens quickly and frequently, and both Andahl and Thomsen eventually moved on from their positions at Taxi’s. Andahl took a tour of Omaha’s culinary scene and spent time cooking for Guckenheimer at the UP building, helped open Salt 88 as a lead line cook, worked prep at Plank, became the dessert chef at Taxi’s, served as the opening pastry chef at Market House and moved on to a position as pastry chef at Modern Love before taking a break in 2016 to bake up an even sweeter confection; her now 8-year-old.
“Chase recruited me at every restaurant he moved to, and he wanted me to come on board when he first opened Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, but I had just had my baby and wasn’t ready to go back to work yet.” Andahl said.
Six months after the initial invitation to join the team, Andahl and Thomsen ran into each other again, with the latter extending an offer to join the team part-time to realize SCBC’s vegan menu. The space was limited, but with Covid hindering the establishment’s ability to source ingredients and seat clients, small spaces were the smallest of worries. But as the establishment’s popularity grew, restrictions fell off, and inventory became more accessible, Thomsen started dreaming bigger, and proposed to bring Andahl’s creativity and deep reverence into the expanded vision of SCBC at Countryside Village, this time as co-owner.
As I waited for a table to open, I indulged in the bright pink hues and glamorous portraits adorning the wall and listening to the din of my fellow patrons chatting in the spacious dining area. I asked Andahl if it was common for the restaurant to be this busy at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday and she laughed. “It’s always this busy.”
What I think of the food is hardly material – But my daughter, who confiscated my lemon-berry pancake, indicated that it was worth fighting her mom over. My co-diners were between the ages of 8 months and 12 years, and each found something on the menu that delighted them.
A sunny-side up Cali Club pleased my 10-year old’s palate, and he swears the restaurant must have a secret avocado tree, because he’d never tasted one so fresh. He said the egg tasted like an egg, but with the volume turned way up, and the Le Quartier croissant was crispy, flaky, and perfect. My 12-year-old struggles with textures, but felt safe challenging himself with a ham and egg and hollandaise. The bite he shared with me was enough to explain why I only got a single bite, and the hollandaise was rich and cool against the salty bite of crisp pork.
Let’s face it, SCBC doesn’t need anyone’s review to convince people to wait patiently for a table. What I will ask is that you take the time to truly engage with the thoughtful touches, from the garnishes on your cocktail to the staff engagement, that make this place truly special.