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Take some time for breakfast at The Vineyard

Along with a wide variety of omelets, The Vineyard s menu has some Greek influence, including gyros for $4.75. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Jason Plotkin)

Cheap Eats was overdue for a breakfast excursion.

Why? Well, I could dispense platitudes about the nutritional importance of breakfast blah, blah, blah. Or drum up statistics about how much more productive people who eat breakfast are.

But really it just came down to this: Sometimes, you just want to get some eggs.

And looking back in the archives, Cheap Eats hasn't often featured breakfast.

At The Vineyard - on the square downtown - omelets are the specialty, I was told.

So I headed there on a raw, snowy morning. In most cases, I would have walked from my apartment, but instead, I struggled to find a parking space.

Owner Lambros Alexopoulos did not surprise me when he said most customers are downtown office workers.

I've walked past The Vineyard countless times without ever stepping inside. I found the interior different from what I expected.

The outside suggests a café-delicatessen. But it's actually more of a short-order, homestyle feel.

I placed an order for a garden omelet with cheddar cheese and took a seat. The service seemed just a tad off-kilter, but that didn't cause any major issues.

In a few short minutes, I received a heaping plate with breakfast potatoes and whole wheat toast.

The omelet was of the generous three-jumbo-egg variety, loaded with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and peppers.

"It's hearty," said Alexopoulos of his omelets. "It really takes (people) into the day. For $5 to $6, a lot of people, it covers them until lunch, too."

When it comes to omelet making, I am a proponent of folding the scrambled egg over the ingredient.

In this case, they were tossed into the uncooked egg.

I still found the taste quite pleasing, although I would not have cooked the tomatoes as long as the other ingredients.

The Vineyard has a nice selection of omelets, too: the classic western, a tomato and feta cheese and an intriguing combo of tomato, feta and gyro meat, among others.

Of course, The Vineyard also offers the typical lunch fare, much of it has Greek influence, such as Greek salads.

I would be curious to compare its lunch to the breakfast.

After cleaning my plate, I headed back into the cold sure of one thing.

Alexopoulos was right about being full. I didn't eat lunch until 3 p.m.

Cheap Eats profiles local restaurants with meals for less than $10. Suggestions are welcome. Reach Wade Malcolm at 771-2101, wmalcolm@ydr.com or on Twitter @YDRCheapEats.