Let's Eat: Crackers and Company Cafe offers variety

"My wife Veronika is the culinary genius behind Crackers and Company Cafe," owner Steve Luko said. "To this day she's trying to teach me how to boil water and I still burn it."

Steve and Veronica Luko started Crackers and Company Cafe in 1984 in Mesa. Since then, they have expanded their business many times over and, last month, opened their third location at 1285 E. Elliot Road in Tempe.

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Although the restaurant's first location was in Mesa, the Lukos are actually former Ahwatukee Foothills residents.

"When we lived in Ahwatukee, the restaurants that we're in the shopping centers didn't exist - it was all desert," Steve Luko said. "A lot of things have changed."

Luko said when they started in the restaurant business, they didn't know much about it and were, therefore, very "green." He said they didn't realize there were companies in place to help with preparation, and thought that restaurants had to come up with original recipes. But, by the time they figured it out, Luko said it was too late.

"Because we started from scratch, that's all we knew," Luko said, "so we just continued to do that."

Crackers and Company Cafe offers about five or six homemade soups every day, with the most popular being its spicy chicken tortilla soup. Their most popular salad is the pecan honey dijon salad, most popular sandwich is a poblano chicken melt, and the most popular burger is the aptly named Steve's bacon cheeseburger, which Luko said was named after him because it was his favorite.

However, their No. 1 selling item, Luko said, is their blackberry cinnamon bread pudding. Luko said it has been made available throughout AJ's Fine Foods bakeries as well.

For breakfast, Luko said they offer "everything from the traditional breakfast on up." Crackers and Company Cafe has omelettes, eggs benedict, huevos rancheros, breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, award-winning cinnamon swirl French toast, buttermilk pancakes, waffles, blintzes, crepes, cinnamon rolls and muffins.

For the health-conscious or for those still trying to stick to their New Year's resolutions, the cafe also offers cholesterol-free scrambled eggs made with spinach and broccoli, fruit platters, parfaits, cream of wheat and hot oatmeal.

Although the restaurant's operating hours are from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Lukos also offer catering and will open the restaurant at night for large groups or corporate parties. The Tempe location also boasts a large patio with a fireplace, is in the process of applying for a liquor license, and is the first to install flat-screen TVs for sports fans who like to watch sports during breakfast and lunch.

For more information, visit www.crackersandcompanycafe.com or call (480) 705-7900.

"We're a good place for breakfast or lunch," Luko said. "That's what we specialize in, so we're pretty good at it."