606 N. Fourth Ave.,
Phoenix,
602-462-9400

I’m a sucker for everything old – historic houses, vintage cars, antique furniture, collectible dinnerware and beat up tobacco tins. The only things I don’t prefer old are men, but as I begin to look more and more like an antique myself, I find I have less and less choice in the matter. It’s a problem. But I digress.

Palatte (a conflation of palate and palette) is plenty old – an historic house, circa 1914, converted to a breakfast and lunch restaurant, replete with vintage tables and chairs, a shabby chic gift shop and a deep, old-fashioned porch. I know it sounds like a hangout for girlie-girls, but plenty of menfolk show up too, particularly for breakfast, which is served all day.

And from what I’ve sampled, breakfast is the best reason to go. The menus, stored near the door in a piece of antique printing equipment, concentrate on that all-important first meal of the day, offering Mishmashes (eggs scrambled with various and sundry ingredients), pancakes, fancy French toast and a handful of “Not Terribly Typical” eye-openers such as cranberry-citrus granola (house-made with pepitas, cashews, blood orange and spice) and Irish steel-cut oatmeal with Tahitian vanilla and caramelized bananas. Every single thing sounds good to me.

So far, I’ve had The Potato (a scramble of bacon, spinach, caramelized sweet onion, Gouda and Monterey jack, $9), which was nice, and The Egg (fried eggs served with bacon, garlic chives, roasted grape tomatoes and house-made crème fraiche on a square of flakey puff pastry, $9) – so simple and good I was tempted to lick the plate.

Roasted sweet potato pancakes came topped with spiced mascarpone and a sprinkle of toasted pecans. I would’ve loved them unconditionally had they been thoroughly cooked and not ever so slightly oozy in the middle ($8). Apple fritter French toast, which my friend likened to a doughnut, might as well have been dessert, strewn with honey-roasted apples, vanilla cream and pistachio praline ($8). Next time, I’ll try The Prosciutto with caramelized Belgian endive, apples, double-cream Brie and puff pastry ($9), which doesn’t sound like breakfast, but who cares?

Lunch wasn’t half as successful. The bacon-accented, caramelized onion tart was too much of a good thing (namely, onions $9) while the beef sandwich (slow-braised, grass-fed beef with mashed white beans and olive gremolata on foccacia, ($9) was too dry (the sandwich, not the meat) to win me over. Then again, the woman at a neighboring table absolutely loved them both, so go figure.

The coffee could be better. Ditto for the tamarind-rose lemonade. And the chilled Brussels sprouts that sounded so terrific, jazzed up with cranberries, sliced almonds, bacon and shaved Manchego, tasted bitter. But I loved a moist ginger scone, studded with slivers of real ginger as well as a round, chewy molasses cookie. Who knows if you’ll find them though? Sweets change up every day.

Palatte isn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but the atmosphere is charming, the menu is interesting and nothing costs more than $9. Add in abundant outdoor seating, and you’ve got yourself a pretty palatable situation.

Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.