Rise & Shine adds whimsy to breakfast, including servers in pajamas

OK, first of all, this place is adorable.

Rise &Shine, befitting its up-and-at-’em name and nature, is filled with flowers, but they’re not on the tables. They actually are huge, umbrellalike blossoms, suspended from the ceiling on big green stems. Some rotate gently, some provide a few spots of light and some just hang there and add a whole bunch of whimsy.

But whoever did the design didn’t stop there. You know how a lot of strip-center spots — which this is — either try to ignore or embrace the exposed joists and ductwork of the ceiling? Rise &Shine camouflages that space with gathered black fabric tucked in among the joists to form a backdrop for those colorful posies. I don’t envy the person who has to dust it all, but I sure liked it.

But wait! There’s more: Around the windows are big frameworks embedded with large pieces of broken Mexican talavera pottery and tile. The gardening theme is carried through to the furniture and floors, which are sort of brownish, like the soil in a garden. And, again reflecting the name, the servers wear pajamas.

None of which would matter if the food didn’t measure up, but with this much attention to detail I had a feeling there were good things to come, and I was correct.

Rise &Shine subtitles itself “a steak and egg place,” so we’d obviously want to start there. There were a number of options (spice-rubbed rib-eye chilaquiles, chicken-fried steak, bacon-wrapped tenderloin) but we opted for the ultimate, as in The Ultimate Steak &Egg Breakfast ($13.25 for two eggs, which we chose, $13.95 for three). The 8-ounce rib-eye was thin, as we expected, but it was reasonably tender and flavorful, and a nice combination with the crispy-edged hash browns and the sunny-side-up eggs we specified. Rye toast was perfectly toasted, and we loved that the whipped butter was served on the side.

The menu promised “homemade” corned-beef hash ($10.95), and it was indeed unlike any I’ve ever had. Not that that’s a bad thing — it was really good — but the ample chunks of tender corned beef, cubes of potato and minced onion had a subtle hint of something I couldn’t immediately identify but that I eventually decided was thyme. The hash itself had been gently browned, and again the eggs — three come with this one — were perfectly done. And for the bread we opted for the pot of bread. This wasn’t an original idea but it was hot, yeasty and cinnamon-tinged and it further carried out the good-morning-sunshine theme.

French-press coffee ($4.25, and they also offer regular) isn’t something we encounter in many breakfast places but we encountered it here. Not only was it as fresh and flavorful as might have been expected, but it was accompanied by a little timer with three chambers; we picked the strength of our coffee by which timer we watched.

So, tons of attention to detail there, and it carried through to the service. A hostess greeted us the moment we entered and seated us promptly, and our server did an excellent job, dispelling two notions at once.

And they were? That Millennials are clueless slackers, and that you can’t do a professional job if you do, after all, wear your pajamas to work.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. E-mail Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com, or call 702-450-6946. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.