Stella's Of Middle Street

This morning we traipsed down the street and around the corner to Stella's! This breakfast & lunch spot in Newburyport is not easy to find, we only happened to come across it during an exploratory walk through the neighborhood parts of town. If you're driving in, expect to park on the street.

Stella's is an order-at-the-counter resteraunt. When you come in, you grab a table and review the menu written out on chalkboards behind the counter. There's a whiteboard off the side with specials, and baked goods in cases and baskets up front. When you decide what you want, you go up to the register and place your order!

At 9am on a Monday, the place was occupied only by us, an old man sitting in the corner, and a young family with a little girl. Sinatra and fifties doo-wop came quietly from somewhere in a back corner. Our server was quite friendly, she brought us menus and explained the ordering system to us. If it were busy I suspect we wouldn't have gotten the menus, or the advice. 

The decor ranged from a pig theme up at the counter, to Floridian beach ideas hanging from the lamps, fake bugs in all the plants, and modern art paintings on a far wall.

The whole mishmash effect was, I thought, very charming. It's an old building with exposed piping, wood floors, and beautiful copper details on the walls and ceiling. All the handwritten signs just add to the adorableness, and it was very very clean.

First we ordered the fruit bowl.

This is missing one cherry, but for $2.95 I probably wouldn't recommend it.

Tim got the Stella Frittata: eggs with homemade corn beef hash, cheddar cheese, a tomato slice on top and whole wheat bread and home fries. I stuck with simple blueberry pancakes, and paid $2.00 extra to get the pure maple syrup. 

These were delicious, and we both had leftovers to take home. My pancakes were light and fluffy, without that weird box-mix taste that Bisquik or Aunt Jemima provides. Not to mention- wild blueberries! Yum! (note the maple syrup in the corner- if you are a pancake drowner, plan accordingly!)

The frittata was rich, with the hash being the strongest flavor. Crispy but not burnt, nor dry on the inside. The home fries did NOT have onions mixed in, which is a plus in my department, some of you may be of the opposite opinion! 

I'd give Stella's an 8 overall. Our meals were perfect, but the fruit bowl was sort of a pathetic little thing. For the amount they gave us, the price was pretty fair. As cute as the random decor is, they could probably make it more cohesive and therefore more visually pleasing. (I liked the pigs best.) Tim got free coffee refills, and aside from that, I'd tell Stella to clean the front windows- the outside glass was pretty dusty!

Stella's of Middle Street
Newburyport MA
Two Meals, One Appetizer
One Coffee

$16.95