Bread & Butter serving up dishes greater than sum of their parts

It helped that a woman seated at a nearby table clearly felt sorry for me.

"Is that your first one?" she asked, a sympathetic expression on her face, before relating the first-time experience of a visiting friend.

The subject at hand wasn't what you're thinking - or may be thinking; heck if I know - but a Country Ham & Egg Waffle Sandwich ($9.50) at Bread & Butter, a bakery-cafe in Henderson. And there's a reason for the capitals and the sympathy: This was one heck of a dish, in size and execution.

Size, first, because that's obviously the first aspect I encountered. Waffle sandwiches, which aren't exactly common, can take any of a bunch of different forms, and I guess I expected a waffle sort of folded over, with the filling stuffed inside. Instead, it was two large, square waffles; piled in between were a mountain of fluffy scrambled eggs, a generous portion of ham and some melted cheddar, with bechamel sauce ladled over it all and a few twists of ground pepper on top.

As for the execution: First, I impressed that the delicate waffles were up to the challenge of withstanding the burden of the rest of the ingredients. No, I don't mean I could pick it up; this is of course a fork-and-knife sandwich. But the waffles didn't get so soggy as to disappear, and what made this dish so very successful was not only the obvious quality of the components but also the fact that they worked both together and separately.

Oh, and the bechamel sauce. Not exactly an uncommon thing, that, but this one was truly special. Yes, we could taste the rosemary promised by the menu, but there was much more to it than that. I couldn't pin down the elusive, ethereal quality, but I'd probably eat just about anything if this bechamel was on it, with the exception of Honey Boo Boo's mother's "spaghetti sauce."

The friendly and enthusiastic young woman at the register heartily recommended the flatbread of the day ($8.50), which was topped with chunks of potato, asparagus and a creamy sauce that seemed different from the aforementioned bechamel. A sunny-side-up egg was perched on top and truffle oil drizzled over it all. Again, it was just fantastic. The idea of a dish that's greater than the sum of its parts has become cliche in some circles, but both of these really exemplified that idea.

As I mentioned the woman at the register you've probably guessed that Bread & Butter is a counter-service spot, and indeed it is. It's decorated fairly simply, with wooden tables and chairs and a big ironwork bench along one wall. The biggest draw, though, is probably the bakery case, where doughnuts and muffins and whoopie pies and sticky buns and cinnamon rolls and pretzel rolls and much, much, more vie for attention like Arnold Horshack in Mr. Kotter's classroom.

But as wouldn't be the case with Arnold, we were happy to take some home with us.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or hrinella@reviewjournal.com.