Our dear friend Charlotte was back in town for a holiday after moving abroad last summer, and she suggested we have brunch at Cafe Bliss, a little breakfast and lunch place in Belmont. It was a nice, relaxing place to have a bite in a quiet Sunday.
I had the creamy chicken crepe ($18), which comes with a choice of home potatoes or salad. I liked the salad, but I really loved the crepe. It comes with chicken, mushrooms, onions and jack cheese and is served with a wine creamy sauce. The sauce, of course, is what makes it. The only problem was that I was still a bit hungry afterwards, though I probably wouldn’t have been if I’d chosen potatoes instead of a salad. Still, given the price, I think the portion should have been larger.
Mike had the Pacific scramble ($18) which comes with smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, dill and lemon zest. It came with home potatoes and toast. He was happy with it, but not more than one would expect.
Charlotte had the Bliss omelette ($18) which comes with bacon, avocado, jack cheese, bell peppers and caramelized onions and she was also happy with it.
Service was professional and it was overall a pleasant experience.
Cafe Bliss 2039 Ralston Ave Belmont, CA (650) 595-1520 W-M 8 AM - 2 PM
This chain sandwich store seems to have downgraded the quality of its sandwiches.
I discovered Panera during the pandemic, when I was looking for restaurants that offered family meals. I had heard, of course, of Panera before, but never felt compelled to try it. We had it several times during the pandemic, and I became a fan of their tomato soup and their steak and horseradish sandwiches. Still, after a while I forgot about it altogether until last week, when I got an e-mail with a free birthday pastry offer from them, and then saw them in the news for their literally killer drinks. So I got a craving and, after three years, I decided to order another family deal.
Panera has changed a bit since I last ordered. It still serves sandwiches, pastries, salads and soups, but the sandwiches themselves have changed. The prices have sort of increased as well, but it’s the quality going down that is the real problem.
Like in the past, I ordered a family deal. It’s now $36, up 24% from what it cost in 2021. It comes with 4 half-sandwiches, a salad, a quart of soup and a baguette. Pannera no longer has my favorite steak with horseradish sandwich, and instead they now sell a ciabatta cheesesteak ($15) that comes in a ciabatta roll and is served with Provolone cheese, caramelized onions, peppadew peppers and garlic aioli. Ciabatta is a very substantial roll which calls for a lot of filling for balance. This sandwich lacked it, which meant that the overall result was just too bready. Both the onions and the peppadews are served chopped and there were so many of the latter that they overwhelmed the sandwich, I could barely taste anything else. In all, I don’t think I’d order this sandwich again.
I liked the bacon avocado melt ($11) more, and it was probably my favorite of the four sandwiches I tried. It was also the one with the thinnest bread. The sandwich was very simple, but very tasty. It had bacon bits, melted cheddar and sliced avocado. It comes in sliced sourdough bread with chipotle aioli. It needed more avocado, but it was actually quite tasty.
The smokehouse BBQ chicken ($12) was just OK. The chicken itself had no flavor, so the sandwich tasted only of red onions and BBQ sauce. I liked the sauce well enough, but not enough to order it again. this sandwich also came in a ciabatta roll, and there wasn’t enough filling to balance all that bread.
Finally, we had the chicken bacon rancher ($14), which comes with pulled chicken, bacon bits, white cheddar and ranch sauce in a black pepper focaccia roll. The focaccia was good, but it really overwhelmed the filling. The chicken, again, was under-seasoned and while the bacon was able to carry the sandwich through, it wasn’t that exciting. I also wouldn’t order it again.
The tomato soup ($9.50 bowl/$26 quart) was just as good as I remember – but really not significantly better than the packaged Panera soup that you can get at the supermarket. Given that it’s just $10-12 for the 32-oz package at Safeway, it doesn’t seem worth it to get it at the restaurant (unless it’s part of a family deal as in this case). The baguette ($2.20) with a crunchy, hard exterior and a very chewy middle, is quite good.
Finally, both my husband and daughter really liked the Caesar Salad ($10.40). The vegetables are fresh and crisp and there is enough dressing to cover them all. In the past, the family meal included the more expensive chicken Caesar salad, but as my daughter prefers it without chicken, we are actually happy that they’ve removed it.
I might try the family deal again, but I’d probably try other sandwiches to see if any are substantially better.
I also got a cinnamon roll ($4.60) as dessert, given that I had a free pastry coupon. It was the end of the day, so it was hard, but after microwaving it, it loosened. It was quite tasty.
*Update*
A couple of days after this meal, Panera got me again by sending me a couple of big “rewards”. One gave me 50% off a single entree and the other gave me a free drink, treat or cup of soup with a $10 purchase. Of course, the two could not be combined – only one reward per purchase. But Panera still had its “get 15% off gift cards” promo, so I got that as an additional discount. In all, I spent $21 to get 2 sandwiches and a cup of food, which isn’t bad but not super great either.
For my sandwich, I started with the bacon avocado melt ($11) but I got it in focaccia bread, and added tomatoes and caramelized onions. The results were great. I liked it better than the original.
For my freebie, I got a cup of the French onion soup ($7.60), which comes with a piece of bread, a bag of chips or an apple – though they gave me both the bread and the chips. The soup was actually pretty good, it had a nice caramelized onion flavor which was deep but not too bitter. It did need more cheese. I would have added more, but I then would have had to warm the soup – which was barely warm by the time it got home. Still, it was quite satisfactory. In all, half a sandwich plus the soup was a satisfactory meal and left me stuffed, and considering that I have the other half of the sandwich for later, it was a great deal – but only because of the promo. I did read that promos become much more stingy the more you go to Panera, so this will probably be my last time.
I also use the 50% off promo (in a separate purchase) to get a ciabatta cheesesteak for my daughter and her boyfriend. I doubled the meat (and should have doubled the extra lettuce) and half a sandwich was sufficient for each one of them for a mid-afternoon snack. The discount didn’t apply to the extra meat, only to the original price of the sandwich.
While you can make up to five customizations on sandwiches you order by themselves, you can’t customize them in the family meal. So I think I will order Panera again if I get good coupons, but not otherwise.
Panera 24133 Southland Dr Hayward, CA (510) 732-0279 M-SU 7 AM - 8 PM
On our way back from Texas, we stopped in Natchitoches (pronounced like “knock a dish”) for the night. Established in 1714, Natchitoches is Louisiana’s oldest settlement. Located by the Red River, it was a prosperous city in the early 19th century, was almost burnt during the Civil War and saw significant decline during the 20th century. But in the 1970’s, a visionary mayor saw its potential as a tourist destination, both as a base for water related activities and for touring nearby plantations. This led to a massive renovation of old buildings which were turned into bed and breakfasts. Today, Natchitoches has about 18,000 citizens and 50 B&Bs!
Natchitoches appeals to local tourism, so its buzzing from Thursdays to Sundays and sleepy from Mondays to Wednesdays. We got there on a Monday night, and thus we had our choice of B&Bs. I chose the Judge Porter House because I liked the looks of the building with its second floor veranda.
The house and the room were beautiful, and I hope to write a review of them, but this is a review of the breakfast we had there – a two course affair served at the dining room.
Breakfast was at individual tables for two. That day we were one of two parties staying in the house. It’s at 8:00 AM sharp. The housekeeper/cook brings the food to you.
The tables were beautifully laid out, and the juice was some non-alcoholic cocktail which I found pleasant, but not compelling. The coffee was quite good.
The first course was a delicious raspberry croissant bread pudding. I love the idea of making bread pudding with croissants, and I might try it myself once I go back to cooking. It was served warm and was a great start to breakfast.
The second course consisted of eggs benedict with cheesy grits. Mike enjoyed the eggs very much, both his and mine and I don’t eat eggs. I thought the grits were fine, but while I like grits more than Mike does, I am not that big a fan of them.
The housekeeper/cook/waitress, whose name I can’t remember, a Boston transplant, was delightful. She was very personable, friendly and just amenable, in addition to a great cook. She made our brief stay and breakfast even better.
New Orleans is famous many dishes, with savory and sweet, but among the latter beignets reign supreme – at least, among tourists. I can only imagine that it’s the fun of eating a pastry that is guaranteed to cover you and everything around you with powdered sugar that makes them so appealing. And fun they are, even if they otherwise were rather disappointing.
Among the establishments serving beignets in the French Quarter, the two most prominent ones are Cafe du Monde, which has been selling beignets since 1862, and Café Beignet, a mere 30 year old restaurant which makes up for its youth by having actually four different branches in the city. We visited the one on Decatur St. for breakfast our first morning in New Orleans, though we twice stopped at the one on Bourbon Street to rest our feet and listen to some live Jazz. The garden at the latter site is glorious.
The Café Beignet branch on Decatur Street has a fun dining room, somewhat evocative of la Belle Époque. The wooden bar is beautiful. Outdoors, there are only a couple of tables on the sidewalk by the restaurant. It’s not particularly picturesque, but it allows you to people watch as you eat.
You order at the counter, and food is brought to your table. The menu consists of omelettes, sandwiches, breakfast items and Creole specialties like jambalaya and crawfish etouffee. And, of course, beignets and other pastries. They have a bunch of coffee dishes, but not fresh orange juice.
I’m not a breakfast eater myself, so I ordered the beignets ($4.50 for 3). These were relatively large squares of fried dough covered with powdered sugar. As the powdered sugar is the same everywhere, it was all about the fried dough. And this fried dough was not great. It was dense and chewy and not particularly flavorful on its own (thus the need for powdered sugar). Basically, they were heavy – and the last thing you want in the morning is a heavy piece of fried dough. I ate a beignet and sort of nibbled on the second one. Mike took a bite, and was done.
Apparently, the problem with New Orleans beignets is that they are made from a leavened dough instead of the choux pastry used in France. The latter makes them far lighter and enjoyable.
Mike ordered the Andouille sausage omelette ($12), which came with grits and a slice of French bread. Miked liked it. The sausage was very tasty, spicy and flavorful, and it was well mixed with the omelette. The omelette was on the small side, but it wasn’t very expensive. The grits and herbed toasted bread was a disconcerting choice – Mike would have preferred a biscuit.
Café Beignet 600 Decatur Street New Orleans, Louisiana M-Th 8am-6pm F-Su 8am-8pm
The other night I had a craving for a burger, which had me thinking: where can I get the best burger in San Leandro? We are not a city known for burgers. There are lots and lots of places to have burgers here, to be clear, but none that are particularly noteworthy. Still, I haven’t visited many of those places for years and I thought trying the different burgers available in San Leandro might be a fun project for the upcoming year (or two). I had planned to start with Rocky’s Charcoal Grill – a place beloved by many in San Leandro. I have not liked their burgers in the past, but it’s been fourteen years since my last visit, so they may have changed. My old review is definitely ready for an update. Alas, Rocky’s wasn’t open (it was a Sunday) and Nation’s is very close by, so Mike went there instead.
I like Nation’s burgers. As far as fast food burgers go, they have always been my “default” for over three decades – though they now share this “honor” with Habit Burger. At 1/3 lbs, the burgers are fairly large, they ooze with American cheese and they are very generous with veggies and toppings – though I always get mine with just tomatoes, while Mike prefers his with lettuce and onions. The burgers are smothered in mayo, probably enough to cause a heart attack to someone with cardiac issues. For this reason, I feel that they mostly taste of mayo and American cheese, though enough to not really be able to forgo it. But I like them. If I had to grade them – and I do, because this is a project about finding the best burger, I’d give them 8/10 as far as “fast food burgers” go, and a 5/10 as far as all burgers go. Indeed, I will make Nation’s my standard for an average burger, and grade others accordingly.
In addition to burgers, Nation is known for its pies. These are of a similar quality to their burgers: enjoyable. On this occasion we got the blueberry pie which was on season, and we liked it.
Nation also has breakfast items, which also are totally fine as far as a fast food place goes.
La Grande Boucherie had the fortune of being located about half way between our hotel and the Museum of Modern Art, the first stop in our NYC itinerary. I usually don’t eat breakfast – and that Monday morning was no exception – but I figured my husband might want something solid before tackling the museum. Given how long we spent checking out the exhibits, this was a good call.
La Grande Boucherie serves breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch and dinner in an attractive art nouveau setting that immediately made me feel as if I was in the NYC of yore. The stained glass ceilings were gorgeous, as were the ceramic floors, the central bar was impressive and while the dining rooms, located at both sides of the bar, were more austere, they made me feel very much at home. The Paris, New York City and Buenos Aires of the early 20th century were, perhaps, more similar than not.
Perhaps the prettiest room in the restaurant is its outdoors, covered patio, open to a pedestrian passageway – “6 1/2 Avenue”- that connects W 53rd from W54th streets. That patio is filled with potted plants – you can see them on the bar mirror in the picture above – and was quite enticing, though closed that cold February morning.
The breakfast menu at La Grande Boucherie was, surprisingly, brief. It included several egg dishes, a few sandwiches and a nice variety of coffees, teas and breakfast cocktails, but not very many sweet dishes. It was just as well, as I wasn’t particularly hungry. I enjoyed a couple of pretty average cappuccinos ($6) and an also pretty-average almond croissant ($6), while my husband had the omelette au jambon & gruyère ($30)
The omelet was definitely not as fluffy as we had expected based on the reviews – but it was just as good. It turns out that gruyere and good quality ham make a huge difference as far as taste goes. My husband thoroughly enjoyed it. The potatoes were OK, good but nothing to write home about.
Service was competent and friendly. In all, we enjoyed out time there.
La Grande Boucherie
145 W 53rd St.
New York City
+1 (212) 510 7714
Monday – Friday 08:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Saturday – Sunday 10:00 AM - 12:00 AM
A’s Cafe opened where Blossom and several other Chinese restaurants used to be. It’s still a Chinese restaurant for lunch (I think it’s closed for dinner), but they now serve American breakfast. That’s what we went for a few weeks ago. My family left satisfied, I was less than impressed.
Let’s be honest here, if what you want is plain breakfast food – plain pancakes, omelets or eggs, and hashbrowns, A’s Cafe won’t disappoint. They do the basics well but that’s all they do, the basics.
If you want something more in your pancakes – some blueberries? chocolate chips? bananas? -, a crepe or some other fancy breakfast concoction, then A’s Cafe is not for you.
So it’s not the place for me.
We all had some combination of pancakes, eggs and breakfast meats. They were fine, not exciting. I had a hot chocolate, same thing. I wouldn’t go back because if I go out for breakfast, I want something special, but I’m sure the rest of my family would.
Four Seasons Cafe & Deli is the latest incarnation of the cafe and sandwich bar that was once Mr. Bagel and, before that, Planet Coffee. The cafe has been remodeled a little bit and the menu has been updated. The Middle Eastern owners, for example, have replaced the Vietnamese sandwiches with me Middle Eastern equivalents. You can order chicken, lamb, falafel or hummus plates for $8, lamb or chicken shawarmas, falafel, chicken or turkey wraps and traditional sandwiches for about $6. Vegetarians will have plenty to chose from, including a Mediterranean veggie sandwich that comes with fresh mozarella, Kalamata olives, spinach, tomatoes, red pepper pesto and balsamic vinaigrette on toasted focaccia. I haven’t had it, but it sure sounds good 🙂
What I did have was the lamb shawarma. It was good without being extraordinary. Pretty much what you would expect a lamb shawarma to be. The portion was pretty large, in particular considering the $6 price. I’d have it again.
Four Seasons also offers breakfast bagel and croissant sandwiches, fresh orange and carrot juice and your basic coffeeshop drinks. I had their coffee once and it was pretty good, but I’m not demanding coffee wise.
The new menu seems to have quite a few fans, in my last visit, the place was busier than it used to be. The service was good and the cafe still a great place to meet up with friends – as well as have a cheap lunch in San Leandro.
Four Seasons Cafe & Deli 1423 E. 14th St. San Leandro, CA 510-667-1004 Free local delivery with $20 order M-Sa 6 am – 6 pm Su 7 am – 5 pm
Mika, my 9 yo, really wanted to go out for breakfast on our last day in Las Vegas. I thought about doing the breakfast buffet at the MGM Grand, but the buffet gets terrible review in Yelp plus it’s quite expensive. So I decided to stop at a run-of-the-mill family restaurant on our way out of Las Vegas. As it turned out, after packing, putting the stuff in the car and finding a bank, it was 11:30 AM before we were ready for breakfast. The Omelet House on West Charleston was the first restaurant that we came across so stopped there.
The Omelet House is yet another old-style all-American restaurant, with the type of ambiance and menu you can expect from that type of restaurant, albeit this one seemed a bit more crowded and run down than most. It has great atmosphere, however. They serve breakfast all day, the standard fare you can expect from this sort of restaurant. I ordered the “stuffed french toast” ($8.40), which consisted of two slices of French toast with some blueberry compote between them. It came with two slices of bacon and two eggs. The French Toast was pretty good, nothing out of this world but it was tasty enough. The bacon was your average kind, again not particularly special, as were the eggs. A satisfying meal, all in all, and one that kept me until we had dinner, well past 8 PM.
Both kids had pancakes with chocolate chips. Camila had a single one ($3.70) and Mika the “flap special” ($8.50) which consisted of two pancakes, two pieces of bacon and two eggs. They both liked the very large pancakes. The chocolate chips came on the side, but they melted on the very hot pancakes. The accompanying butter was salted, which I personally don’t like on sweet foods.
Mike didn’t get anything, thinking that the girls were going to leave a lot of food, but it turned out that the girls were hungrier than we thought.
In all, the Omelet House was a fine, though not particularly outstanding, choice for breakfast. I’d go again, but would not seek it out.
San Leandro still doesn’t have any good, affordable places to go for breakfast/brunch, so on the rare occasions when we treat ourselves to morning food we usually go to JD’s in Castro Valley. Their food is good, though not great, but I know what I’m getting.
What I got during my last visit – what I always get – is the ricotta French Toast, covered with fresh strawberries and cream. This is an impressive dish and quite good, though I can’t help to feel it’s missing something. Sweetness perhaps? Macerated strawberries would be nicer, I think. The crispy bacon it came with was very good. This dish is “market price”, and I don’t know how much it was, probably in the neighborhood of $10.
Mike had the Cajun omelet with andouille sausage ($8.50). He liked it, but wished the sausage had been chopped and mixed into the omelet. The accompanying potatoes were pretty good.
In all, a solid though not spectacular meal. We’ll return, but wish there were better options nearby.
JD’s Restaurant
2837 Castro Valley Blvd.
Castro Valley , CA
510-537-3862
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