Piroshky Piroshky

1908 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA 98101

Occasion: Breakfast at this infamous and highly recommended bakery that is 2 blocks away from our hotel inside of Pike's place. Oh how convenient. We got there around 9am and already, there was a line out the door; but luckily it's not too long of a wait (about 10 minutes). 08.31.12

Beef and Cheese

This was probably our favorite one out of the few that we tried.  It was fresh out the oven and the pastry dough was buttery and flaky; almost reminded me of a croissant but even flakier, more buttery and way tastier.  It was flavorful, rich and absolutely fulfilling. We loved it so much we went back for more the next day.

Salmon

I'm really torn about how I feel about this one. I love salmon and maybe because I had the beef and cheese first, but I wasn't expecting it to be wrapped with bread, I was expecting it to be in a flaky pastry like the beef and cheese.  It was too much bread and not enough salmon and the proportions didn't match up.

Close up on the salmon filling.  The salmon was cold and reminded me of a salmon spread/ salmon pate.  Not to say it wasn't good, just not what I was expecting.

Zazie

941 Cole St
San Francisco, CA 94117

Occasion: Brunch on a much needed Friday day off of work.  We were finally done with one quarter of classes, so we rewarded ourselves with some delicious brunch! 06.15.12

Pancake Sampler

It came with one buttermilk, one gingerbread, one lemon poppysee

I've had the gingerbread before and I remember it being really unique and tasty, I mean where else can you find gingerbread flavored pancakes. But when I went again this time around, I didn't feel the same way.  It was rather dry and lacked in flavor.  It was my least favorite of the three.  The buttermilk was my second favorite and the lemon poppyseed was my absolute favorite, as it was moist and perfectly sweet.  The lemon curd complemented very very well with it too. Next time, I'll screw the rest and just get the lemon poppyseed pancake.

Le Mer Benedict 

Crab Benedict with avocado.  You have a choice of ordering, one, two or three.   Henry said he was REALLY hungry so we got three. Two for him and one for me.  Benedicts are his thing, so he enjoyed them a lot.  However, I think Mama's crab benedicts are tastier, but also at a greater price.

Brenda's French Soul Food

652 Polk St
San Francisco, CA 94102

Occasion: Saturday brunch. 03.31.12

I've been here on numerous occasions and have enjoyed the food here every time.  I don't think I've had anything that I don't like here, just some more than others.

Sweet potato pancakes 

Moist, fluffy and DELICIOUS!  It was a special of the day and am so glad we got this!

Pulled pork Benedict with grits

A hearty dish. Glad that I shared this because it was rich!  Instead of your typical english muffin, they use biscuits here.  Pulled pork was flavorful and went really well with the poached egg.  Their grits were buttery goodness and is even better with shrimp and cheese on top (they have that on the menu).

Dottie's True Blue Cafe

28 6th St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Occasion: Birthday brunch with my dad and sister. 03.10.12

Ridiculous! We waited about two hours to get seated, which is seriously absurd.  They had a super slow turnover rate and their staff were working on super slow snail mode.  We waited from 11:40am to about 1:30pm.  It really isn't that great of a brunch place to wait that long.  And the wait could have been shorter if their workers were more efficient.  I've never seen such a lazy group of workers serve breakfast/lunch.  Don't get me wrong they were nice...just not very efficient, which is frustrating!

Zuchinni Hash with poached eggs and potatoes

This was probably my favorite dish of the bunch.  Zucchini+ hash + runny poached eggs topped with some kind of a marinara sauce= delicious.

French Toast

topped with pecan

It was just mediocre.  I've definitely had better,  but I guess it was a great way to end the meal with something a little sweet.

Smoked Whiskey-Fennel Sausage, Mushroom and Baby Spinach Scramble

with grilled chili-cheddar corn bread and home fries

I usually like veggie scrambles, but the sausage definitely adds a great touch to it.  Loved it.  They're pretty known for their chili cheddar corn bread, which is just the way I last remember it.  Yum.

Mama's

1701 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94133

Occasion: Saturday morning brunch with the loverboy! 03.02.12

I've been to Mama's multiple times.  Each time it's been about an hour and a half wait.  This time it was probably a little less than that.  We arrived at around 9am and there were over 20 people ahead of us in line.  Luckily it was a sunny morning, so it made waiting a little more bearable.  If you're feeling hungry and want to snack on something, walk across the street and get some authentic focaccia bread from Liguria Bakery.

Monte Cristo

Breast of Turkey, Baked Ham, Cheddar and Havarti Cheese with Bread dipped in Egg and grilled, served with Homemade Jam

I know it looks like a simple sandwich, but the flavors are far beyond simple.  It's like a grilled cheese sandwich with turkey and ham, except the bread is dipped in egg, so it's kind of like french toast.  You dip it into the homemade jam and there's a nice balance of sweet and savory.  Make sure you eat it when it's fresh because the cheese oozes out.  I've enjoyed it every time I've had it. YUM!

Crab Benedict

Generous chunks of crab meat.  We were hungry and it was absolutely filling.  The hollandaise sauce was rich, creamy and tasty.  Definitely a filling dish, with so much protein and delicious crispy potatoes.

Bakesale Betty's

5098 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA 94609

Occasion: Woke up on a Saturday morning and decided we wanted to make our way to Oakland for some fried chicken sandwich.  Luckily we got there right when they started serving the sandwiches @ about 10:30am. If you arrive anytime before 10:30am, they only serve breakfast foods. 08.06.11

Raisin orange scone

Freaking amazing.  And the fact that we got it for free made it taste even better.  It was one of the best scones I have ever had.  Of course everything is better eaten when hot/warm fresh out of the oven.  But the flavors in it were so amazing...raisin and zesty orange goodness.

Chicken Sandwich

Finally got to try their infamous fried chicken sandwich.  I had mixed feelings before trying it.  I really really wanted to try it to see what everyone was talking about, but at the same time, I was afraid it would taste like KFC chicken in a sandwich bun.  I was so impressed with the sandwich.  The chicken was not overly fried, the meat was not dry and super tender.  The cole slaw was not like KFC 's coleslaw, where it's drenched with mayonnaise.  Instead they use some kind of a vinaigrette dressing of some sort.  It has a tangy goodness to it.  I also noticed slices of jalapenos in the coleslaw for just a little bit of heat.  Coming from a person who can't really handle much heat, the jalapeno slices are not too bad.

Strawberry shortcake

It's not like most strawberry shortcakes I'm used to where there's layers of cake, whipped cream and strawberry.  There's a small loaf of shortcake, then whipped cream topped on top of the cake.  Slices of strawberries are tossed on top.  To eat it, you just use a fork and make sure you get a bite of all three ingredients.  The shortcake is so good, we were fighting for the last piece.  I wished there were more cake! We seemed to have ended up with less and left over whipped cream and strawberry slices. It is simply divine and scrumplicious!

Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter

100 E Walton St
(between Huguelet Pl & Michigan Ave)
Chicago, IL 60611

Occasion: A little snack before we head to Wrigley Stadium to watch some baseball. 07.03.11

From left to right: white chocolate filled bread, pistachio croissant, plain croissant and almond chocolate croissant

All were delicious! I am a sweets bakery loving kind of girl, so all these hit the spot for me.

Yolk

1120 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605

Occasion: Brunch before our Wendella architectural cruise. 07.02.11

Strawberry Orange Juice

Never heard of that before! It was a sweeter version of orange juice.  Love that there were pulp and strawberry seeds in it.

Pot Roast Benedict

It was good, but a little bit too rich for a first meal.  I really like how it came with generous portions and a lot of fruits on the side.

Huevos Rancheros

My first time having it. My coworker always talks about how delicious it is and it was, but again too heavy to finish it for my first meal.  There are a lot of flavors going on here and everything went very well together.  I would definitely want to try it elsewhere and compare.

 

Red Velvet French Toast

It came in round spirals, which reminded me of those spiral sponge cakes you get in chinese bakeries.  It was really really good. I love red velvet anything and I love french toast.  The fact that they were combined was definitely a must get.  I really enjoyed it, but it's not your typical french toast if that's what you're expecting.

Millbrae Pancake House

1301 El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA 94030

Occasion: Breakfast for two =] 06.04.11

Supreme Omelet

with linguica, sausage, ham, mushrooms, onions and bell pepper topped with Spanish sauce and jack and cheddar 

I usually like my omelets vegetarian, but this was pretty good.  Only complaint was that the linguica sausage was very spicy, totally not my thing, but if you like heat, this is perfect!

 

Swedish Pancakes

French crepes served with powdered sugar and lingonberry butter

Delicious! The lingonberry butter spread on top of this french crepe was amazing.  I like how after devouring these goodies that it didn't leave my stomach feeling bloated and super full, as regular buttermilk pancakes would have.

Linguica

Meat, guys can't live without it.

Baker Street Bistro

2953 Baker St
(between Greenwich St & Lombard St)
San Francisco, CA 94123
 
Occasion: Brunch with Ella .  We of course split everything two ways so that we could try both. 04.16.11

Oeufs Baker Street Bistro   Chef's favorite

Ratatouille, poached eggs, English Muffin, tomato sauce

I was definitely intrigued by the sounds of this dish and I wanted to try something different.  Never seen anything like this on the menu before, so I decided to give it a try.  I love tomato sauce based everything, so I was excited to see how'd this would turn out.  It was actually really really good. Healthier tasting than the hollandaise sauce.  Ella even complimented my choice of entree.  Even a picky eater like her enjoyed it. Should definitely give it a try if you don't mind tomato sauce.

Pain Perdu   A brunch favorite!

Two slices of cinnamon French Toast, fresh fruit,

strawberry coulis & crème fraîche

Very beautifully presented, but the bread was not fluffy.  Not that it wasn't good, I just hoped for it to be your normal fluffy texas french bread.

Oeufs Benedicte

Canadian Bacon, poached eggs, English Muffin, Hollandaise sauce

Ella was really happy with her dish because she loves egg's benedicts.  The muffins got soggy real fast, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad.

Stella Blue's Cafe

1279 S Kihei Rd
Kihei, HI 96753

Occasion: After a morning of snorkeling we made our way here to grab some brunch! Snorkeling sucks the energy out of you, so we needed a refuel! Morning of Bo and Ray's Wedding!!! 05.07.11

Banana macadamia nut pancakes

Half stack shared between 3 of us.

Pancake from another brunch place.. Pancakes were fluffy and the macadamia nuts added texture.

Egg's Benedict

Two eggs poached on a toasted English muffin
topped with homemade hollandaise sauce with ham

Ella's dish

HERE COMES SUNSHINE” QUICKSTART
Two fresh eggs any style with toast, potatoes and Portuguese sausage

Diana's dish

Stuffed french toast

YUM!!

FRESH FISH OMELETTE

Fish of the day with monterey jack and cheddar
blend, green onions and tomato with toast

Delish!

Read more about my Maui Trip

808 Bistro

2511 S Kihei Rd
Kihei, HI 96753

Occasion: Brunch! Decided to have brunch before heading to our ziplining adventure(that has already been rescheduled once). Due to the weather conditions, it got rescheduled again, but at least we had a delicious first meal to start off our day. 05.06.11

Eggs, veggies, Portuguese sausage over hash

Diana's dish

MANGO CHUTNEY PORK CHOPSServed with Eggs, Hashbrowns & Toast

Jenny and I split this and the Mahi mahi because we like variety.  

I would never think to order pork chops, it's just not something I like to order, but the waitress recommended it and so did fellow yelpers.  I was definitely not disappointed and glad I stepped out of my comfort zone.  There was a little bit of heat to the mango chutney that added a little bit of pizazz to the dish.  It wasn't too heavy and the meat was pretty juicy.

FOCACCIA EGG SANDWICH

 Fresh Basil, Tomato, Avocado, Egg & Cheese
Choice of Meat, Served with Hashbrowns

Ella's sandwich. It looked delicious and tasted really good with her choice of Portuguese sausage.  I got to try a little bite of it and it was really good. The focaccia had a very fluffy texture. The veggies made it a more refreshing sandwich than it did a heavy hearty sandwich. Overall a really good breakfast sandwich.

FRESH MAHI MAHIServed with Eggs, Hashbrowns & Toast

I just had to get the mahi mahi.  It was good because I like fish, but it was nothing extraordinary.  Nice light breakfast!

BANANA BREAD FRENCH TOAST

We all shared this! I love ending my meal with something sweet and french toast was just the perfect way to end our meal.  We decided to just get one slice to share since we all got our own individual meals, which in my opinion was a good idea.  I love banana bread so when I saw that it was a banana bread french toast, I knew I had to get it.  The hint of banana flavor definitely made it unique and I thought it was good.  The bread was a bit more dense and not fluffy like most french toasts, but it was good! Overall, I enjoyed it!

Read more about my Maui Trip

Kihei Caffe

1945 S Kihei Rd
Kihei, HI 96753

Occasion: Breakfast before we pick up Ella from the airport. 05.05.11

 

Juice 

We're not big on coffee.  Love getting juice for breakfast. Not freshly squeezed, but refreshing!

 

Cinnamon Roll 

Took one on the road.  Fluffy with the perfect amount of cinnamon.  Not too sweet, moist and perfect little snack to have around when we were hungry.

 

Banana nut French Toast 

With any savory dish we order for breakfast/brunch, we always like to order something sweet.  It just seemed like the Hawaiian thing to order, banana nut french toast. Loved the crunchy texture the macadamia nut added to the french toast.

 

Loco Moco

Two eggs, fresh ground beef patty, rice and brown gravy

We replaced the regular rice with fried rice for an additional $2.00, which was totally worth it! It's such a filling first meal, but it was so good! It's definitely something the locals would recommend ordering.

Tartine Bakery

600 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94110

Occasion: Grabbing snacks after breakfast at Mission Beach Cafe. 03.09.11

Morning Bun

Reminded me of one of those sugar coated donuts.  The bun was fluffy and sweet with a hint of an orange zesty taste.  I did further research to see what else was in this morning bun.
Also on the SF BIG EATS 2010 and 2011 #7, #8 Morning Bun from Tartine. So glad I finally made it in before they were sold out.

 

Found it! See the little specs of orange peel! Different and delicious!

Mission Beach Cafe

198 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Occasion: Birthday brunch before a day at the SPA @ Burke Williams! 03.09.11

Cappucino

Just the way to start off my morning=]

Wild mushroom benedict

with spinach, caramelized onions, truffle mornay sauce and potatoes

Delicious and super filling.  Caramelized onions...drool!  Definitely my kind of benedict, but it's so rich in flavor I can't have too much of it.  For all you mushroom and truffle lovers..try this!!

 

Grassfed beach burger

with aged gouda, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and replaced the kennebec fries for some truffle fries with Parmesan with an additional charge

It was hard to eat something so heavy at 10am.  Don't get me wrong or anything...it was good, just couldn't scarf down too much of this rich and heavy burger as my first meal.

Pat's Cafe

2330 Taylor Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

Occasion: Sunday brunch with the "boyfriend" 01.02.11. I love having brunch, if I had the time and the metabolism to break every thing down, I would do it everyday! YUMMO!

Pecan Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Loved the chunks of pecan in the pancakes and the cinnamony pumpkin spice flavor. Drizzle some syrup over it and its delicious.  The pancakes aren't the fluffiest, but they're still very good. I can't believe I haven't tried this place before, since it is around the corner from where I live.

Crabcake Benedict

with their housemade hollandaise sauce and potato fingerlings

The potato seemed a bit on the cold side. Bleh! But the crabcake benedict was pretty good.  Never ordered a crab cake one before, so we gave it a try.  Ella loves benedicts and thought it was very good! It's hard to get her to say she loves anything since she's a pretty picky eater, so if she says it's delicious...it's worth trying!

La Boulange Cafe and Bakery

1909 Union St

San Francisco, CA 94123

Occasion: Saturday brunch with Lisa. Got to see Huey too! On a cold rainy day.October 2010

Tomato Soup

I wanted something warm since it was raining.  At the moment the warm soup definitely hit the spot.  I thought it was pretty good, though a bit tart. Still satisfied me!

Granola with fruits and yogurt

Lisa said it was very popular and so she tried it. I got to try a little bit, but I ended up loving it...so a little bit turned into half of it. I loved the variety of fruits with the granola mixed with yogurt and honey. It's freaking amazing!

Goat Cheese Open Faced Sandwich

This is my favorite thing to get here. I love the pesto spread on the bread, the warm melted goat cheese, the mushrooms and the roasted bell peppers with a side of salad. You have to get one for yourself to try, but make sure you eat it when it's warm because it's best eaten when it's fresh.  Also, make sure you're a fan of goat cheese, otherwise you won't like it.