127. Portland - Breakfast at Bijou Café (Portland: Southwest/Old Town/Chinatown)

Good morning, Portland.  It's time for breakfast.  Still in the Southwest quadrant of Portland, Allison and I took a brisk stroll to Bijou Café to check out some of the interesting selections on their brunch menu.  Despite pondering over cowboy steak with chimichurri, pumpkin seed molé quesadilla, and their buckwheat noodle salad, Allie and I settled on some more basic choices.

Having dined at Olympic Provisions the night before, our infatuation with the restaurant led us to order the Olympic Provisions breakfast sausage & eggs.  Hooray for ground meat in an edible casing that was not bought frozen from the supermarket.  I mean... yay for fresh sausage.

We also ordered the French toast made with fresh brioche from Portland's very own Pearl Bakery.  See a recurring theme here? Fresh and local.  I like.  The house made berry jam was not too sweet and just tart enough to bring out the natural sweetness from the bread.  The toast itself was lusciously soft.  It actually didn't need any butter at all... but I love butter, and I love watching it melt and drip down the triangles of beautifully browned brioche.  If that isn't live food porn then I don't know what is.

Allie chose the cauliflower & black kale hash, which had a bit of a Mediterranean feel with harissa, sheep milk feta and olives.  We loved the potatoes, the bright colors of the vegetables and that they weren't overcooked.  And of course, the best part was the runny yolk.  That's morning sunshine in liquid form for you right there.

There were so many choices that called to us from their menu that we had to take some time to narrow the list down.  Good thing our server at Bijou Café spent a good amount of time with us to hash out our final selections based on our tastes.  I must say that there was great service from Portland restaurant staff once again.  Bellies full, it was now time for a walk to Powell's to examine the wide selection of books there.  Until then, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20130623

Post 4: Bacon for Breakfast, Bacon for Dessert (SD: La Jolla)

I am, yet again, ready to describe another strange culinary peculiarity... except that this time I had nothing to do with the creation of this concoction.

After a packed birthday brunch for a good buddy of mine this weekend, we decided to walk a few blocks down the streets of Downtown La Jolla to digest everything that we had eaten at the Coffee Cup Cafe.

A hand cannot wait to grab the first bite.
Black bean dip with avocado, melted cheese within. Salsa on the side adds a slight kick.



The Omar Special. The best tasting of all items on the menu.
Egg whites under a layer of fresh pesto. Brown rice and vegetables on the side.


The Coffee Cup French Toast. Swirls of blueberry jam; not overly sweet.
Bacon fried to a perfect crisp but not burnt; eggs over medium.


Roast Beef Hash with horseradish; a pleasant change from the usual corned beef hash.
Cilantro was unnecessary taste-wise, but it did add a nice green to the presentation.

The goal of helping my digestive system dissolve all that food quickly became a distant dream as this buddy of mine, as health-conscious as ever, pointed to Cups, the new cupcake store that opened on Girard. By the time he had started to ask, "Do you wanna..." I had already taken three steps towards the store. (I have been waiting for a fitting challenge to the ever-popular Sprinkles red velvet cupcake for a while now.)

I walked straight to the display counter, and I found the holy grail of cupcakes...

THE BACON CUPCAKE

Attendant: "Can I help..."
Me: "Bacon cupcake, please."

Attendant: "How ma-..."
Me: "Just one!"
Attendant: "Well, it's buy five, get one free..."
Me: "Errrr..."

I was too easily conned into buying half a dozen.

The Limone Ricotta cupcake and the Goober (peanut butter and jelly) cupcake.


The Liliko'i (Hawai'ian passion fruit) cupcake.


The Gingerbread cupcake and the Vanilla Bean cupcake.

So much for digesting breakfast. I was already all over my dessert!

To tell you the truth, though, the cupcakes looked better than they tasted. Each of the cupcakes could have been a bit more moist, and the frosting could have been thicker. The frosting had already begun to melt by the time we walked out into the San Diego sun. Perhaps the frosting was made from butter rather than cream cheese... but the one cupcake that was worth the dollar-per-bite was the bacon cupcake. As I bit down into the buttery frosting, I tasted a sweetness unlike the sweetness that typically comes from dessert. It was more like a... brown sugar? Maple syrup? And the cupcake itself had texture more of pancake than anything. I was amazed. The bakers really put some thought into the flavorings of the bacon cupcake. It was like I had bitten into breakfast all over again... bacon for breakfast, bacon for dessert. I think the group silently decided that we needed to walk a few more blocks...

The La Jolla Cove. The seals nest to the left.


Slightly further north. The natural humility of the Pacific.


The northern curve of the cove. Del Mar is just beyond.

The cupcakes may not beat Sprinkles in taste, but Cups does shine in creativity. The store is definitely worth a visit, and the bacon cupcake is definitely worth a try. It's not everyday that a cupcakery (and not a froyo store) has the spotlight on creative flavors. Their progressive imagination went so far as to become one of the first cupcakeries to make their desserts from all organic ingredients. They have some cupcakes that are gluten-free and/or vegan as well. See their website for a complete list of flavors. The grand opening is at the end of the month.

Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20100114