Brunch Review - Doyle Street Cafe

A few weekends ago Andy and I had brunch at Doyle Street Cafe in Emeryville. We discovered Emeryville fairly recently and have had fun exploring what it has to offer. From the outside, the neighborhood appears to be filled with chain stores and restaurants. Once you take the side streets though, you quickly realize there are fun unique little spots that only the locals know about. Doyle Street Cafe seems to be one of these spots.

When we arrived on Saturday morning there was already a line out the door. Families and groups of young people were mingling outside the entrance waiting for their tables to be ready.  We groaned at the idea of waiting, but also realized that the food must be worth it. When we put our names in to be seated the host sat us immediately. It was our lucky day! Most parties waiting had over 4 people, so Andy and I being only two people, were able to get a table right away.

Hot delicious coffee was delivered immediately. We contemplated between ordering off the brunch menu or the specials board. Despite the mouthwatering items on the specials board we decided on the menu. Andy ordered eggs Benedict with salmon and I opted for the goat cheese and spinach omelet.

While we waited for the food our coffees were repeatedly filled, and a low hum of voices could be heard. The ambiance was simple, almost homey. The host was very friendly with people who came in, and when he wasn't busy he helped everyone else in the restaurant. He had his hands in everything, which made me think he might possibly have been the owner. Either way, he was a friendly presence and made sure that our waters and coffees never went dry.

Our meals came after a short wait and we dug in. It was delicious, though I must admit Andy ordered better than I had. Lucky for me, he was willing to share. Our food was scarfed down with the intensity one has when something tastes so good you think it may vanish. Unfortunately, our food did vanish after a short while. We came up for a breath and were greeted with yet more coffee.

Overall, the experience we had at Doyle Street Cafe was a pleasant one. Later in the day though, both Andy and I had horrible stomach cramps. We are still not sure if it was the food from our brunch, or something else. At this point, I will just remember our Doyle Street Cafe as a delicious experience and leave it at that.

If you feel like checking it out for yourself, here is the website: http://doylestreetcafe.com/, and if you haven't figured it out already, it is located on none other than Doyle Street.

Clementine Moscato Mimosa

Happy Friday! Here's a drink to start your weekend right. Make it Saturday morning along with a healthy stack of orange zest french toast and blueberry compote. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I LOVE brunch. It is what I live for on the weekends.

Last weekend I really wanted a mimosa with our homemade brunch. I was craving it pretty badly, but we didn't have any of the ingredients. Yes, we could have walked to the corner store only 10 seconds away from our apartment, but instead we got creative.

If you didn't already know, we're pretty creative 'round these parts. So Andy and I got to work with what we had in our fridge. The night before, we had opened a bottle of Moscato after dinner. Moscato is a sweet wine with a crisp citrus taste to it. Perfect (if you ask me) for a make-shift mimosa.

We were fresh out of oranges, but we had plenty of clementines on hand. They will do! So we peeled a few clementines and blended them with a splash of Moscato and voila, we had mimosas!

Did you know that a mason jar will fit onto the blender perfectly? We only use mason jars on our blender, it makes cleaning up easier. To do it, just take the bottom screwed on piece of your blender container and screw it onto the top of your mason jar. Flip the mason jar, insert into the blender, and blend away. When you take it off, one serving is already in the glass.

 

Clementine Moscato Mimosa (for 1)
-1 mason jar
-2 clementines
-about 2-3 ounces moscato

Peel clementines and place in a mason jar. Add Moscato. Place blender mixer on mason jar and blend until well mixed. That's it!

I was very happy with how our mimosa's turned out. They weren't as fizzy as a regular mimosa, but they had a fun sweet taste to them. I can't wait to make them again!

Weekend Tradition - Homemade Brunch

Everyone has their own traditions, but brunch is one that I think carries across the board. Who doesn't love to sleep in and then sit for a leisurely mid morning meal comprised of your favorite breakfast foods and bottomless coffee? I for one, am a HUGE fan of brunch!

Andy and I have made brunch our unspoken tradition. It just morphed into being and is now a weekly tradition. When I say brunch, I mean homemade brunch. The kind where you sleep in, then the first person wakes up (Andy) and gets the coffee started while the other person slowly crawls out of bed (Me) to help with the grand production of cooking food. Yes, that would be our weekend tradition. Sometimes however, we opt to eat out out for brunch, but usually it is made at home.

In our household, Andy is the brunch cook. I cook dinner a lot of evenings, so he takes over where brunch is concerned. He likes to play loud (sometimes techno) music and the kitchen becomes his canvas. He makes everything from fluffy pancakes, to crispy bacon (my favorite), to grilled grapefruit. His foods may not always look beautiful, and the kitchen may be a complete mess, but the tastes, oh the tastes! That boy knows how to pack some flavor!

This last weekend Andy whipped up a new creation for our Saturday brunch. He made sourdough orange zest french toast. Wow! The orange zest really added a punch of flavor. Then he made a blueberry compote for drizzling on top of the french toast. Literally, melt in my mouth delicious! Andy is also learning how to master cooking bacon in the oven. Our bacon is slowly becoming the perfect amount of crispy. (Keep my bacon crispy, or even burn it and I am a happy gal. What I can't stand is the floppy limp stuff, yuck!)

If you want to try Andy's french toast here's what he did:

Orange Zest French Toast
-6-8 pieces sourdough bread (regular works too)
-4 eggs
-1 cup milk
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-2-3 Tablespoons zest from orange

Beat eggs and milk together. Add salt, cinnamon, and orange zest. Beat everything together really well. Dip both sides of the bread into the egg mixture and place in a buttered pan. Fry on medium heat until both sides are light brown.

Blueberry Compote
-2-3 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen work)
-1/3 cup water
-1/4 cup sugar, honey, or agave nectar

Combine everything on the stove top and mix while heating, bring to a low boil. If you want a thicker compote add a few teaspoons of cornstarch.