{"id":246923,"date":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/french-kissed-brunch\/"},"modified":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T08:00:00","slug":"french-kissed-brunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/french-kissed-brunch\/","title":{"rendered":"French-kissed brunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caf\u00e9 Bleu Bistro & Wine Bar
\n807 W. Washington St. (Mission Hills)<\/p>\n

619-291-1717 — cafebleusd.com<\/a>
\nBrunch prices: Breakfast fare, $10.95 to $17.95; soups, salads and other entrees, $5.95 to $13.95<\/i><\/p>\n

Por Frank Sabatini Jr. | Descripci\u00f3n del restaurant<\/p>\n

Silky hollandaise sauce, bubbling Gruyere cheese and airy puff pastry are among the starring ingredients that turn weekend brunch at Caf\u00e9 Bleu Bistro & Wine Bar into a golden, Parisian sunrise. And if you can\u2019t wait until evening to throw down a glass or two of Chateau d\u2019Eau Viognier, the menu abides.<\/p>\n

\"Crab<\/a>
Crab Florentine benedict (photo by Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caf\u00e9 Bleu launched as a \u201cFrench-influenced\u201d restaurant several years ago on the 500 block of University Avenue in Hillcrest. The owners have since taken their penchant for steak frites, coq au vin and bouillabaisse (poured tableside) to a relaxed space in Mission Hills, retaining a burgundy color scheme and antique sofas incorporated into the seating arrangement.<\/p>\n

French onion soup, once an omnipresent offering in most restaurants before becoming usurped by more seasonally creative potages, has improved by 200 percent since I visited the former location. Exceedingly less diluted, it\u2019s among several suppertime dishes that carry into brunch, which is held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.<\/p>\n

The broth is made from homemade beef stock, red wine and copious onions braised down to perfect, translucent sweetness. Thyme and bay leaf add additional depth. Most importantly, the chef caps the crock with nutty-tasting Gruyere cheese toasted from a run under the broiler. The waxy Swiss or low-fat mozzarella (gasp) that other restaurants pass off as \u201coriginal French\u201d is utter sacrilege to this classic recipe.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The \u201cbleu burger\u201d with frites (photo by Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also tried the soup du jour, an asparagus-curry concoction that relayed all the creaminess of well-constructed bisque. Parked alongside was crusty baguette served with softened butter and a lovable house-made relish of diced berries soaked in red wine reduction. Complimentary refills of the bread and spreads are available for the asking.<\/p>\n

The criminally delicious Gruyere reappeared in my companion\u2019s crab Florentine benedict featuring two jiggly poached eggs. Each egg was layered meticulously with minced spinach, artichoke hearts and traces of crab meat. Draping them was hollandaise sauce that proved a proficient emulsion of egg yolks, butter, lemon and either paprika or cayenne pepper lending the exact, pretty orange hue you\u2019d find in French brasseries.<\/p>\n

It took everything in me to resist ordering the croque monsieur, a ham and Gruyere sandwich heated to a toasty finish, and with sinful b\u00e9chamel sauce smothering the thing. There\u2019s also a croque madame using the same construction, but with the added cholesterol of a fried egg on top. I love them both, but always tend to unfairly ignore other dishes on the menus they reside.<\/p>\n

So I went instead with Caf\u00e9 Bleu\u2019s signature burger crowned with Point Reyes blue cheese, which melts sensitively to warmth \u2014 in this case a half-pound all-natural beef patty tucked into a hot and crusty buttered roll. The meat and cheese danced the Bourree with pickled red onions, cornichons and a thin layer of mayo. A piling of thin parsley-dusted fries on the plate, which required no ketchup, helped me to further forget about those tempting croques.<\/p>\n

Adding sweetness to our brunch was brandy-spiked French toast made with brioche and topped with powdered sugar and diced strawberries. Whether it was from the brandy or extended soaking in the egg mixture, the thick bread slices surprised us with their appealing custard-like texture. Firm and chewy French toast this wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Other brunch items include ham-and-brie omelets, hanger steak and eggs, moules frites (mussels and fries) and chicken-mushroom vol au vent, which doesn\u2019t disappoint as the puff pastry shell deflates into a pond of savory filling. It\u2019s one of the dishes that stole my heart when visiting here initially for dinner.<\/p>\n

Outside of weekend brunch, Caf\u00e9 Bleu serves lunch Monday through Friday and dinner daily. Also, on Monday evenings, from 4 p.m. to close, wines by the bottle are half price. They include a potpourri of choices from France, Spain, Italy and California.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caf\u00e9 Bleu Bistro & Wine Bar 807 W. Washington St. (Mission Hills) 619-291-1717 — cafebleusd.com Brunch prices: Breakfast fare, $10.95 to $17.95; soups, salads and other entrees, $5.95 to $13.95 By Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review Silky hollandaise sauce, bubbling Gruyere cheese and airy puff pastry are among the starring ingredients that turn weekend […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"French-kissed brunch","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}