Café 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 brunch at Café Bleu Bistro & Wine Bar into a golden, Parisian sunrise. And if you can’t wait until evening to throw down a glass or two of Chateau d’Eau Viognier, the menu abides.
Café Bleu launched as a “French-influenced” 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.
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’s among several suppertime dishes that carry into brunch, which is held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
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 “original French” is utter sacrilege to this classic recipe.
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.
The criminally delicious Gruyere reappeared in my companion’s 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’d find in French brasseries.
It took everything in me to resist ordering the croque monsieur, a ham and Gruyere sandwich heated to a toasty finish, and with sinful béchamel sauce smothering the thing. There’s 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.
So I went instead with Café Bleu’s signature burger crowned with Point Reyes blue cheese, which melts sensitively to warmth — 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.
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’t.
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’t disappoint as the puff pastry shell deflates into a pond of savory filling. It’s one of the dishes that stole my heart when visiting here initially for dinner.
Outside of weekend brunch, Café 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.
