Brunching in the Bay

In my opinion, one of the best ways to spend a weekend morning is "brunching." Brunch is the best of breakfast and lunch, combined into one delicious meal. The only downside is having to wake up a little earlier, but as I get older, the option to sleep until noon because less and less feasible. This weekend was perfect because I made it to brunch both mornings!

On Saturday morning I met a friend at the Mission Beach Cafe. This place has great reviews on Yelp and I've heard there can be quite the line. When we went there was only a 15 to 20 minute wait, which for a buzzed about brunch place in San Francisco is not bad at all. I've spent multiple times waiting 45 minutes at Brenda's. The restaurant is pretty small and cozy, so we ended up being seated along the bar facing the window. This was actually a great spot to be on a sunny day, soaking up rays and people watching in the Mission. Our server was super friendly and hilarious, so that automatically made the dining experience better. We ordered some Blue Bottle iced coffee, although MBC just ended their contract with Blue Bottle and will be switching to someone else moving forward. We ended up splitting the pork and duck confit hash and the crab and shrimp eggs benedict. I started with the confit hash, which was tender pieces of braised pork and duck over a sweet potato- butternut squash hash, topped with two over-easy eggs and creme fraiche. The flavor profile was well-balanced and fresh, with everything prepared well. The only downside is that the dish was a little on the greasy side and since it was served in a bowl, whatever ingredient was making it greasy made everything a little greasy. The benedict was two english muffins slathered in their house-made guacamole and topped with shrimp and dungeness crab. The eggs on top were slightly over-poached but good for people who don't like runny yolks. The hollandaise sauce drizzled on top was good and balanced out with an orange reduction to cut the creaminess a bit. Overall, I had a pretty good experience there. It wasn't amazing for me, but definitely enjoyable and affordable. And apparently they have Pot Pie Tuesdays, which I wouldn't mind going back to try. We Midwesterners love our pot pies and I never see them out here.

Sunday morning I went with the boyfriend to The Liberty Cafe in Bernal Heights. I'd only been to Bernal Heights once before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This cafe ended up being near the top of the "heights" so there were plenty of nice houses with amazing skyline views. The neighborhood was very quaint and family-filled (although the fact that it was Father's Day may have been a factor in this). The Cafe has inside dining, patio dining and a back area dedicated to the bakery. Once again the wait was approximately 15 minutes, so not too bad. I had not heard of this place before so I went in with no expectations, which was kind of refreshing. Sadly they were out of the seasonal frittata, so I opted for the meat lover's scramble. The scramble was delicious. The eggs were served with bacon, sausage, chorizo, onion and Monterey cheese. It would probably be hard to go wrong with such a combination. The breakfast potatoes on the side were average. I chose the whole wheat walnut toast, which was pretty tasty so I think it's safe to assume their bakery selection has a lot to offer. Parking in this area is a lot better than most spots in the city, so if you have a car and your headed that way, this cafe is worth a stop.