Brunch at 17th Street Cafe
Saturday, April 22, 2006 22:09Brunch is my favorite meal of the day–all the best traditional breakfast foods, none of the waking up early, plus mimosas! So when I read in the January issue of British InStyle magazine that celebrity expat Naveen Andrews’ favorite brunch place is Santa Monica’s 17th Street Cafe, I was there before I could realize how ridiculous it was that I had to read a British magazine to find out about a restaurant right around the corner from my apartment.
On late weekend mornings, the place is busy but not packed, which usually means about a ten-minute wait. The crowd is casual and unpretentious, sort of the people you’d expect at a midwestern Perkins after church, and the service is very friendly, adding to the true local cafe experience. Even though the restaurant is bustling, brunch here never feels rushed, and the servers keep everyone’s coffee cups full without causing annoying interruptions.
One of the great reasons to eat at 17th Street is the basket of wonderful warm, fresh banana-date muffins at every table. The actual entrees encompass all the best brunch food, most of which is served with home fries and fresh fruit. I’ve enjoyed the omelettes, pancakes and huevos rancheros (pictured). A few dishes feature an unusual sweet-spicy Hawaiian-Portuguese sausage, which is great scrambled with eggs and green onions. They have monthly brunch specials as well–April’s is a smoked salmon frittata.
Oh, yeah, and 17th Street Cafe also serves lunch and dinner. The non-brunch dishes seem to have a stereotypically Californian vibe about them — Thai pasta, orange-curry chicken salad, Japanese eggplant sandwiches–which seems to contrast with their down-home neighborhood cafe image. If anyone’s tried lunch or dinner here, leave a comment and let us know how it is. For now, though, I’m sticking to brunch.
By Maribeth (see more of her posts).
Jonah says:
April 23rd, 2006 at 8:16 pm
17th Street Cafe has been added to my list of places to go. I noticed that Blue Plate, down the street, was closed for renovations. I like the breakfast burritos there, I’ll pop in after they reopen.
teenagefoodie says:
April 24th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Their extremely generous in their servings. I remeber having the Balsamic Salmon on a bed of mashed potatoes and spinach. The Salmon was fresh but the dish itself was pretty bland. I would go back to try other other dishe’s though.