hours of intense research we decided to kick-start our two-month long brunch sampler in the Golden State in Canele, a smart, hip and intimate neighborhood institution in the Atwater Village. The inventive menu includes fried farro with bacon, eggs and sriracha, goat cheese, gruyere, feta and tomato confit omelet, or braised leeks, bacon and fried eggs sandwich. Diego and I went with a more traditional fare: he had pastrami hash with sauerkraut and fried eggs, while I opted for my second favorite brunch dish: eggs in a hole.
Both dishes were beautifully presented. Diego's hash was arranged in a flat, circular mound that had exactly the same
diameter as the perfectly fried eggs. My eggs were precisely inserted in their hole, such that the yolk was in the center. In addition to the presentation, they tasted great. Diego said that the pastrami was not Carnegie's but he also did not utter a single word throughout the meal, which I take it as a sign of Canele's success. My toasts were a bit oily, but tasted great with a crunchy crust (they even brought a serrated knife for it) and a crispy middle. It came with roasted potatoes and a side salad. They both were a nice surprise (not listed in the menu), the potatoes crispy but not fried and the baby spinach salad
beautifully dressed. Another unexpected detail was the salt: slightly moist, it was brought loose
to the table and was an excellent condiment for all elements in the meal.As for drinks, locavore Canele could not serve anything other than filtered tap water and freshly squeezed orange juice. But, eating local has a price, and the small glasses of OJ ended up being the -relatively- more expensive items on the bill. The free-refill coffee, on the other hand, was dark, strong and delicious. And, it came with brown sugar cubes which, although hard to dissolve, tied the experience as a high-quality, healthy-concious one.
Let me finally say that our plates, as huge as they were, were probably the smallest portions we saw. Humongous orders of eggy French Toasts, salmon tartare and even burgers swept by and
left us with our mouths open. But it was nothing compared to the baked pancake with lemon custard we ordered as desert -not that we were still hungry, but we had heard wonders about it!. After seeing the generous portions of ours and other brunchers plates, we should have seen it coming: the baked pancake, listed as a "side" on the menu was actually a souffle-like dough oven-backed in a medium-size clay pot with a hearty portion of deliciously sweet lemon custard on top. We reminded ourselves that for $4.5 we could simply try it (and check what the fuss was all about) and leave the rest but, after the first forkful, we simple caved in and devoured the entire thing. The hype was right: it was indeed glorious and I can see myself going back just for them.Food-wise, this was definitely close to perfect. Everything was cooked to perfection, tasted
great and had the right size for a long, lusciously relaxed meal. Location-wise, however, it is in a not very hip neighborhood... People-watching, one of the quintessential pleasures of brunching and a clear pastime of Angelinos is not something that comes easily here, even in the sun-filled communal table that faces the window. Glendale Blvd., the street where Canele is on, is a mostly empty avenue with a few old-fashioned shops. Out-door sitting does not seem like it is ever going to be fun either. So, while we may have found the perfect dishes, we are still far away from the perfect brunch.
Let's see what the next few weeks of California brunching bring to us.
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