627735 Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 13 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4770980 To get thiis out of the way, there is no denying that Alexis Baking Co (ABC) makes excellent breads, coffee cakes, muffins, cookies, etc. However, after years of reading reports by trusted Chowhounds that the breakfast was great here, I was profoundly underwhelmed and disappointed. Maybe this might give a reality check to someone considering it for breakfast and they won't go with unrealistic expectations. First, it is wildly overpriced Second, it has less ambiance than Cafe Fanny ... and that is saying a lot. If the food was even a third as good as Cafe Fanny, that wouldn't matter. Third, they didn't do the basics well Fourth, while they were really good about refilling coffee ... a requirement for a good breakfast spot in my book ... it was the tasteless, characterless Mr. Espresso. There were only four breakfast dishes if you didn't count breakfast sandwiches and oatmeal. Two of those dishes were Mexican ... and I just wasn't in the mood for that. The other was cornmeal pancakes .... don't like those. I damn well wasn't going to pay $14 for a cheese omelet. Sorry, no, uh, uh. Especially not when I have to order the dish at the counter. Charge me that price and wait on me. So I opted for the $10.95 poached eggs ... Yep, ELEVEN DOLLARS for two badly poached eggs ... I'll have to take their word there were two eggs ... badly cooked homefries ... a few out of season red grapes ... a few of which where green, as in not ripe ... and toast. The jam on the table was Dikinsons ... NOT acceptable at those prices ... at Denny's I'd be impressed. I couldn't help comparing it to Mama's in SF where for equally good baked goods and better prices, the jam is home made. At least there was not wait like Mama's ... and for good reason. I'm on a poached egg search right now. I had some at Cafe Fanny a week back. While they were slightly overcooked the seasoning was wonderful and I enjoyed them thorughly ... at almost half the price. The poached eggs at ABC were served i a coffee cup. They were watery and tasteless. I just had to leave a quarter inch pool of mixed water and yolk in the cup. The potates were simply cubed, browned and undercooked ... hard in some places. The cinnamon toast was wonderful, but as I said I have no problem with the baked goods here. Still, for those high prices alllow the option of subbing a baked good for the toast. The decor in primary colors is tired without a lived in charm. There are red unfinished oilcloth table cloths. This place reminded me of a less successful Mama's, the one in Oakland ... and even that place had not only a better breakfast selection but better food ... and THAT"S saying a lot. The staff was very nice. There is a 1/2 price off basket on the counter, but I just wanted to get away from the place so didn't look. Maybe it is just that I went in with such high expectations. Here's what to expect, a slightly worn place where you order at the counter. There's not a lot of full breakfast items and the prices are high. Skip the poached eggs. Oh, and during the week they have even less selections for breakfast ... pretty much a choice of the poached or scrambled egg dish, breakfast sandwiches and oatmeal. My suggestion is just going with baked goods and the unfortunate coffee. Someone ordered a milkshake and that looked excellent. I would guess that lunch sandwiches on the excellent bread could be a good choice. But there are too many other palces I want to try. Others can take that chance. Just for comparison I trotted over to Sweetie Pies. The breakfast special was Belgium waffles with fresh strawberries for $7.95. They looked wonderful. Still, like ABC, there are mainly only breakfast sandwiches and baked goods at Sweetie Pies. Isn't there anywhere in the city of Napa that has a full breakfast the equal to Berkeley or San Francisco? Sun Jun 14 00:00:01 -0700 2009 10264 rworange 1 4771398 RW: you might wish to try The Boon Fly Cafe in Napa (The Carneros Inn) for breakfast (or lunch or dinner). For breakfast, the 2 egg option comes with Hobbs applewood smoked bacon. The Eggs Benedict is great as is the Green Eggs and Ham. The breakfast flatbread with fried egss and bacon on top is a thing of beauty -- probably best to share. Top oatmeal. Full bar available for bloody mary's, etc. Lines start at 9am or so on weekends. Enjoy! Sun Jun 14 07:42:35 -0700 2009 4770980 55188 cortez 2 4771526 She's been there done that. She was taking a bullet on ABC. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/616999#4654154 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/590286#4352496 Sun Jun 14 08:46:51 -0700 2009 4771398 105235 wolfe 3 4771584 I always forget Boon Fly is in Napa. Since it is away from the city and on the road to Sonoma, I always think of it as in Sonoma. Sun Jun 14 09:09:42 -0700 2009 4771526 10264 rworange 3 4772512 wolfe: Thanks for the context and the background on the "breakfast in Napa" discussion. I hadn't seen those previous posts. Sun Jun 14 16:46:11 -0700 2009 4771526 55188 cortez 1 4772898 Well, that makes me sad. For old times sake, here's the photo of the bounteous eggs benedict with perfect crusty home fries I enjoyed at Alexis Baking Co. Hate to think that this is a thing of the past. http://home.earthlink.net/~melaniewong/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/abcbenedict.jpg What day of the week were you there? P.S. Two eggs with toast at Cafe Fanny w/o potatoes (which are $3.95 at ABC) is $6.25. So, the price difference is minimal and certainly not double. Sun Jun 14 19:54:14 -0700 2009 4770980 10039 Melanie Wong 2 4772998 I was hoping that someone who liked the place would post about what the liked. I don't remember any actual reports on Chowound, just always a positive mention when somoeone asks for breakfast in the area. Actually I went in there hoping to do a positive report with some detail. I was so focused on this being a good experience that the reality was like being doused with ice water ... in the morning. I went on a Saturay morning. The thing that struck me was the lack of thought here. If the menu is limited to three dishes, don't make three of the Mexican/Southwestern ... unless you are a Mexican restaurant. I went to yelp before posting to see if it was just me or an off day. Though the place gets a little more than a four star average (I know, I know), when you read the reviews it is like they removed all the good dishes from the menu. No eggs Benedict which get the positive mentions ... ricotta pancakes ... gone ... creme brulee French toast ... nuh, uh. I really don't mind paying obscene money for food, but there has to be something there. My long ago breakfast at Campton Place when Bradley Odgen was just starting out ... obscene, obscene, obscene prices. So simple I could never figure out what brought it to that level of greatnes. Yet decades later I remember it as being one of the top breakfasts in my life. T-Rex is pretty pricey, but there is something there ... and they serve you. Mama's isn't cheap and I don't love everything, but for the most part you are getting something for your bucks. The breaking point for me was the damn jam. It reminded me of the time I stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan and paid really big bucks for rooms service breakfast and got Folgers coffee and Smuckers jam .. still ticks me off. Sun Jun 14 20:43:42 -0700 2009 4772898 10264 rworange 3 5030600 Ack! Sorry to hear that, rw. I'd ask that you give it another shot and go on a Sunday when their full breakfast / lunch menu is out there. That's when the eggs benedict, lemon ricotta pancakes, quiches, etc. and other specials show up (and it's table service) It's also when they're the busiest since the locals are there for the same thing. We usually don't go there any other day for breakfast because the menu is so limited. The big Achilles Heel for ABC tends to be their service. They're usually fairly young, scrambling, sometimes clueless, talking too long to a customer they know, etc., and it's magnified by the Sunday rush. They could really use a strong restaurant manager. So, there's like a 25% chance that the service is going to be iffy. And of course, every restaurant can have a bad day. We've been there tons, and there have been times that they were off. I think one or two times my beloved eggs benedict came to me more hard-boiled than poached which was a bummer. But given how many times we've been there, the error rate seemed ok to me and well, we've already adjusted our expectations for the service. I know that's not much consolation if you make a long trip there and it gets goofed, but I'd encourage you to give it another shot for a Sunday breakfast/lunch. Mon Sep 14 23:22:19 -0700 2009 4772998 195255 napaeats 1 5039201 "Isn't there anywhere in the city of Napa that has a full breakfast the equal to Berkeley or San Francisco?" No. I have yet to make it to Boon Fly. And haven't been to ABC in a while - mostly because of the prices. I used to like the Mexican breakfast sandwich which at about $7 was much more reasonable than $11 for poached eggs. Yikes. Sorry it was so disappointing. I wonder if anyone has been to First Squeeze since Chino Yip took it back this summer? I thought he did a great job with your basic, eggy, potatoey, hangovery dishes. If I go out for breakfast in Napa it is to Buttercream - mostly for the ambiance and doughnuts - or Soscol cafe which makes my favorite huevos rancheros - and the duct tape on the seats at Soscol adds significantly to the greasy-spoon charm. Fri Sep 18 07:03:18 -0700 2009 4770980 12823 Junie D 2 5061265 For a nice breakfast or lunch try Gillwoods in the town center. Wildly popular with locals. Sun Sep 27 03:20:24 -0700 2009 5039201 157553 LMarella 1 5065463 You were in a small bakery in a tourist trap. I hope that lends some perspective. Model Bakery and Sweetie Pies are similar. Go to ABC for the baked goods, not the sit down menue. The blueberry buckle and orange coffee cake are some of the better choices. If you ever find yourself at Sweetie Pies please have a single roasted veggie tart. It is rich, satisfying, and beautiful. it is one of my favorite things to eat. Gilwoods (not my favorite) and Soscol Cafe, and Buttercream Bakery are much better eggs for breakfast type joints, but they won't sell you on style points. My favorite old standby , Mrs Macdonalds, is long gone. If I was feeling the need for a meat and egggs breakfast and I was near ABC I would hit Nations. It is a sad but truthful statement on what ABC is, and is not. I do not see how one can gripe about Mr Espresso Coffee. It is a better product than you will find at most places, including the Waldorf Astoria (sorry, but I just had to). Chez Panisse has been using it for years. It is also a staple in my kitchen and I get wonderful results whether I use my press or my Gaggia. If it isn't handled and processed properly you will get bad results. That is true with any beans. You know that we are smack dab in the middle of grape season? The peak of it? I don't know where those cobbers got their out of season grapes from, but it must be somewhere south of the tropics. Napa is sadly bereft of any charming or funky blue plate breakfast joints, regardless of price point. I have yet to try the Boonfly, but I don't hold out the high hopes others seem to offer. Mon Sep 28 18:35:46 -0700 2009 4770980 13725 Brandon Nelson 2 5065977 My visit was in June, so the grapes weren't local. However, speaking of grapes, Sweetie PIe's has their cabernet grape pie right now http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/560955 The thing with ABC was that I had been reading gushing breakfast reports for years on Chowhound.NapaEats has been a reliable blog for food in that area, so maybe I'll give them a try on the weekend some day. It took me a few years to get there the first time, but I'll keep it circulating somewher in a to try list. The Waldorf had some of the worst coffee I've had in my life ... and at some outrageous room service prices. IIRC, it was Folgers or something similar. But then again I was appalled by the state of coffee in general on the East Coast. I like strong coffee with Graffeo dark roast still my favorite after trying it seems everything everywhere in the Bay Area. No matter where I've had Mr. Espresso, Sweet Adeline, Tartine, Chez Panisse, etc, etc it is just too bland and one-dimensional for me. So I don't think it is method but rather not what I look for in coffee. Boonfly is good, but with Fremont Diner a few miles down the road, I'd only stop by on Sunday when Fremont is closed. Mon Sep 28 23:48:50 -0700 2009 5065463 10264 rworange 3 5065994 California table grapes have a harvest season of June thru November. One of the things I do at work is keep country of origin lables up to date, so I am aware of the change.. They might have been Mexican, but June was too late for Chilean grapes this year. California don't get good until August. Most are bad because they are picked too soon. The sugar is the last component to develope. As soon as growers grapes get to a mature size the want to pick them, whether they are ready or not. Mr Espresso coffees tend to be blended Italian roasts. They are much better pulled as espresso then as drip (by someone who knows what they are doing). They lose a lot of their back palette and acidic profile if they aren't pulled under pressure or they are kept too long. I tend to avoid french roasts. I have too much $ invested in a great grinder and espresso machine. French roasts are more stable than lighter roasts, but they make bad espresso. Great link for that pie. That sounds awesome! Tue Sep 29 00:16:35 -0700 2009 5065977 13725 Brandon Nelson 1 5066390 Alexis is one of the most overrated and disappointing of the Napa ""cutesy"' set. Yuppies abound, but a local rarely crosses the step to go into the hot crowded interior. And the food, 'forget it.' Tue Sep 29 07:16:59 -0700 2009 4770980 1110632 PYTHONCHARLY