Posts Tagged ‘Breakfast’

Le Boulanger

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by virginia

Before heading out on the road from Claire and Sean’s apartment to South Lake Tahoe, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Le Boulanger, a bakery/cafe that has locations all over the Bay Area. The branch that we went to has a big glass wall through which we were able to watch them making fresh bread. It was kind of neat to see a giant mound of dough and the various machines used to shape and bake the bread.

Big mound of dough in front of a bread machine

There were lots of baked goods on display in a glass case in the front where you order. They looked pretty good but we wanted something a bit heartier.

Baked goods on display

Josh and I decided to go halfsies on two different breakfast sandwiches. The first was the bacon cheddar sandwich, which had an egg omelette, bacon, cheddar and Italian cheeses. It’s supposed to be served on a bagel but Josh didn’t want to have a non-NY/NJ bagel so he opted for a croissant instead, which was a good choice. The croissant was light and flakey and paired well with the rest of the ingredients.

Bacon cheddar omelette sandwich on a croissant

The other sandwich we had was the Italian frittata. This sandwich featured an egg omelette, sausage, roasted red peppers, and provolone cheese on a ciabatta roll. The sausage was mild and not too overpowering, which was good for me since I don’t always like sausage, and the peppers added a nice brightness.

Italian frittata omelette sandwich

Josh had regular coffee but I decided to get a caffe mocha, which was the perfect combination of coffee and chocolate – not to sweet and not too bitter. The whipped cream on top was a nice touch.

Delicious caffe mocha

Overall I really liked Le Boulanger, even though I typically stay away from chain cafe/bakeries (like Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain). The bread was obviously super fresh and the sandwiches were made to order so they were hot and all the right textures. It’s not too pricey and there was plenty of seating in the restaurant so it’s a great place to hang out with a cup of coffee and a pastry. I would definitely come back, and maybe next time I’ll get to try the award-winning sourdough bread.

Le Boulanger (multiple locations)
305 N Mathilda Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA

Vegas Day 1 – Studio Cafe

Friday, June 5th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN8568

I flew out late Thursday night after work so I didn’t arrive in Vegas until nearly midnight (3 am eastern time). The flight out was tiring, as it was full of college-aged kids already in party mode who couldn’t wait until drink service so that they could buy ridiculous quantities of beer/wine from the flight attendants. Needless to say, I didn’t get much rest on the flight, so for a late dinner (since they don’t serve food on the plane these days) I just grabbed a quick club sandwich from the Studio Cafe in the MGM Grand Casino to take back to our room.

I was too tired to think clearly and forgot to take a picture of it, but it definitely was the strangest club sandwich I’ve ever seen. It had the standard turkey/ham/bacon/cheese combo, along with nonstandard alfalfa sprouts and half an avocado (not slices, literally half an avocado), and it was a triple-decker, but it was on a roll, not on toast or bread, and it wasn’t cut into quarters. So basically it looked like a Big Mac, but with club ingredients. Regardless, I was starving and scarfed it down, along with the accompanying fries.

The next morning, since it was Friday, Josh still had to go to work so I dragged myself out of bed and accompanied him to breakfast, also at the Studio Cafe. I wasn’t too hungry so I decided to be adventurous and order an omelet called the Quiche Lorraine, which had tons of fillings, including the standard onions, bacon and cheese found in a typical quiche lorraine. The waitress made a point to ask me if I was sure that I knew it was omelet, not actually a quiche, so I guess a lot of people have been confused by that before. When it arrived, I couldn’t believe how enormous it was.

"Quiche Lorraine" omelet

"Quiche Lorraine" omelet

The eggs were wrapped around the fillings, not mixed in, so it was kind of like eating a giant crepe made from scrambled eggs. There was also an onion mixture on top that tasted like Lipton’s French onion soup dip. It was pretty interesting, but a lot to handle after only getting a few hours of sleep. It was very rich and I could only get through about a third of it. The hash browns were fantastic though, a compressed cake of super crispy and hot shredded potatoes.

Omelet innards

Omelet innards

I think Josh was sick of eating at the same breakfast place every day for the last two weeks so he just went with a plain waffle that came with strawberry cream on the side. Good, but boring. He didn’t even want to try a bite of my omelet. Poor boy, I guess one can get sick of eating out all the time? I don’t get to go on business trips so I’ll never know!

Waffle with strawberry cream on the side

Waffle with strawberry cream on the side

Overall the Studio Cafe is a good place to get a quick snack while you’re at the casino, but it is by no means a dining destination in Vegas.

Studio Cafe
At the MGM Grand
Las Vegas, NV