For the Love of...: …Vendome Café (Calgary)

Overall - 7.5/10
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Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10

I like breakfast as much as the next guy. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hollandaise sauce are all delicious in my books, but the thought of waiting outside a boutique breakfast restaurant for 2 hours is a huge deterrent. Especially when I could be sitting down to plates of dim sum or a steaming bowl of Vietnamese pho in the time in takes to even get your name down on the hostess' list.

For these reasons we've really avoided those ultra popular brunch spots like the plague. It wasn't until we both had a day off in the middle of week that we had a chance to sit down for some bennies. We chose Vendome Café which is essentially an upscale coffee shop that serves breakfast items, sandwiches and even charcuterie. The food was decent enough, but the prices were a bit steep and in general we are not in a rush to come back for breakfast.  However, we would consider coming back to have a coffee/tea/beer on the patio on a sunny day.

The salmon gravlax eggs benedict was served on a freshly baked, crusty focaccia- a nice change from the usual limp English muffin.  The salmon was cured in-house and tasted of a nice smoky flavour.  The eggs were perfectly done and the hollandaise sauce was not overly heavy as it tends to be at other locales.  The eggs benedict is served with hash browns and ketchup.  Tip: I recommend pairing this with the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer instead of a coffee for the full hipster experience.

Chrissy initially wanted the mushroom eggs benedict but they ran out, so she settled on the classic eggs benedict which is served over cured ham with a sprinkling of smoked paprika and green onion.  This dish was satisfying but nothing special.  However, we might be biased because we don't really crave breakfast food to begin with and only have it on occasion.