Brother Charlie will be leaving to Turkey for 2-weeks, I like to call it "a soul-searching voyage with possible epiphanies" while I'm sure Brother Charlie will simply call it "a trip". The first thing that goes through my selfish mind is 'awww my food buddy!' And then quickly 'who's going to drive me around?!' And then very slowly crawls by 'I guess I'll have to bike around town... maybe I'll lose a few pounds!' Yes, yes, these are the sad thoughts of a Tummy comforter.
One last meal before Brother Charlie takes flight? Yes, of course! And we decided to make it memorable by venturing out to Los Feliz or more specifically Atwater Village to check out the Village bakery and cafe, which just so happens... to have 4.5 stars and 200-something reviews on Yelp. We go there semi-excited and ready for some good food, perhaps this was the problem? Or perhaps Yelp was the problem? Maybe all the Yelpers were the problem? Well, whatever the problem was, the Village bakery and cafe didn't quite deliver to our expectations. But turn those frowns upside down this post is not yet over and I still have positive information or two worth reading!
Upon walking in through the front doors customers are greeted with a display of pastries and goodies of all kinds. I notice that the pastries here are not your everyday makings, very exciting Chocolate Pumpkin mini bundt cakes, donut muffins?! - I've just died and gone to heaven right? But it doesn't stop there, Brioche cinnamon rolls, lemon thyme cake- and they all look fabulously delicious.
You order at the counter and get your food served at the table. The interior is comfortable, casual, homy, welcoming. A large communal table sits in the middle of the next room, along with counter sitting space and plenty of two-tops. Everyone is sitting on their laptops, drinking coffee, eating, talking... not loudly nor quietly, it's one of those places, a comfortable space for one to sit, drink, eat and work. And I think to myself, this is probably one of the reasons why people love it at the Village.
Naturally, Brother Charlie and I try their Mocha. Nothing has ever, and in my mind, 'will ever' compare to the mocha at Midi Cafe- I have now accepted that this is a fact of life. But the mocha here is no where near bad and is actually quite good, foamy at top, and tastes of 55% chocolate-ness and 45% milky-ness.
I order from the "Specials" menu, the tri-tip hash, and mainly order this for lack of wanting anything else on the menu, at least this sounded interesting. Pieces of tri-tip mixed with sauteed mushroom, spinach and squash, with scrambled eggs. When I receive my plate I am a bit confused and a bit excited, confused because I assumed my eggs would be on the side, not on top and a bit excited because my eggs are sitting on top and not on the side.
Unfortunately, the dish was a disappointment. The tri-tip chewy, the eggs fairly plain, nothing to write about, how funny is that? And though the ingredients of the dish is really interesting, topped with eggs? Makes it very interesting! The taste was not however. Perhaps there could have been a way to make it so, but the flavor of the ingredients did not blend very well, it was comparable to that of stir-fry topped with eggs- I have no idea if such a dish exists, but if it did I'm sure it would be very similar to this. I did not want stir-fry topped with eggs... I wanted something more wet, I wanted the ingredients to soak into each other... I wanted.... something more like... something like... jambalaya topped with eggs!
And if I thought for a second that I would find solace in a nice piece of toast with jam, boy was I wrong. The jam, similar to it's color, tasted like cherry flavored cough syrup.
Brother Charlie made the wise decision today, sticking to something that can rarely ever be F'ed up, buttermilk pancakes baby! It was, of course, way better than my Tri-tip hash.
I have a few vital positive information on this trip however disappointed I was with the food, I loved the wall paper- thought it was darling, I loved the fact that you can sit, eat, drink and work on your laptop comfortably, and I especially love the lemon thyme cake I took home with me- it was absolutely delicious!
And while at home taking large bites out of the lemon thyme cake, I realized that the meals may be so-so at The Village but this is not why one goes there, it's for the PASTRIES! I look forward to venturing out to Atwater once again, but this time to get my fill on their bountiful and interesting selections of cakes, pies, muffins and things.
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| Another funny face, and of course, this damn shirt! |
The Damage: $26.00 +/-
2 12oz Mochas
1 Buttermilk pancakes
1 Tri-tip hash special
3119 Los Feliz Blvd.
Atwater Village, CA 90039
(323) 662.8600
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