Birchwood Cafe and Cake Eater

After some absence on the blog, I am back and ready to continue on with my take on the local dining scene.  While the absence does not mean I was eating at home, I think I'll just start with more recent visits versus trying to recreate some of the great meals I've had over the last month.

Yesterday we found ourselves in the area of Birchwood Cafe.  It had been a couple of years since I had been there and was ready to give it another chance.  I can't quite remember the reason why it wasn't high on my list of places to go to, but it simply wasn't. 

We arrived late for breakfast and early for lunch.  We could have ordered either, but we both went with a lunch option.  I ordered the Curried Egg Salad Sandwich and the hubby ordered the Avocado, Pepita, and Turkey Salad Sandwich.  I hesitated to order the egg salad due to the curry in the description.  It's not that I don't like curry, I just wasn't sure I would like it with egg salad. 

I was delighted with my egg salad.  It was served with Fischer Farm Bacon, roasted tomatoes and microgreens on sourdough bread.  The egg salad had large chunks of egg in a very yellow creamy sauce.  It tasted fresh and the bacon was an added treat for the sandwich.  I did not notice any taste of curry in the egg salad - not sure if I missed it, don't know what curry really tastes like, or what.  I thoroughly enjoyed the sandwich.  The sandwich was served with Blue Corn tortilla chips and salsa.  I found the chips to be a little on the salty side.  The salsa had pockets of spice, but for the most part was a nice dipping sauce for the chips.  I ended up sharing a portion of my chips with the hubby and focused on my sandwich.

The hubby enjoyed his turkey salad sandwich.  It was served on toasted Birchwood Multigrain bread with Avocado Spread, Red Onion, Cilantro, Watermelon Radish and Bibb Lettuce.  He offered me a bite of the sandwich, but I was happy with mine and passed on the opportunity.  He did mention the avocado spread having a lemony taste to it and the watermelon radish was interesting to look at. 

His sandwich also provided us with an opportunity to discuss the extreme love or hate that people have of cilantro.  Julia Child hated cilantro.  Some of those who hate it think it tastes like soap.  Sadly, I must admit I'm not a "super taster" by any stretch of the imagination and so don't mind cilantro on things, but I really don't taste it either.  (Hmmm...maybe there was curry in that egg salad.)

The restaurant itself was hopping.  All tables were full of people finishing off breakfast, grabbing a pastry and a cup of coffee, or grabbing an early lunch.  The restaurant is pretty small for the business it does.  There is talk of moving across the street to a larger location.  That would definitely help. 

My biggest issue with Birchwood Cafe is the price.  Our sandwiches each cost $10.  If we wanted a side salad instead of chips, it would have been an extra $1.50.  Sure the sandwiches were good, but the prices are rather steep for sandwiches.  They don't seem to have a lot of options either, so be ready to spend some money.  I'm sure the cost is due to the fact that their food is local.  It likely costs more to shop and serve local foods.  So I won't complain too much given that we were helping the local economy. 

We then wondered over to the newly opened Cake Eater Bakery.  This is a small little store on a corner of a neighborhood - about 3 blocks down from Birchwood Cafe.  There are only 4 tables inside, so it's not a place to linger.  They have awesome cupcakes!  I went with the strawberry rhubarb and the hubby went with the lemon raspberry cupcake.  They were seriously delicious! 

We like our cupcakes and try a variety from around the city.  Some cupcakes are served right out of a cooler which makes the icing taste like shortening and the cake a little dry.  Not so with Cake Eater Bakery!  These cupcakes were fresh and at room temperature!  The cake almost fell apart it was so moist.  Behold....the Cake Eater cupcake...

We will be back!
 
Happy Eating!