Cafe De Olla
2315 W. Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506
So we made it through another raucous family get together. After getting to bed just before 2am, the last thing you want to do is wake the sleep out of your eyes, check out of your hotel, find parking, and fight the crowd at a popular breakfast spot. Luckily, we found Cafe De Olla that helped alleviate a little of the hassle of waking up after far too many cocktails the night before.
Cafe De Olla has an online check-in system through Yelp, which allows you to place your name on their waitlist from your comfy hotel bed. This seems to be necessary because Cafe De Olla is a very small restaurant and they are very popular, especially on Sunday mornings. When I woke from my slumber at 9:45, they already had an hour and a half wait for their ten table restaurant. I quickly put our name in and we were all set to meet our good friend Rosanna at the restaurant just after our checkout time.
Cafe De Olla has been in business for three years now. In that time this family owned business has been mentioned as one of the best breakfast spots in Burbank and amassed a very respectable four and a half stars on Yelp with well over 1,400 reviews and counting. Their website describes their cuisine as traditional Mexican and American food, which I feel has definitely resonated with the citizens of Burbank, as the nearly two hour wait times can attest to on weekends.
Unlike a lot of breakfast-centric spots, Cafe De Olla does serve dinner Wednesday thru Saturdays, but of course, we were here for a breakfast that we hoped would give us enough energy to battle the traffic back down the 5 Freeway home to OC. The menu features plenty in the way of omelets, french toast, egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos, pancakes, and what I had zeroed in on Mexican breakfast staples. Let's see if what they say is true, is Cafe Olla really a great breakfast option in Burbank.
Our fantastic friend Rosanna started things off for us with her selection on this morning, The All In One Burrito ($7.75). This three-egg burrito also included hash browns, avocado, bacon, sausage, ham, cheese, and salsa on the side. I always enjoy when a breakfast burrito includes avocado and as an added bonus the holy trinity of breakfast meats. This was a pretty good sized burrito, maybe a little too much potato, but otherwise pretty solid. Not very greasy at all, this started Rosanna's morning off right, which was already going great because she got to have breakfast with two of her most favorite people.
Katie was feeling like something light for her first meal of the day, so she gave their Yogurt and Fruit ($8.50) a whirl. This was an item from Cafe De Olla's green menu, which featured lighter fare and items that are geared towards the more health conscious among us. Katie's meal came with plenty of cut fruit, yogurt, honey, and granola. This totally hit the spot for her. She loved the fresh fruit and the contrast between the smooth yogurt and the crunch from the granola. She rounded out her meal with a Side of Rye Bread ($1.50).
I definitely needed a little more heft to my breakfast than Katie, and I love Mexican breakfasts, so after some inner debate, I got this Machaca Con Huevo ($11.25). This version of one of my favorite dishes included three eggs, shredded beef, tomato, jalapeno, and onions. This was a very mellow machaca. There were no big pops of flavor that I was anticipating from the jalapeno and this machaca was in finely shredded pieces. I like bigger pieces of beef so you can taste it better, but still, this was pretty good, just not great. The rice was mediocre, but the beans shined at Cafe De Olla. Obviously made here, they were smooth and silky and the cheese on top went well with them.
I left Cafe De Olla feeling pretty good about our visit. It was not earth-shatteringly great food, but a very solid breakfast joint. I'd definitely come back and maybe try their chilaquiles or pancake breakfasts next time. Service was fair for how busy they were on this particular late Sunday morning. What I really enjoyed the most about Cafe De Olla was the reservation process, and how I could check in online from our hotel room, which allowed us to get a few extra winks. Until next time Burbank.
Out of five route canals, (because the city of Burbank is named after David Burbank, who originally was a dentist but when he bought 9,200 acres in the city that now bears his name he left dentistry to become a sheep farmer), five being best to zero being worst, Cafe De Olla gets 3 route canals.
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