One Last Meal in Ventura Before Heading Home

Cafe Nouveau

1497 East Thompson Blvd. 

Ventura, CA 93001

Weekend getaways always seem to go by way too fast. We were at the end of our little three-day mini-vacay in Ventura, but we first needed to have one last meal before we attempted the 120-mile drive back to OC. We hurriedly packed up, checked out of our hotel room, and made a beeline for the much-acclaimed Cafe Nouveau. 

Cafe Nouveau is pretty much an institution in these parts. They are the third most reviewed restaurant on Yelp and have a very impressive 4 and a half stars with over 1,700 reviews and counting. They are also perenially on many best-of lists by the media of  Ventura County. All of this from a restaurant that is removed from the downtown zone plucked right in a residential area. 

I had a feeling we were in for a great Ventura sendoff because there was nearly a half an hour wait for a table at 9am on a Sunday morning. Cafe Nouveau is housed in a Spanish style converted home. The space kind of reminded me of Ramos House Cafe, which is back home in OC. Much like that spot, Cafe Nouveau has been around for going on almost two decades. As our quoted wait time was almost up, we were ushered inside the gate to a table nestled alongside the fence and the building, so I did not get the total lay of the land when it came to experiencing the space. I had a feeling the food was going to make up for that. 

This is primarily a breakfast and lunch spot, but they do offer dinner service Wednesday through Saturday. The four-page breakfast menu offers a full array of selections to choose from. The first page features specials and is followed by egg dishes, scrambles, pancakes, waffles, french toast, traditional breakfast plates, and omelets to round things out. It was difficult to narrow down my choices, but here's what we came up with before we tackled the freeways on the way home. 

All during our weekend, we asked our servers what we should get when visiting Cafe Nouveau, and it was unanimous that we should get the Maple Bacon Beignets ($6.99). Once again, restaurant workers did not lead us astray. These were delicious. I've had good, bad, and average beignets, and these were some of the best I've had. These puffy balls were placed in a shallow pool of maple syrup, and topped with real pieces of smoky bacon, and dusted with plenty of powdered sugar. They lacked any grease, so they were light and airy, while the sugar and syrup supplied a burst of sweetness which was tempered perfectly by the savory bacon. If you don't try these when you come here, we are not friends anymore. 

Next up is Katie's selection for her first meal of the day, the Bacon, Gorgonzola, and Caramelized Onion Frittata ($14.99). This is listed under their special section of the menu, so I'm not exactly sure how often that they have this, but Katie found this to be wonderful. The frittata was very creamy and the big flavors of the bacon, onions, and gorgonzola enhanced the well-crafted egg portion of the dish. This came with a bread item, and since Katie is doing the keto thing, I got to choose this Blueberry Corn Muffin. This was baked nicely, and because it had corn incorporated in it, it was a little less sweet than your typical blueberry muffin. They also served this with plenty of creamy butter, which always makes everything even better. 

Okay, I know it seems that we did not make it past the specials page of the menu, but I also picked from the specials. My pick was the Eggs Creole ($16.99). This twist on regular eggs benedict still used an English muffin as its base but was then layered with a shrimp, crab, and seafood cake, spicy tomato sauce, poached egg, and then finished off with hollandaise sauce. This had a lot going on, but each ingredient stayed in its lane. The seafood cake was delicious, with some pretty good-sized pieces of crab that I could detect. I was not sure how the tomato sauce would work here, but it was kind of like a cocktail sauce with more volume and a great deal of spice. The hollandaise and the poached egg rounded things out nicely. I found myself savoring each bite more and more as I ate this. I went with the scalloped potatoes for my potato choice, and they were nicely seasoned and tender. Way better than the boxed version that scarred me growing up. 

I was expecting good things from Cafe Nouveau, but the breakfast here even exceeded my expectations. Everything that we ordered was delicious and included big-time flavors. When we make it back to Ventura I look forward to coming back here for sure and exploring more of their menu. The Peanut Butter, Bacon, and Banana French Toast Sandwich, Oreo Cookie Pancakes, and scrambles will definitely entice my return. The service was warm and friendly, and I really enjoyed the homey vibe that was prevalent during our stay. A great way to close out our weekend getaway. 

Out of five poinsettias, (because this holiday flower is the official flower of the city of Ventura, and also appears on its city seal), five being best to zero being worst, Cafe Nouveau gets 4 poinsettias. 

For more information about Cafe Nouveau, head to their website here: http://www.cafenouveau.net/#