Pardon My French, We’re at Bonjour Cafe in Dana Point

 Bonjour Cafe

24633 Del Prado Ave. 

Dana Point, CA 92629

I did a quick little search about what a French breakfast typically comprises. The average Parisian eats a lighter first meal of the day than their counterparts in the US. A croissant or a slice of bread with butter or jam, crepes, or yogurt are commonplace. They save their big meals for later in the day. This makes perfect sense because when I eat a breakfast of country-fried steak or pancakes, I suddenly feel the overwhelming need for a nap. Am I going to change my breakfast habits? You already know the answer; there's no chance. 

We had just finished walking in Dana Point Harbor and needed a place to refuel after our strenuous two-mile walk. My manager at work has always raved about Bonjour Cafe, so we plugged the address into our GPS and headed over to the Lantern District to give them a try on a recent Sunday morning. 

Bonjour Cafe has been around since 1992 when Pascal and Sandy LeVette wanted to create an affordable place for locals, employ a welcoming and consistent staff, and provide a good meal. The area was revitalized over the ensuing years, and the people of Dana Point and some out-of-town guests flocked to their little storefront near the corner of Violet Lantern and Del Prado. This past year, Pascal and Sandy decided to retire but found a buyer for their restaurant in a longtime server at their establishment, Cristian Gutierrez. 

This helped maintain the restaurant's continuity. There were no big shakeups in the staff. The menu stayed basically the same, and there did not seem to be any drop-off customer-wise, as they seemed to be busy, especially on the patio in front of the restaurant, which is packed most days. We were seated right away inside, right near the window. 

The menu items are listed in French, but the descriptions are all in English, so it's an easy menu to read. The one-page breakfast menu features five versions of eggs benedict, quiche, avocado toast, omelets, crepes, and French toast. Most items hover between the $15 to $20 range. Since we were so hungry, we quickly made our selections. Here's what we ate at Bonjour Cafe. 

I always like something a little sweet with my savory breakfast, so Katie and I decided to start with the Pastry Assortment ($6.99) at Bonjour Cafe. Included in the basket were a cinnamon roll, a chocolate chip twist, a custard croissant, and a cranberry twist. As is the case when eating authentic pastries from other parts of the world, these were less sweet than their counterparts from the US. They still did the trick, though. I enjoyed the chocolate chip twist the best and was surprised that the custard croissant was square and flat instead of what I'm used to a croissant looking like. Each of these tasted similar, as I believe that they used the same dough for each one. It's alright, but it's different from what I expected.  

They also brought out this bread basket as if we needed more carbs. Bread baskets are uncommon at breakfast, but we will never refuse more bread. It was presliced and came with some packaged butter. Nothing earth-shatteringly great, but we quickly scarfed this down right before our breakfast arrived. 

First was Katie's Brittany Omelet ($20). This large omelet was filled with smoked ham, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese. The cheese was not used in overabundance, so the ham and eggs could stand out more. She felt this omelet was much lighter than others from other breakfast spots. Katie is not a big mushroom girl, but she found these delicious and helped bring an earthiness to most bites. The potatoes were seasoned well; since they were not uniformly cut, they had different textures, which was pleasing. 

My manager at work always raves about the benedicts at Bonjour Cafe, so the Smoked Ham Benedict ($17 plus $4.50 for a side of potatoes) was a must-have. This benedict forgoes the typical English muffin for country bread as its base, then piles on the thinly sliced ham, perfectly poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce and chives to top everything off. I liked the use of bread instead of the usual hard-to-cut-through English muffin. The poached eggs melted into the ham wonderfully, but I did have one problem with this benedict, the hollandaise sauce. It was very thin and lacked the flavor punch you expect from hollandaise sauce. 

Even with the rather dull hollandaise sauce, Bonjour Cafe is worth seeking out if you want a French breakfast spot. Their prices are a few dollars higher than most places, but the portion sizes are not skimpy, and they use some quality ingredients. We experienced some excellent service during this visit, as they came to check on us regularly. It's good to eat a lighter breakfast occasionally, but I'll always be true to my US breakfast roots. Next week, it'll be country-fried steak and eggs with an extra side of bacon. 'Murcia

 Out of five pencil sharpeners (because the pencil sharpener was invented in France in 1828), five being best to zero being worst, Bonjour Cafe gets 3 pencil sharpeners. 

For more information about Bonjour Cafe, head to their website by clicking here: http://www.bonjourcafe.com/