Filling Our Pie Holes in Los Alamitos

 Gourmet Pie and Cafe

5350 Katella Ave. 

Los Alamitos, CA 90720

Fresh off our brisk pace of one hour and three minutes in our latest 5K race along the beautiful coastline of Long Beach, we needed a place to refuel before going home and taking a much deserved nap. A quick search of Yelp brought us to Gourmet Pie and Cafe in nearby Los Alamitos. 

Gourmet Pie and Cafe's story started in nearby Cypress in 1984. It was founded by Tony, Ruthie, and their son, Mike Richards. Back then they were primarily a bakery, but they slowly added some of their family's favorite meals to their menu. In 2004, they relocated to their present spot on Katella Avenue, across from Costco. 

When walking into Gourmet Pie, Bar 29 is off to the left, and the name refers to the temperature at which they serve their beer. The bakery case is right behind the hostess stand, and features an assortment of pies, cakes, and cookies. We chose to sit in the dining room, with booths lining the walls and traditional tables in the center. I was surprised that we did not have to wait for a table at 9am on a Sunday morning, but this restaurant is bigger than it appears from the outside. 

Breakfast is served until 2pm at Gourmet Pie and Cafe. The menu here is relatively large, with very few surprises to anyone who has eaten in a coffee shop. The menu includes omelets, egg dishes, house specialties, French toasts, waffles, Mexican breakfast items, and pancakes. As of this writing, nothing on their breakfast menu has surpassed the $20 mark, but with egg prices skyrocketing, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they reach that threshold. Let's see what we ordered to celebrate another 5K in the books. 

I'm a sucker for breakfast items with the most ingredients included in them. The Mexi-Mess Potatoes ($14.40) fit that criteria rather nicely. This starts with a base of bacon and potatoes sauteed with green chili, cheese, onions, and mushrooms, then topped with salsa, two eggs, avocado, and sour cream. See, lots of things going on here. The serving size was larger than most places, and they were not stingy with the bacon and cheese included here. I would have liked the potatoes to be a little crisper to give this a little diversity when it comes to texture. Even though I was famished when I sat down, I took half of this home and had it for lunch the next day. Still good.   

After drinking almost a gallon of liquids after sitting down, Katie was ready for something with more substance. She chose the Spinach, Avocado, and Mushroom Omelet ($15.40). I'm guessing by the size that it was a three egg omelet. Katie enjoyed this omelet, which was not overstuffed with cheese, so it allowed the veggies to be the star of the show here. She also ordered a Side of Bacon ($4.95), which she crumbled onto her plate. I was lucky enough to get an extra strip for my meal also. You can never have enough bacon is my mantra. She also got rye bread with her meal. 

A place called the Gourmet Pie and Cafe, and we did not get pie? Yeah, I opted to order the Cinnamon Roll ($3.35) for here and the Chocolate Chip Cookie ($1.95) on the way out for later. The cinnamon roll was nicely done with plenty of sugary icing on top and a good amount of cinnamon inside the folds of the roll. This brought back memories of the Hostess cinnamon rolls I had as a kid before school. I loved those things. This one was bigger and better though. The cookie was a letdown though. As you can see from the picture, chocolate chips were seriously lacking. A few were on the bottom, but this was a boring chocolate chip cookie. 

Gourmet Pie and Cafe was a good breakfast option in this area. I would not classify this as destination dining, as I don't foresee us traveling all the way from South OC to eat breakfast here, but if we were in the area, I wouldn't mind returning to try more of their breakfast options. Our server was pleasant, and it seemed like she'd been here for quite a while, as she knew many of the customers that populated the dining room. Thanks, Gourmet Pie and Cafe, for nourishing us enough so we could get home and recuperate from our grueling 5K. 

Out of five rodeo clowns (because across the street from this restaurant is the Los Alamitos Race Course, which features quarter horses, which are also a popular breed on the rodeo circuit as well), five being best to zero being worst, Gourmet Pie and Cafe gets 3 rodeo clowns. 

For more information about Gourmet Pie and Cafe, head to their website by clicking here: https://gourmetpieandcafe.com/