Brunch in the East Bay – Corners Tavern

What do you do when your friends who are super busy were suddenly available one weekend? In my case, I’d take that moment to meet up with them for a delightful brunch. That’s exactly what I did and met up with Dinah and Karen.

There is this new-ish restaurant bar that Dinah wanted to try called Corners Tavern. Once again, Dinah suggested an overall great place – maybe minus the rocking table and the flies.


The restaurant is in the vibrant shopping area of Walnut Creek, a suburb of San Francisco in the East Bay. One of the things I like about this city is that it is urban and having a great shopping and dining scene. I've had great brunches and dinners on this side of the Bay – Va de Vi, Prima, Artisan Bistro, Katy’s Creek to name a few. Corners Tavern is at the edge of the shopping complex on Broadway Plaza. The restaurant has lots of natural lighting from an entire wall of glass windows from ceiling to floor. I was told that on warmer days during summer, that wall retracts to fully open the dining area giving it an al fresco feel. The décor is a good combination of rustic, modern and country.
 
I started with this drink. I forgot what it is called but I am calling it a blueberry mimosa because it is a mix of sparkling white wine and fresh blueberry juice. Refreshing! And it is good to look at. It came garnished with orange peel and a raspberry.

We first ordered this Farmer’s Lunch which included slices of country pate, morbier, greens and two slices of grilled baguette served on a wooden pizza pan. The bitter after taste of the morbier cheese heightened the subtle flavors of the pate. There were only two slices of breads but there were three of us sharing. Rather than asking for more sliced baguette, this led us instead to order the bread basket. It also came with fresh arugula salad.
 
Croissant BLT, aioli, bacon, lettuce, avocado, fried egg and seared brussel sprouts. The creamy and buttery taste of the croissant BLT went well with the bitter taste of the brussel sprouts that came with hints of balsamic vinegar. At this point in our brunch, I was already thinking that contrasting flavors is what the menu is all about – sweet and bitter, creamy and bitter, etc. Just a hunch so don’t quote me on this.

This Brioche French toast came garnished with slices of marinated (or maybe seared in butter) pear and maple syrup. This was good too though I was already getting full by the time we started sharing this dessert.
 
The Housemade breakfast pastries basket, as you can see, did not come served in a basket. They are good carb addition to our breakfast. I am not sure if they bake the breads in the restaurants. I can also say that these semi sweet breads were perfect with the semi bitter morbier cheese and also good paired with the butter and fruit jams. 

Though there was an unusual number of flies inside the restaurant and our table was wobbly, the overall dining experience we had was pretty good.

~rl