Brunch in the City - The Cliff House Bistro

My good friends Dinah and Karen took me out for brunch at The Cliff House on Saturday. It was a cool spring Saturday morning where the sky was blue and not a fog on the horizon. It was a perfect day to be at The Cliff House.

Of course, the company and catching up with friends were the highlight of the brunch. Thank you for the treat Karen and Dinah!

The Cliff House is a landmark restaurant in the city. As a landmark restaurant, it is definitely a favorite among out of towners and tourists. Though Mijo and I have only been to The Cliff House twice, it is not that we are avoiding the tourist crowd but because it is hard to get to from our neighborhood. It is on the outer end of the city.

The food here is consistently good but the real draw of this place for me is the ocean views. It is good for celebrating a special day with loved ones or for catching up with friends.

Dinah, Karen and I got a 9:30am reservation. We got seated right away when we got to the restaurant. Nice homey decor, high ceilings, well lit dining area and ocean views from the windows.

If you happen to be waiting for a table and the wait is longer than 30 mins, get a bar seat and order a glass of mimosa while waiting.

While deciding on what to order, we were greeted by these tasty pop-overs and cups of coffees.

This is what the pop-overs look like inside. They are neither savory nor sweet so they are perfect with butter, marmalaides or fruit preserves.

[read my blog about pop overs at Wayfare Tavern, November 2012]

We ordered the following for breakfast. We sort of ordered a lot of food. Gasp!

This is Seafood Omelet which is scallops, bay shrimps, green onions and mushrooms. I only sampled a tine bit of this one because I tried this one at the very end when I was already getting full. I brought this home and Mijo liked it!

This is Joe's Special Scramble which included sauteed ground beef, mushrooms, spinach, onions and topped with parmesan cheese. I chose this because it has meat in it. The mushroom flavor always goes well with beef and spinach. The potatoes were tasty, as well.

The photo below is called Eggs San Francisco and it was my favorite that day. It is made of poached eggs, dungeness crab, toasted sourdough bread and brandy cream sauce. I guess, you can never go wrong with me when dungeness crab is one of the ingredients.

Lastly, we ordered this sourdough bread French toast for dessert. When I tried this, it was something new because I never had a sourdough bread as French toast.  I usually like my sourdough bread smothered with butter and a layer of sweet jam over it. The sour taste of the bread blends well with the creamy taste of the butter and sweet fruity taste of the jam.  Anyway, I was already so full when I tried this so I only sample a half slice.

There is brunch and then there is the amazing views...

This is the view from the windows. We didn't get a window seat but that's okay. We wanted to catch up and we didn't want to get distracted with these breathtaking views.

This view of the Ocean Beach is looking south from the restaurant. 

This view of the Sutro Baths ruins is looking north from Point Lobos.

I would go to the Cliff House for the views and what the history behind the landmark. Thanks Karen and Dinah for the treat and the great company!

~rl