Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, Palo Alto

I had big (eating) plans this weekend: 1) Nopa for dinner on Saturday night and 2) Bakesale Betty for lunch on Sunday. Want to guess how many of those plans happened? (Answer: Zero.)

Plan 1: Nopa, you and I can never seem to get it together. And by you and I, I mean me. I was all psyched to finally have dinner at Nopa (see: here) but forgot we had made plans to babysit. Oops. Another canceled reservation. When we finally get to eat dinner there, maybe in 2014, they are going to have to work really hard to live up to my expectations. 

Plan 2:  We were supposed to head over to Emeryville to go to Ikea, and then reward ourselves with Bakesale Betty, which I have still never had.  As we got on the 101, at 10am on Sunday morning, we were greeted with a sign saying that 3 lanes on the bridge were closed. We got on anyway, saw the traffic, and decided to head South instead, to the Ikea in Palo Alto. Goodbye, Bakesale Betty..... maybe some other day. 

We still needed to reward ourselves for spending our Sunday morning at Ikea, so we decided to hit up Mayfield Bakery and Cafe. Mayfield is part of the Spruce/Cafe Des Amis family, but I don't think you'd guess that if you didn't know.  The vibe in there just feels really different than their other restaurants. Here's a picture to prove my point: 

I think the staff at either one of those restaurants might frown at drawing on the linens.  Mayfield is much more family friendly though (tons of kids in there for brunch) and drawing on the table was not at all out of place.  Mayfield provides all the baked goods for the other restaurants that are part of the same management group. What this means for you as a customer there: if you go for dinner, they frequently give away loaves of bread at the end of the night. If you go for brunch, they give you delicious treats. Last time I was there, we got zucchini bread. Today we got these madeleines, which were really cakey and had the slightest hint of orange and were delicious.

Kev ordered the country breakfast, which is like your standard egg/potato/bacon/toast. But the potatoes! They call them "cottage potatoes" on the menu, but they reminded me of a potato pancake, which is weird because the texture is completely different - the insides are smooth and creamy in a crunchy, fried shell - but really, it tasted like your favorite Chanukah treat. Which is pretty awesome.

I ordered the romesco and egg flatbread with chorizo, roasted red peppers, pecans and arugula. Oh and a sundried tomato sauce. It was really, really good. They have a wood fire stove so the crust had that nice charring, and the tang of the sundried tomato sauce plus the spice of the chorizo, plus all the other ingredients, were a winning combination, plus it was nice to have something different for breakfast.  And I just had to stop writing this post to go eat the leftovers, so, there you go.

Mayfield Bakery and Cafe
855 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 853-9200

Old Port Lobster Shack, Redwood City

Today we climbed up a (small) hill and then Kev had the awesome idea to reward ourselves by going to the Old Port Lobster Shack.  The Lobster Shack is approximately a 4 minute drive from where I work, yet I was only introduced to it last year. How did we not meet sooner, Lobster Shack?

Mmmm Manhattan clam chowder. How you've alluded me these past 8 years living in California. I'm so glad we found each other again.

We also got a cup of lobster bisque and a cup of New England clam chowder. Normally I'm not a fan of creamy soups, but I gave both of these a try and they were good! Also I love that they are served in these mugs. 

The owner of the place was very sweet and didn't mind me wandering around taking photos. He even took that giant lobster out of his tank so I could get a good picture. Thanks Russell!

Are you even reading anymore, or are you still looking at that picture of the lobster roll? I can't stop looking at that picture and wanting another one. You can order it "naked" - just the lobster meat, like I did, or you can get it dressed with mayo and seasoning, but the meat is so good and fresh I always just get it naked. And sometimes use some of that drawn butter on top. The two Brits ordered... fish and chips! Which was funny, because I felt like we were going to have this very American (ok well New England) style lunch and then they had fish and chips, but whatever. 

Unfortunately, we didn't order this lobster. I just wish we had.