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Feb
Breakfast is my favourite meal and I love eating it out when I am travelling, even when I am in London. When I lived in Paris, near the Trocadéro, I walked every morning to the place to have a grand crème and a croissant or tartine, normally at one of the cafés lining the place unless I wanted a little elegance, in which case I would go to Carette. When I am in Beirut, I go to el-Soussi for fatteh at least once and I alternate between different bakeries for manaqish. And of course, I go to Amal Bohsali for k’nafeh. And when I am in America (which was the case until yesterday) I make sure to try different places for pancakes, and I always go to Brown Sugar Kitchen for waffles. Theirs are the best. Really!
Whereas pancakes are soft and squishy, waffles are crisp and airy and feel very light despite clocking in at 1000 calories a bite. Well, almost. Brown Sugar Kitchen serve theirs with an apple butter and an apply syrup which I made the mistake of spurning in favour of maple syrup which I love. But I should have had their special syrup because it really tastes of apples and goes perfectly with the apple butter and the waffles. And their bacon (Niman Ranch) is very good. Much better than the bacon at Bette’s Diner. I really like the pancakes there but I wish they served better quality bacon.
You can also have fried chicken (very good) or biscuits or cakes at brown Sugar Kitchen. And you can sit at the counter and watch the action — they have really neat waffle making machines and the chefs are not only very dexterous but also very charming — or you can sit at one of the tables by the window which we did. Not that there is a view. The place is in a kind of no man’s land but it is great inside and it does serve one of the best breakfasts in Oakland!
Tagged : apple butter, apple syrup, bacon, bette's diner, bisuits, breakfast, brown sugar kitchen, cafe creme, carette, el-soussi, k'nafeh, niman ranch, oakland, pancakes, trocadero, waffles 
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There is 5 comments on this post
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February 4, 2012 at 2:12 am
Would you believe I live a few miles away and still haven’t been? One of these days…
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February 4, 2012 at 7:14 am
you should go shelly. best waffles ever. and great fried chicken 🙂
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February 5, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I can’t tell you how much I love the chicken; waffles and the BBQ shrimp; grits! Clearly the work of an inspired chef with soul-full food sensibilities.
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April 3, 2013 at 4:12 am
I’m Fulvia and I write from Italy. Next sunday I fly to Beirut, what do you think, with restaurant it’s interesting to meet in Beirut?
In Italy we had two star michelin, but now we are closed for the damage of Heartquake and my Husband the chef Gianni D’Amato is coming in Lebanon for the Horeca 2013 Hospitality fair.
What do you think is interesting for us to see?
best regards
Fulvia Salvarani
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April 3, 2013 at 4:30 am
if you search for restaurants in lebanon on my blog you will find a few of my favourites. you should also try chez sami for fish 🙂 have fun.