On the Hunt for Brunch: Caffe DeLucchi

I love brunch.  Nothing better than sleeping in on a lazy weekend, rolling out of bed and heading out for this meal that counts for both breakfast and lunch.  I have my favorites- Brenda's, Dottie's True Blue Cafe and Stacks are all great places to grab some grub around the Civic Center.  However, I am always on the hunt for new restaurants to try.  A few months ago, I headed out to find a new breakfast/brunch place.

Our original target was Mama's.  Got great reviews on Yelp.  I had the genius idea of walking to the restaurant to work off in advance the considerable caloric intake that I knew I would soon consume.  Taking the scenic route, we arrived about an hour later, walking roughly three miles up and down the hills of San Francisco.  By the time we got to Mama's, there was at least 30 people lined up outside the restaurant.

Starving, we decided to try another place.  We stumbled into Caffe DeLucchi, a few blocks down from Mama's.  No wait, seated right away.  Menu looked promising, a tad pricey ($10-$15), but not unreasonably or surprising for SF.

First up....bucket sized cups of coffee.

Yum! Service was great and we never got down to half a cup before a refill was offered.

I ordered crab cakes benedict:

I love eggs benedict- I use it to test a new breakfast place.  If they can nail this dish, I know it is good.  This was very solid.  The crab went great with the runny yolk.  Not the greatest hollandaise sauce I've tried, but decent.  Breakfast potatoes were good- not too greasy.

M had the winner dish: polenta with melted gorgonzola, honey, thick cut smoked applewood bacon and poached egg.

Pictures don't do it justice.  F*mazing.  Thinking about it makes my mouth water now.  All of the flavors paired very well together.  The honey was a great balance on the salty bacon.  Polenta was perfectly creamy and the gorgonzola gave it a nice tang.  So good.

I am convinced that this is a bit of an undiscovered gem.  Although the restaurant is pretty big, there were several open table tops when we were there.  I would have guessed that it would be packed based on what we ate.  I definitely would go back- would love to try the polenta with pulled pork.

Plan on going back soon....