Vendôme Café
Apple Oatmeal Muffin
Breakfast Poutine with Ham, Hollandaise, Quebec Cheese Curds and Hashbrowns
French Toast Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster, Whipped Mascarpone, Nutella
Carrot Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and Spiced Apple Cake with Salted Caramel Icing
Located in a part of Calgary known as Sunnyside, the demeanor of its mixed staff of youthful baristas and clerks fitting that name well, Vendôme Café is so-called for the building in which it is situated with a touch of flare imported from the town in Central France, an all-day sort of eatery ready to please patrons whenever they choose to stop by.
Filling two adjoining rooms with seating for perhaps sixty, the long bar, coffee counter and kitchen occupying the majority of one half with an overhead menu plus a display of pastries, it was just after 7:30am that I trekked through snow to enter the front doors, a pleasant fellow happy to offer his opinion when asked which led to a five-part order.
Taking pastries to the table while items from the kitchen were prepared by another young man, the white walls and bright lights casting off slate and wood with flowers softening the feel, it was with bites of a dense yet moist Oatmeal Muffin chock-full of Apples and Cinnamon that the meal got underway, the Carrot and Apple Cakes tasted later equally well-crafted with each featuring a good bit of added sweetness by way of their respective icings.
Covering a wider variety of menu options than one might expect based on kitchen size, each item prepared with great care and expedited speed, it was perhaps ten minutes after sitting down that two substantial plates were presented, the piping-hot porcelain filled with crispy Potatoes, squeaky Curds and creamy Hollandaise pairing well to sliced Ham while the ‘French Toast’ was decadence defined as day-old Bread soaked in Custard was sliced thick and presented as a leaning tower with layers separated by boozy Bananas and Nutella beneath a snowcap of fluffy Mascarpone Cream.
