Aunt Mary's Cafe - 4307 Telegraph Avenue

I can't believe that this place is so close to our house and we didn't even know it was around. Apparently Aunt Mary's has been open for a year. I dunno how we missed it, but I'm glad we finally found it.

We've eaten brunch here twice now. After my last disastrous experience at my go-to brunch place of yore (Cock-a-Doodle), I've been looking for a new one. And may we praise the Brunch Gods now, for it is found. And it is good.

The menu here can best be described as Southern-meets-California, which now gives us 2 places close by (Pican is the other) that service this need.

First off, I love what they've done with the space. Warehouse-chic is up my alley and P.I.C. also loves high ceilings and concrete floors. Secondly, I love that our server wore retro glasses and a housedress and an apron. Thirdly, I love that our server had a sassy attitude and brought Partner in Chow out of a bad mood (we thought we'd missed brunch hours) and into a good one (we did actually miss brunch hours, but they made it for us anyway).

We ate here one weekend and brought friends back about 2 weeks later.

What we've ordered: red flannel hash, pain perdu, succotash (w/bacon and heirloom tomato), hang-town fry
Service: hip, local sass
Atmo: urban hip warehouse
Crowd: penultimate Temescal neighborhood crowd
Spent: around $30.00 for two
Overall rating: 4.5 sporks

The first time we ate here I had the succotash and P.I.C. had the pain perdu. Both were really fresh, really delicious, and overall something we'd both order again. The second time I had red flannel hash and a friend had the hang-town fry, which had fried oysters on top. These freaked him out because he hadn't noticed that part of the menu description, but I suppose if you like oysters (and need something called hang-town fry) these are probably pretty darn good.

I can't remember what his wife or P.I.C. ordered, because I was sitting next to my brunch pals' newborn and therefore just completely distracted by his insane cuteness throughout the meal. Yes, I am a terrible food reviewer. On the other hand, I'm a great babysitter.

The red flannel has is a combo of root vegetables with eggs on top. To be honest, I was chatting away and playing with a month-old baby and catching up with old friends and basically so distracted that I don't really remember it that well, but I ate the whole thing and I'd order it again, so I think it was really good.

On the succotash/pain perdu day I was a bit more focused, as there was no sinfully cute newborn hogging my attention. Both were fantastic - the heirloom tomatoes weren't overwhelmed or made too hot and soggy by the succotash, and there was just enough bacon to flavor without making it too bacon-y or fatty.

The coffee here was also good. Bonus.

The pain perdu was really delicious and the presentation was artsy and fun. The sauce didn't make the bread too soggy, and P.I.C. ate all of it with no troubles.

Overall, we're thrilled that this place is around and will be eating brunch here again soon.